Spicy Murukku / Chakali for Diwali with Step-by-Step pictures

Diwali!! The name brings memories of holidays, celebrations, firecrackers and Sweets and Savories. Though residing outside India has made us forget the holidays and miss the firecrackers, we still do not miss out on the celebrations and sweets part. The first and foremost snack prepared in our house is these murukkus. And this one in grandma's foolproof recipe. If you are a beginner in making murukkus, you can follow this recipe and method to the T (like I did) and I bet you would be happy with the outcome.
I started my diwali preparations yesterday with Seepu Murukku and made this Spicy Murukku today.

Ingredients:
Makes about 50 medium sized murukkus with standard cup measurements
Rice flour - 2 cups
Bengal Gram flour / Urad dhal flour - 1/2 cup 
Roasted Gram Dhal flour/ Pottukadalai maavu - 1/4 cup
Ajwain Seeds / Carom Seeds / Omam - 1/4 tsp 
Butter - 2 tsp - Do not compromise or substitute 
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Water - 1 1/4 cups - 1 1/2 cups (as needed to make the dough)
Oil - for deep frying

Method:
Mix the flours, chilli powder, salt and carom seeds well. Add butter and mix with your fingers so that it gets well incorporated into the flour mixture. Add water and make a soft dough. Cover with a wet cloth and set aside. Heat oil for deep frying. Prepare the murukku press by placing the star (chakali) attachment. Fill with dough. Press into a spiral murukku to a back of a big spoon. Gently place the pressed murukku in the oil. Fry until both sides are done and the bubbles around the murukku in the oil subside. Remove and place in a tissue paper to drain excess oil. Allow to cool and store in an air-tight container.
Note:
I used home-made urad dhal flour. Dry roast 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp of split urad dhal until it turns light brown. Process in a mixer to a fine powder. Sieve to remove grits if any. If using store bought urad dhal flour, dry roast until it is just warm. This is to remove the raw smell of the flour. 
You can replace ajwain seeds with 1 tbsp of sesame seeds for a variation.

And now I have a long list of events I want to send this Murukku to...

Diwali Special - Sweets & Savories event by Radhika

CWS - Rice event by Priya & Reva

Serve It - Festival Potluck event by me & Denny

My Diwali My way event by Khushi

Diwali - Festival of Lights event by Anu.