Caraway Cookies

I make it a point to bake / buy cookies regularly as they tend to disappear quickly at our home. They happen to be one of my daughter's favorite after-school snack items and besides, her dad loves to have some along with his evening coffee. And so, I keep on looking forward to try out new cookie recipes whenever I get a chance. Of course blogging marathon now a days is also serving as an inspiration. :) 
I got to try these caraway cookies today from a cookbook I own. Years ago, I had bought two cookbooks on the spur of the moment. The books combined have more than 200 recipes with beautiful pictures. However I have hardly tried any recipes from them though I go through them regularly. Today, my attention went to one of those books called "Baking" accidentally while cleaning the bookshelf and somehow I thought of trying out one recipe today. I already have recipes ready for this week's marathon but still I wanted to bake one more stuff. :)
These caraway cookies caught my attention because of the presentation, easy preparation and their color, which of course I could not achieve in my cookies. :) Nevertheless, the cookies tasted good with hints of caraway seeds / ajwain flavor. My daughter loves to eat raw cumin seeds and caraway seeds and so I had one more reason to try them. I am mostly used to taste ajwain in spicy dishes and this was a welcome change. If you are not used to the strong caraway seeds' flavor, go with poppy seeds instead.

 Ingredients: (Makes about 60 cookies of 2 inches diameter)
1 tbsp. flax seed meal + 3 tbsp. of water (Or use 1 egg if you consume them.)
2 cups all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1&1/4 cups superfine sugar (I added only a cup and it was enough sweetness.)
1.5 to 2 tbsp. caraway seeds
Milk as needed
Crystal sugar for sprinkling

Method:
* Mix flax seed meal and water in a small cup and leave it aside for about 5 minutes.
* Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar, caraway seeds and the flax seed meal. Bring together to form a dough. At this point, I think it is impossible for the dough to come together without using a liquid. I had to add more than 1/4 cup milk at room temperature. Form a soft dough adding milk little by little.
* Preheat the oven to 325 deg F and grease a cooking sheet.
* Flour your working surface if needed and roll the dough thinly and cut into rounds of about 2 inch diameter. 
* Transfer the dough rounds onto it. Brush them with milk (or beaten egg if using) and sprinkle with a little sugar. (I was baking another batch of cookies, got confused and accidentally sprinkled fine sugar. )
* Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cookies are crisp and lightly golden in color. (I had to bake few extra minutes.)
* Let them cool on a wire rack and store them in airtight container.

This is going to be a part of
1. BM # 37 under the theme of "Baked Snacks".
2. Srivalli's "Kids' Delight" event, hosted by PJ this month with the theme "Baked Treats For Kids".

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Ghatiya

When I saw ghatiya among the list of traditional recipes that Srivalli provided us to pick from, I was wondering how it was different than the regular sev. Both are prepared using besan flour and I was wondering whether it was a Gujarati name for the basic sev or the besan chakli. I made sure to hop on some blogs with authentic Gujarati recipes to find out. I realised in the process that ghatiya includes savory spices & lime juice, making it taste entirely different than the sev or the besan chakli.
I tried a small quantity yesterday and it was a hit. Even my daughter who doesn't peek in the kitchen when something is being cooked, came smelling and tried them. She liked it so much that she was praising the ghatiya even today before she left for school :)

Ingredients: (Makes about 4 cups)
2 cups chickpea flour / besan
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
1 tsp (or adjust as needed) ground black pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp ground carom seeds / ajwain (I did not use it as no one at my home prefers it.)
2 Tbsp hot oil
Oil for deep frying

Method:
* In a mixing bowl, combine everything except the oil used for deep frying. Add water little by little and form a soft dough. The dough should be softer than roti dough but not runny.
* Heat oil in a deep frying pan or a kadai.
* Fill a chakli press with the dough and press over hot oil in concentric circles. Fry on low flame, flipping in between with a slotted spoon until golden brown on both sides. If rushed, the chaklis don't fry properly and won't be crisp.
* Once done, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent towels. Repeat the steps with the remaining dough.
* Once cool, break the fried chakli into small pieces and store them in an airtight container.

Check what other marathoners are cooking, here.

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Mathri / Mathi

Recently when we went to snack at an Indian restaurant in our neighborhood, I noticed that they had a good collection of sweets and snacks in the anticipation of Diwali customers. I thought of buying a mathri packet there and somehow backed out at the last minute after going through the ingredients. Mathia flour along with maida and sooji were being used. I had no idea what the first ingredient was and so after coming home, checked online to find what it was. In the process, I found out that many of our dear friends have prepared wonderful mathris without the mathia flour. I went ahead and so made these delicious savory snacks without it.  I prepared a spicier version and they turned out crispy, flaky and (some what) melt in mouth kind. They were literally a treat for our taste buds and were a hit even with my son's friends (read non Indian) at school.
Mathris are a great teatime snack or an opt one for a festive occasion like today. They are said to be originated in the state of Rajasthan. It is a mandatory food item prepared on all auspicious occasions there. Mathris are usually served with pickles.

Ingredients: (For about 15 mathris of about 2 & 1/2 inch diameter)
1 cup All purpose flour / Maida
2 Tbsp Semolina / Rava
1.5 tsp Chili powder or adjust
3 - 4 Tbsp hot oil
1 Tbsp Cumin seeds and / or Carom seeds
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:
Mix all the ingredients except the oil to fry in a bowl. Add sufficient water and make a firm dough like poori / roti dough. Now comes the workout for your upper body. Take a small portion of the dough and roll out into a thin circle of about 2 & 1/2 to 3 inch diameter. Prick with a fork randomly, to avoid the mathris puffing up while frying. You can roll out and use a cookie cutter if you prefer your mathris to be of same size. Roll out some and keep aside.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a wide and deep-bottomed frying pan. Add the rolled out dough circles to the hot oil gently. Without crowding, fry as many mathris as the pan could fit. Keep turning them around and fry on low flame till they turn golden brown and crisp throughout. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on absorbent towels. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
Store them in an airtight container.

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Vampoosa / Vamupodi Kaaraalu and Kara Sev for Indian Cooking Challenge

Chaklis (whether homemade or store bought :)) are undoubtedly one of the favorite snacks in most of the Indian homes. Depending upon the flour / flavorings used, chaklis attain different and delicious avatars. For this month's Indian cooking challenge, Srivalli chose Kara Sev. 
Depending upon the discs used to shape the sev, they can be prepared in two shapes - fine or thicker. This month's challenge probably was to prepare the thicker version but my mother and I chose to go with fine sev reminiscing my grandmother's vamu podi kaaraalu - ajwain (carom seeds) flavored chakli. We retained Srivalli's basic recipe omitting garlic and baking soda and added crushed carom seeds to prepare this savory snack.
Instead of the ladle, we chose to go by the chakli mould with fine holed disc as mentioned above.


        Vampoosa / Vamupodi kaaraalu - Ajwain flavored chaklis

Ingredients:
2.5 cups besan / chickpea flour
1 cup rice flour
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp coarsely ground carom seeds
1 Tbsp ghee (optional)
Salt to taste
4 - 6 cups of oil to fry (In India, usually peanut oil is used to fry and I have used canola.)
Special utensils needed:
Chakli mould / press with the small holes disc
A kadai (Indian wok) to fry the chaklis in
A big slotted spoon to remove the chaklis

Preparing the dough:
Sieve the flours and combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add water and make thick dough. (Almost same as or a little softer than roti dough. I used a little more than a cup of water and the cup used is the same one that has been used for dry ingredients. I am mentioning the quantity to just give an idea and use your discretion. Have to figure out how much depending upon the dough consistency.)

Another look at the ajwain flavored chakli:



Frying part:
Heat the oil in a kadai. To test whether the oil is hot enough to fry, slowly slide a pinch of dough into the oil. If it sizzles and comes to surface, then the oil is ready. If not, heat the oil a little longer.
Take a small portion of the dough and fill in the chakli press. My chakli press had two discs with holes - a big holed one and one with small holes. I used the disc with tiny holes. Using your hands, press the mould over the hot oil making circling motion so that coils of dough from the mold dropping into the oil make a circle shape. You can press as big circle as the circumference of the kadai. Fry on low - medium flame till it attains a light golden hue. They fry very fast and so be around.
Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels covered plate. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
Cool them and store in an airtight container.

Making Sev:
Since these chaklis crumble very easily, just crush them with hands and sev would be ready. Also note that ajwain needs to be omitted from the above recipe when making sev.



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Carom Flavored Straws

Recently I came across 'The Modern Baker' book by Nick Malgieri at the local library and the amazing presentation of the recipes instantly caught my attention. This baking book has been divided into several sections and one of it is entirely dedicated to puff pastry based recipes. Several of them were simple ones as these straws. 
Based on the 'Salt and Pepper Straws' in the book, I prepared these carom flavored, tasty straws, which were puffy and somewhat crispy accompaniment to our evening coffee.

How I did:
1. Flour the work surface. Roll gently the puff pastry sheet into a rectangle. After the dough is rolled, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (I didn't do that long.)
2. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C).
3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Sprinkle about 1 - 2 tsp of crushed carom seeds over half the surface of the dough. (The original recipe used coarse salt and ground black pepper. Check the background in the above image.)
4. Fold the dough over to enclose the carom seeds and again roll back so that it is almost the same size as when carom seeds were scattered over.
5. Cut the dough into 1/2 inch wide strips using a pastry wheel and twist each strip into a corkscrew shape.
6. Transfer the strips to prepared baking sheets, pressing the edges of the dough to the edges of the pan to prevent them from unraveling as they are baking. 
(Check the image.)
(The book mentions to chill them until they are cold and firm for about an hour. I overlooked this step.)
7. Bake the straws for about 10 minutes in the upper rack. Turn the pan back to front and move it to lower rack and bake for additional 10 minutes, until they are puffed, dry and golden.
8. After taking out the pans, trim the ends of the straws and cut them in half crosswise using a knife.

These are going to be a part of  'Baking from a Book' event, hosted by me this month and started by Champa.

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Carom seeds (Ajwain) - Onion Pararthas

Carom seeds have a light brown shade or a lighter army green (as fennel seeds / saunf) shade. They have a distinct aroma which is impossible to miss. They are pungent and if you don't like the taste, you would call it bitter. Like other spices, they too are used for a reason in an Indian kitchen. Ajwain / carom seeds are known to aid in digestion. In our region, infants are given a weekly/bi-weekly dosage of a little vaamu (caromseeds in Telugu), jaajikaya (nutmeg in Telugu) & maachikaya ( no idea about it's English name) to aid digestion. Jaajikaya and maachikaya are directly ground against a special stone meant for the purpose. Carom seeds are lightly ground. They are all mixed well with a little quantity of milk and fed to the infants who obviously don't enjoy it. I am not able to recall if any other spice is added to it as well. 4 years ago, when I came across carom seeds at a grocery store, the smallest package I could find was a 2 pound bag. I bought it, stored it in a bottle and could not finish it till now. I have noticed that unlike some spices, carom seeds don't lose their fragrance or flavor even after years. (I don't know about decades, though). I toss them some times in my roti / poori / bajji dough. Today I added them to the onion pararthas I was making. If the flavor is too strong, the quantity of the carom seeds can be reduced to a tsp. Ingredients to make 10 parathas: 2 cups of whole wheat flour (atta) + extra for dusting 2 onions, finely chopped 1/4 cup of finely chopped cilantro 2 tsp of ajwain 1 Tbsp of oil 1/4 tsp salt Scant 2/3 cups of water Oil /Ghee to fry Preparing the dough: Mix the flour, onions, cilantro, ajwain, oil and salt in a bowl. Gradually add the water to make the dough. The quantity of the water can be increased or decreased depending upon the softness of the dough preferred (while rolling out parathas). If the dough becomes too soft, more flour can be added. In the same way, if the dough becomes too stiff, add a little bit of water. Also note that after resting, the dough becomes a little softer due to the addition of the onions. Knead the dough for about five minutes. Cover and allow it to rest for at least an hour. Rolling: Divide the dough into 10 equal portions and shape them into balls. Take a ball, flatten it and dust with flour. Roll it into a thin circle of about 5 to 6 inches diameter. You can stop rolling here and can fry it or roll it into a triangular shaped paratha as follows. Smear the rolled circle with oil / ghee and fold into half and again fold it to form a triangle. If needed, dust it again and roll it into a thin triangle. Repeat the rolling with the remaining dough. If you are comfortable, you can do the rolling and frying stuff simultaneously. Or roll some parathas, do the frying and come back again to roll. Frying: Heat a skillet / tava over medium heat. Place a paratha on the skillet and toast it about for a minute and flip it. Add 1/2 tsp oil each around the edges and on the surface of the paratha. Toast the other side too. Flip one more time if required. The parathas need to be toasted uniformly. For a detailed and pictorial description of how to make parathas, look here. Keep the fried parathas covered. Serve them with a subzi / pickle. Ours were served with cauliflower subzi. This goes to Think Spice - Think Carom Seeds hosted by The Singing Chef, Raaga. Finally, happy holidays to everyone. Post a Comment