Baked Namak Para

 

Recipe Source: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor

My daughter looks forward to savory dishes when I speak of evening snacks. In fact when I tell her that I prepared something for her, the first question she shoots at me is whether the said dish is savory or sweet. If she gets any inkling that it is even remotely sweet, she straight away refuses on the pretext of being not hungry. Even if I say it's savory, she wants to make sure that I didn't add any sugar in it. 

Chaklis, mixture, nippattu are her kind of dishes and so these namak para aka savory diamonds fit the bill. Namak para is one of the snacks usually gets prepared during Diwali at home and I usually used to fry them until I came across this baked version. When one has plenty of other calorie loaded stuff on a festive day,  a guilt free baked version definitely sounds very inviting. This is a perfect alternative recipe for the traditionally fried version and yields crispy, crunchy namak para which taste similar to the fried version.

Ingredients: (Yield 40 namakpare)

1/2 cup wheat flour / atta

1/2 cup all purpose flour / maida

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp coarsely crushed cumin seeds (optional)

1 Tbsp white sesame seeds (optional)

3 tbsp softened ghee ( I replaced half the quantity with canola oil.)

5 - 6 Tbsp cold water

Method:

* Add flours, salt and baking powder to a mixing bowl.

* Next add ghee and rub it in with fingertips until the ghee gets incorporated into the mixture.

* Add cumin and sesame seeds to the mixture and combine well.

* Add water and form a stiff dough. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.

* Preheat the oven to 400 deg F. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with flour and keep it ready. I just lined my baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup.

* Dust the rolling surface with flour. Roll out the dough into 1/4 inch disc and cut them into diamonds. Gather the end bits and repeat the process. I pricked holes using a fork just to make sure of even baking. However this step is optional.

* Arrange the cut diamonds on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes. (Mine were done in 15 minutes.)

This is going to be my contribution to "Mess-Free Kids' Snack / Lunch Dishes". Check what other marathoners are cooking at BM #34.

Comments