This month's recipe in Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge were these addictive and flavorful biscuits. If you have been to South India, you can't miss the famous Iyengar Bakery with mind blowing number of goodies, both sweet and savory. Last year when I had been to Hyderabad, India, on a vacation, I literally parked myself in the bakery (almost weekly). Needless to say my kids got hooked on to the bakery as well! The list of my favorite goodies is very long. But I need to mention Dilpasand (A bun with fruit-coconut sweet filling) and these Khara Biscuits as my top 2 :)
Champa had blogged about these biscuits a while ago and it just got into the ocean of bookmarks on my computer. So it was a delight to see Srivalli picking this recipe for this month's challenge. I have prepared these biscuits twice in 10 days owing to its popularity at home. I have reduced the spice to suit our requirements. The beauty of this recipe is its versatility. We need very simple ingredients and an array of optional flavors to suit our taste.
Here is my version..
Ingredients -
All purpose flour / Maida 2 cups/ 250 gms
Butter 1/3 cup softened or about 5 tbsp
Sugar 4 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Cumin , coarsely powdered 1 tsp (Optional)
Green Chillies 1 (more per taste)
Coriander leaves/Cilantro, finely chopped 3 Tbsp
Curds/Yogurt - 3 Tbsp (start with 2 TBSP)
* I halved the recipe
Method Of Preparation -
Measure flour and salt into a bowl and whisk well. Add coarsely crushed cumin powder if using.
Cream softened butter and sugar in another bowl.
Add 2 Tbsp of curd to it and beat well.
Add the flour little by little and incorporate into the cream mixture.
Bring together the dough but don't knead too hard.
Add chopped chillies and the chopped coriander leaves.
The dough needs to be a stiff one. If the dough is too crumbly, add little more curd (about a teaspoon at a time).
Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes. Arrange them in a lined baking tray about 1/2 an inch apart. These don't spread out while baking but there was a slight bulge in the center of the cookies.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for about 25 minutes.
These cookies don't brown on top. The bottom will be golden brown. You can bake it for few more minutes to get crisp cookies. The cookies when removed will be soft to touch but they firm up on cooling.
Note: You can add crushed pepper for the heat in place of chillies. Mint/curry leaves can be used.
The baking time may vary depending up on your dough and oven. I observed that the Maida I used took up more curd than specified. So make sure the dough is very stiff but roll-able !
Preparation Time 20 min Baking Time 25 min
Makes 20 cookies (about 1 inch diameter)
lovely presentation and looks yum too..
nice biscuit will surely try this
Nice presentation and these have turned out lovely.
Lovely cookies. I need to try these.
Yummy biscuits... love the presentation..:)
Reva
HI Harini,
How will this recipe work with whole wheat flour ? Does the ingredient list stay the same or do I need to add anything ?
Thanks
Sheetal
they look really cool...love the way u have presented them!
they look really cool...love the way u have presented them!
Very addictive biscuits na, lovely presentation Harini..definitely a wonderful challenge for us..
nice biscuit i will try this
whoa !!! very nicely done dear, love them :)
Beautiful presentation Harini they loks yummm.
OMG... What a tempting recipe.. lovely presentation dear..
Very addictive and delicious cookies..
Gorgeous presentation....
This looks so yummy and delicious..Will try this soon..Seems really simple..thanks for the recipe dear..Post more and keep blogging
Great Pics!!!! Enjoyed making them!!!
Yummy biscuits...nice clicks
The ramekin looks too cute..so are the biscuits :)
Wow,
I would like to try it with wheat flour. thanks.