Nan Khatai

Probably nan khatai are the first cookies I ever baked in my kitchen and so, they are special to me. Over the years I have tried various versions, liking them all even without realizing they had Parsi connection. This time around I tried this semolina-almond version which yield crispy, crumbly delicious nan khatai that are quite addictive. For the uninitiated, nan khatai are shortbread biscuits that have been popular in the Indian sub continent for centuries. They are believed to be originated in Surat, a city in western India during 16th century. The word nan khatai is said to have derived from a Persian word 'naan' meaning bread and an Afghani word 'khatai' meaning biscuit.
 
According to the ebook Eat, Pray and Live, some of the Parsi cooks who worked for the Dutch in Surat had learnt to bake soft bread by fermenting the dough with toddy, which is supposedly the beginning of the legacy of Parsi bakeries in Surat. Parsis were inspired by the eggless Scottish shortbread, to create nan khatai, one of Surat's famous confections.The Surat bakers realized that the recipe was suitable for Gujarati vegetarians who did not eat eggs and adapted to suit the local populace by adding nuts and cardamom. Here is another interesting read about how nan khatai came to existence.

Ingredients: (Yield 18 - 20 cookies)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina (I replaced half of it with ground almonds.)
2 tbsp. ground almonds (Optional)
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
A pinch of baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp. slivered almonds for garnish

Method:
* Sift together flour, semolina, cardamom and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add ground almonds to the same bowl if using and mix to combine,
* Cream butter and sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture in small increments and blend until a dough is formed. If for any reason, the dough turns out hard / dry, moisten it with little milk. (I didn't need any milk.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F / 180 deg C. Grease or line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
* Divide the cookie dough into 18 - 20 portions and roll each portion into a smooth ball. Flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand and decorate with almond slivers. Gently press the almond pieces so that they stick to the cookie.
* Arrange them on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them an inch apart since they expand while baking.
* Place them in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until they turn light golden in color. (I baked them for about 20 minutes, turned off the oven and left them in the oven for another 6 minutes or so.)
* Let them cool on a wire rack and store them in an airtight container.


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South Indian Mixture / Chow Chow

This mixture -  a melange of various flavored / textured / sized sevs (chickpea flour based snack), fried thick poha (flattened rice), fried chana dal (Bengal Gram), boondi along with a tempering of peanuts, cashews, curry leaves and turmeric makes a great snack for festive occasions like Diwali to share with some one or just to munch on as an afternoon treat. My medley here is influenced by south Indian style spicy mixtures available back home in every nook and corner and these kind of medleys also go by the name 'chow chow' in some parts of Bangalore which literally means a mixture / medley. It brings to mind the popular breakfast combo from the region which is called chow chow bhath for the same reason since it is a medley of savory khara bhath and the sweet kesari bhath. This can be easily customized according to one's taste preferences. Mixture in the first picture doesn't contain boondi or fried chana dal and the second image is of another variety where they were included. If need those 'khatta meetha' mix kind of flavors, add a pinch of citric acid and powdered sugar as needed and also some toasted raisins. It won't remain south Indian hot and spicy mix kind anymore though. I don't recall exactly but when we were kids, I think the store bought kind used to include fried dal moth as well.
 
I am not giving the recipe here since I have already posted recipes for sevs, fried poha aka chivda and boondi. Check my 'Snacks' page if looking for these recipes or any other snacks. I usually have sev, fried chana dal and plain boondi on hand and so making this kind of mixture is not a big deal. If starting from scratch, this recipe does demand some time and patience. There is no hard and fast rules about how much quantity of each variety of fried snacks should go into this mix. Combine varieties of plain and spicy sevs, fried thick variety poha, fried boondi (not the sweet kind), fried chana dal and any extra kind if you prefer in a mixing bowl. Heat 2 or 3 tsp. of oil in  a small pan and fry peanuts and / or cashews and curry leaves. Add turmeric before turning off the stove. Add this to the mixing bowl and toss the bowl well and taste the mixture before adding any seasonings. If you think curry leaves are going to be discarded, wait until the tempering cools down and crush the toasted leaves into bits. No one minds eating the flavorful tiny bits of the leaves. Keep in mind that some of the fried stuff like sev / chana dal are already spicy. Add salt as needed and shake the bowl to combine. Add a bit of chili powder or fried dry red chillies only if the mixture needs to be more spicier.

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Aakukoora Pappu Chekkalu

 We have entered the final week of mega marathon where all the participants are going to try the same regional snack recipes, adding any twists if they wish, for the next eight days. The first one selected in this series was Andhra's pappu chekkalu which have similar dishes in the other southern states - the nippattu of Karnataka and Tamil nadu's thattai. There are minor variations in each preparation and all are basically fried crisps made with rice flour. I grew up in Karnataka and my husband is from Rayalaseema of Andhra region and so we end up calling these nippattu at home. Some of the variations I posted before are below.

Pepper flavored Miriyala Chekkalu 
Karnataka style Nippattu 
Andhra style Pappu Chekkalu 

Andhra and Karnataka versions mostly use rice flour alone whereas in case of thattai, a small quantity of other flours also go in. Karnataka versions usually has coarsely crushed hurigadale / chutney dal and peanuts to add some crunch while Andhra version usually has soaked senaga pappu / Bengal gram. The word 'pappu' refers to the legume (Bengal gram) used in the recipe. Mostly dry chili powder goes into nippattu and thattai recipes where as green chillie paste goes into chekkalu recipe. Some add sesame seeds for flavor. They are just the basic guide lines and nowadays the tidbits are added to one's liking. 

This is the most commonly prepared snack in our home like any other south Indian's but I ended up preparing them twice for this marathon. I wanted to try a variation with moong dal which I had earlier bookmarked and they ended up being rock hard. I forgot about another version that I wanted to try with peanut flour and prepared this version adding aakukoora / greens. Any chopped seasonal greens may be added. Don't make them with methi / fenugreek greens alone which would turn them bitter. Add some chopped cilantro and curry leaves as well. There are also new version chekkalu with various millet flours which I haven't tried yet. 

'Chekka' literally means wood though the term here means crispy one and chekkalu is the plural word for chekka. Properly made chekkalu would be crispy and crunchy. Under fried ones would turn softer and over fried versions would turn harder. Heating oil to the correct temperature is essential. To know whether the oil is hot enough, drop a pinch of the dough into the hot oil. If it sizzles and comes to the surface, the oil is hot enough to fry. If the dough sinks to the bottom, the oil needs some more heating. Don't bring the oil to a smoking point. Once the oil is hot enough, drop the dough circles into the hot oil and lower the heat. The heat should be somewhere between low and medium setting while frying. If the chekkalu are frying faster then it usually means that frying temperature needs to be a little lower since they quickly brown and won't turn crispy. Before adding a new batch of dough discs, make sure that oil is hot enough (as at the beginning) but lower the flame during the frying part.

Store bought rice flour works fine for chekkalu / nippattu and that's what I use to prepare them. The edges of chekkalu may break since it is made with rice flour. One can fix it by joining the cracks with fingers while patting them but I don't do it usually. The chekkalu are not as thick as they seem to be in the closeup shots I have taken. If the chekkalu are made with chili powder they look brownish and when green chili paste is used, they would be lighter in color.

Ingredients: (Yield 16- 18)
1.5 cups rice flour
Salt to taste
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 cup chopped mixed greens*
2 green chillies, finely chopped or ground to paste
A handful of soaked chana dal / Bengal gram
2 tbsp. hot oil
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp. warm water
Oil for deep frying (I used canola oil.)
* Add any chopped greens along with a sprig of finely chopped curry leaves. Avoid adding bitter greens like methi / fenugreek greens. I made one batch with methi which turned bitter.

Method:

* Rinse and soak Bengal gram for an hour or two. Drain the water and keep them aside.

* Heat oil in a deep frying pan / kadai on medium flame, when ready to make chekkalu.

* Combine flour, salt, cumin seeds in a mixing bowl. Add chopped greens, chillies and soaked Bengal gram in a mixing bowl. Pour about 2 tbsp. hot oil and mix it. Be careful since the oil is hot. Add water gradually to make a dough of thick consistency. (Most of the times I add water at room temperature and that's fine too.)

* Drop a pinch of the dough into the hot oil. If it sizzles and comes to the surface, the oil is hot enough to fry. If the dough sinks to the bottom, the oil needs some more heating. Don't bring the oil to a smoking point.  

* Take a small lemon sized portion of dough and place it on a thick, greased plastic sheet (such as a ziploc bag) or a wax paper. Flatten the ball with your fingers and press it to a thin disc of about 3 inches in diameter. 

* Take the plastic sheet with the disc on in your left hand palm, with the disc being on the top side. Open your right hand palm with no gaps between your fingers and gently reverse the disc on to your right hand. (To be precise, onto your fingers and not on the palm.) Gently peel away the sheet from the disc so that the disc is in your right hand now. 

* Gently drop the flattened dough disc into the hot oil. Without overcrowding the pan, fit as many discs as you can to fry. Deep fry the discs until they turn light golden in color both sides. Keep the flame somewhere between low and medium flame while frying. Remove them with a slotted spoon onto absorbent towels. 
* Repeat the procedure until all the dough is finished. Before adding a new batch of dough discs, make sure that oil is hot enough (as at the beginning) but lower the flame during the frying part. Also remember to grease the plastic sheet every time with 1- 2 drops of oil, before making a disc.
* Cool and store the fried chekkalu in an airtight container. They stay fresh for weeks and are good accompaniment for coffee / tea.

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Almond Halwa / Badam Halwa

So far in the series,
Malaadu / Hurigadale Unde
Dry Gulab Jamun
Coconut Burfi / Kobbari Mithai

There was a time when I didn't have to bother about what I was putting into my mouth or worry about calories, which sounds like a bygone era when I put it like that. Almond halwa and burfis seem to belong to that period, considering that I haven't prepared either of them in the past 16 years. Yes, you read that right. I somehow remember the last time I made badam burfi in my kitchen, though I cannot tell you what I cooked for my lunch, a couple of days ago. 

These almond based sweets made a regular appearance in my home during the early years of my cooking and I kinda had become an expert in making almond burfis. That was the first sweet I learned on my own after moving to US without my mother in the picture and it was kind an accomplishment for me who hadn't done cooking in a real sense up until then. Somehow over the years I have stopped preparing them as I mentioned earlier and recently my husband was mentioning about my badam burfi / halwa to the kids who seemed to not remember ever eating those. 

And so I thought of including this badam halwa aka Indian version almond pudding, which is a super delicious treat in this week's sweet series. There is no need for any occasion to enjoy this yummy halwa though it makes a great addition to any festive platter. It is also a common item sold in Indian sweet shops. This is a quite easy, straight forward recipe for even newbie cooks since it tests only one's stirring skills. Blanched almonds are ground to a paste and cooked along with ghee and sugar until it thickens and leaves the sides of the pan, resulting in a literally melt in mouth halwa. All one needs to do is to not to leave the stove unattended and stir the halwa frequently which is not very tedious though it sounds so. Use a non stick pan to cook this and there is no need to stir continuously that much, I feel. 

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: Around 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup almonds 
3/4 cup milk
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp. ghee
1/4 tsp. saffron strands or 2 drops of yellow food color (optional)
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom (optional)

Directions:
1. Soak saffron strands in 1 or 2 tbsp. hot water if using and keep aside.
2. Rinse and add almonds to a microwave safe bowl. Pour enough water to cover almonds.

 3. Microwave the almonds along with water for 3 minutes and carefully remove the bowl. Carefully drain the hot water and rinse them once. Alternatively, the almonds can be soaked overnight or can be immersed in hot water for sometime. This is done to facilitate the peeling of almonds. Or one can always use blanched almonds instead and avoid steps 2 and 3.

4. Peel the skins of almonds one by one. Place an almond between your thumb and the next two fingers. 

* Put a slight pressure on the almond with the thumb and do the upward slide motion. 

* The skin will come off. Repeat the step with the remaining almonds.

* Transfer the almonds to a blender and add milk. Grind them to a fine paste. Add a little extra milk or water if not grinding easily. Transfer the mixture to a pan, preferably a non stick one. One can use a thick bottomed pan as well but the chances are more of the mixture getting stuck to the bottom and it may need constant scraping. 

* Add 2 to 2.5 tbsp. ghee to the ground paste and put the pan on medium flame.

* Cook the mixture for five minutes, stirring frequently and add sugar.

* The mixture becomes loose when sugar is stirred into the paste. If you notice any tiny clumps of almond paste, rub them with the back of a spoon or spatula you are using.

* Keep stirring frequently and continue to cook. Add saffron strands along with the water if using, stir well and keep cooking. Keep scraping the sides of the pan as well while cooking to avoid the almond paste sticking. The below picture is after 15 minutes of stirring / cooking and you notice that it has thickened. It kind of resembles semolina halwa in looks. (I kept changing the heat setting to medium and a little lower than medium on my gas stove while cooking.) 

* Add the remaining ghee at this point and continue to cook. 

*  The mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan and one would even notice the mixture turning porous (holes appear) when stirred as in Mysore pak preparation, though not as much. One can add a little ground cardamom at this point for flavor, if preferred. Keep stirring further and cook until the mixture clumps into a single mass and leaves the sides of the pan. Also the ghee would have completely absorbed by the halwa at this point. (It takes about 10 to 12 minutes after the ghee addition.)

* Turn off the stove. Transfer the halwa to a container or serve it warm. Garnish with chopped almonds before serving, if preferred.

Notes:
1. One can add more ghee in the halwa preparation, if preferred.
2. Blanched almonds can be used instead of soaking and peeling the almonds.


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Coconut Burfi / Kobbari Burfi / Kobbari Mithai / Kaayi Burfi

So far in this series,
Malaadu / Hurigadale Unde
Dry Gulab Jamun

I have a big weakness for Indian sweets and I also happen to love coconut. And so here is coconut burfi, which my mother considers to be my most favorite sweets of all. It doesn't mean that I have no other favorites but among the lot that my mother prepares, I seemed to like it more while growing up. My sister grudgingly would remind her to prepare her favorite burfi too, whenever my mother prepared coconut one. Carrot burfi was and still is her favorite and my mother tells me that whenever she makes coconut burfi nowadays, my sister seems to remind her that she has got the wrong daughter 😉 and she needs to wait until my visit.  

I get to taste coconut burfi whenever I visit home in the recent years. In spite of reminders that I can cook almost anything I want these days, my mother wouldn't let us go without preparing each one of our favorite dishes. And coming to myself, I think I am making these burfis for the second time in my 20 plus married years. I kinda use coconut very sparingly and rarely make any coconut based dishes in my home, considering my husband's affinity towards coconut.😞 

South Indian style coconut burfi preparation doesn't need any fancy ingredients. It basically uses three ingredients - fresh coconut, sugar and cardamom. And a small amount of water if you have to consider it as well. The only skills needed for this burfi preparation are grating and stirring. If grating coconut is not for you, then use a good quality frozen section shredded coconut like I did. Just take care that the coconut is smelling and tasting good.  

All the ingredients are added to a thick pan and are cooked, stirring continuously until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan and a thick mass is formed. In case one fails to set the mixture, they can be rolled into small balls / laddus and can be enjoyed. Just wait to roll into balls until they are warm enough to handle with bare hands. It tastes the same albeit in a different shape. It makes a great treat for for Indian festivals like Diwali.


This burfi always has a place among the assortment of sweets my mother prepares for 'Varalakshmi Vratham'. My mother sticks to this basic recipe but some happen to add milk, condensed milk, cream or khoya to the preparation. Some add nuts or safforn to garnish. One of my aunt adds chickpea flour as well to the coconut mixture at the end and the resulting burfi comes across as a cross between coconut burfi and mysore pak and it tastes awesome as well. 

Cook time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
2.5 cups / 300 gm / 11 oz shredded fresh coconut (I used frozen coconut.)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cardamom pods / 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Directions:
* Grease a round or square shaped plate, with one inch depth and keep it aside.
* Scrape the coconut if using a coconut or use shredded coconut from the freezer section. Thaw the frozen coconut if necessary. If needs to be thawed quickly, transfer the coconut to a microwave safe bowl and heat it for a couple of minutes.

* Add sugar and (just enough) water to cover it in a non stick or a thick bottomed pan / pot. Add coconut and mix well and start cooking the mixture on medium flame, stirring frequently.

* The mixture becomes loose initially and goes on becoming thicker as it is being cooked. Add the ground cardamom and mix well, about 15 minutes into cooking.

* Lower the heat and continue cooking, stirring frequently. 

 * When the mixture starts leaving the pan and comes together, it is an indication that the burfi is cooked. One can specially notice it when not using a non stick pan to cook the burfi. I used a non stick pan and it took me almost 40 to 45 minutes to make the burfi.

* If not sure whether the coconut mixture has cooked or not to burfi stage, put a small spoon sized portion of the mixture on a greased plate and check after a couple of minutes. If it is done, the coconut mixture sets by hardening slightly. If has not set, it means that coconut mixture needs further cooking.
* Transfer the cooked mixture onto the greased plate and spread it  evenly using a greased spatula. (I did not take pictures for this step.)
* While the mixture is still slightly warm, score lightly with a knife vertical lines, spacing them 1.5 to 2 inches apart. And horizontal lines in a similar fashion.
* When the mixture has cooled completely, again run the knife along the lines and cut them into pieces. Store them in  airtight container.
* The coconut burfis stay fresh for a few days even left on the counter. Refrigerate for storing them longer.

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Dry Gulab Jamun

So far in the series,
Malaadu / Hurigadale Unde

Gulab jamun needs no introduction if one is even remotely acquainted with the Indian cuisine since it happens to be one of the popular sweets among the Indian diaspora. The dumplings made with khoya / milk powder are deep fried and then soaked in rose flavored sugar syrup, ending up being a delectable treat. It is hard to stop with just one, when these soft pillowy balls are melting in one's mouth. The chances of encountering gulab jamuns or gajar ka halwa / carrot halwa in Indian restautants' buffets is higher here locally in US.
I don't rely on instant mixes much but there a few exceptions which work well for me. A gulab jamun mix, for instance falls under that category and that is what I have used here. My husband loves gulab jamun and so these instant mix packets come home without any prompts. If you are a south Indian and especially if you are not into blogging / cooking shows, chances are more that you would dump an instant packet of gulab jamun mix like the one pictured below into your shopping cart than khoya / milk powder. 

Thanks to the instant mix,  gulab jamun was considered one of the easiest sweets to learn along with kesari bhath aka the orange hued semolina halwa, while we were growing up. We used to have a brand called 'orkay' in the Bangalore region when I was a kid. I saw one instant mix packet lying in my pantry recently and so thought of preparing kala jamun but ended up making dry version jamuns instead for this marathon. The instant mixes are made with dry milk powder and one can use their favorite gulab jamun recipe instead in this recipe.
 
'Gulab' means rose and this treat derives it's name from the flavoring used in it's preparation, the gulab jal aka rose water. The funny thing is that south Indians rarely add gulab jal and do away with cardamom which is the predominant flavoring agent used in the region. Gulab jamuns are prepared the usual way here but after a small period of soaking, they are removed from the syrup and rolled in sugar or desiccated coconut to make them extra special. Kala Jamuns can be used as well to make dry jamuns but I prefer the regular ones. The dry or sukha jamuns taste super yum too and are not really dry in that sense. They are called so since they are not swimming in the sugar syrup as the regular gulab jamuns. These can be made ahead and so, they make a great treat for birthdays, parties and festivals like Diwali which is coming up soon.

Ingredients for dry gulab jamun: (Yield about 15 jamuns)
For jamun balls:
1 instant gulab jamun mix (100 grams)
2.5 to 3 tbsp. water
Oil to deep fry
For sugar syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp. rosewater
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
For coating:
Desiccated coconut or sugar

Directions:
* Dump the contents of the pack into a bowl and break any lumps present by rubbing between your fingers.

* Add water in small increments and prepare the dough according to the package directions. Don't try to knead the dough, cover the bowl and keep it aside for 10 to 15 minutes. (I forgot to take the picture of the final dough ball.) If the dough appears wet, add a tiny amount of all purpose flour to fix it. One can even add milk to prepare the dough but there is no need since the instant mix is made with milk powder.

* Meanwhile add sugar and water to a cooking pan and heat it. 

* Stir in between until the sugar melts. At this stage, 1/4 tsp. lime juice can be added to prevent sugar from crystallizing. I usually don't since I never had the experience of  my sugar getting crystallized. 

* Continue to cook until the sugar solutions looks slightly thicker and sticky. The color of the syrup changes to honey hued. There is no need to form a syrup with any consistency. If not sure, just blindly cook the sugar mixture on low for about 12 to 15 minutes after the sugar has melted. Add rose water and ground cardamom to the sugar syrup and turn off the stove.

* If the dough appears too dry after the resting period, add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. water and work the dough. Make 15 to 20 balls out of the dough prepared earlier by gently rubbing between your palms. Take care the balls are made without cracks. The jamuns tend to open up at those cracks while frying if the dough balls have cracks. 

* Heat oil in a pan for deep frying but don't bring it to a smoking hot point. Put a tiny pinch of dough ball into the oil to test whether the oil is hot enough for frying. If the dough ball comes to the surface immediately, the oil is ready. If the dough ball stays under, the oil needs to be heated a little more. Gently slide the dough balls one after another from the sides of the pan taking care not to get burnt. Keep gently rolling the balls and ladling some hot oil over the balls. Fry them on low-medium heat until they turn golden brown through out. If cooked on high flame, they quickly brown outside but the center portions remain uncooked. 

* Gently lift them through a slotted spoon, draining as much oil as possible and immediately drop them in the warm / hot sugar syrup prepared. Soak them for about an hour or two, ladling syrup over the tops in between or gently rolling them using the handle of the pan so that all sides are soaked in the syrup uniformly. Stop at this step if you need to make gulab jamuns. 

* Strain the gulab jamuns once they cool down and gently roll them in desiccated coconut or sugar. 

Notes:

1. I usually fry this much quantity of jamuns at the same time in a wide pan but they can be fried in batches if preparing in large quantity or using a small pan. The first fried batch should be added to the hot syrup immediately.
2. One can use their gulab jamun recipe instead of using the instant mix.
3. The leftover sugar syrup can be used in one's coffee / tea / milkshake or other sweet preparations like kheer, halwa or shahi tukdas.
4. I have coarsely pulsed the coconut in my food processor but if preferred, it can be done finely too.
5. The package directions doesn't mention to rest the dough but I do it anyway out of habit. 

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