The craving for Indian snacks hits differently when you are abroad. Not just any snack — the specific crunch of murukku, the particular spice hit of karasev, the nostalgic sweetness of peanut balls. At Village Masala, we believe snack time should be authentic, not a compromise. All the ingredients you need — the right rice flour, the urad dal, the roasted gram, the gingelly seeds — are available in our shop, shipped directly from India. Here are 10 snacks you can make at home with Village Masala products.

The Classic Deep-Fried Snacks

Murukku is the queen of South Indian snacking — a spiral-shaped, deep-fried rice and lentil snack that is crunchy, savoury, and impossible to eat just one of. The basic recipe uses rice flour, urad dal flour, butter or coconut oil, cumin seeds, and asafoetida. The dough is pressed through a murukku press into hot oil and fried until golden. Our rice flour and urad dal are ground fresh, making the dough easier to handle and the final product crispier.

Thattai is the flat, disc-shaped cousin of murukku — thinner, crispier, and studded with roasted chana dal and curry leaves. Ribbon pakoda (sev) is another essential — pressed through a flat-hole mould and fried into wide, crunchy ribbons. Karasev adds black pepper and asafoetida to the basic sev dough for a spicier version. All of these use rice flour, besan (gram flour), and our freshly sourced spices as the base.

” The secret to perfect murukku is the rice flour. It must be fine, dry, and very fresh — old rice flour produces a heavy, dense murukku that doesn’t hold its shape. Village Masala’s rice flour is packed immediately after milling for maximum freshness “

Quick Snacks That Need No Frying

Not all Indian snacks involve hot oil. Roasted chana (pottukadalai) with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of red chilli powder is a five-second snack that is both delicious and nutritious. Masala peanuts — tossed in a spiced besan batter and roasted or shallow-fried — are another crowd-pleaser that can be made in under 15 minutes.

Peanut balls (kadala urundai) are made with roasted peanuts and jaggery — a no-cook recipe that only requires heating the jaggery to the right consistency, folding in the peanuts, and rolling into balls before they cool. Sesame ladoos follow the same method with gingelly seeds. Both are wholesome, high-protein snacks that work as well for children as for adults.

Festival Snacks to Make in Bulk

Deepavali, Navratri, and Pongal are the seasons when Indian kitchens go into full snack-production mode. These are the times for making large batches of mixture, chakli, and adhirasam to share with family and neighbours. Village Masala stocks all the ingredients in bulk sizes — 500g to 1kg packs of rice flour, besan, roasted gram, and gingelly seeds — so you can make festival quantities without running out mid-batch.

For the diaspora community living abroad, making festival snacks at home is one of the most powerful ways to connect children to their heritage. The smell of murukku frying, the sight of sesame ladoos being rolled — these are sensory memories that last a lifetime.

Shop Snack Ingredients & Ready-Made Snacks at Village Masala