Khara Biscuit

or Savoury Shortbread Cookies. I love the sound of Khara Biskut(love to spell it that way...just fits the product)

Thanks to Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge my dormant blog has been springing to life once a month(eyes rolling. This month Champa's Khara Biscuit or Savoury Shortbread Cookies was chosen.Savoury Cookies .....yummmmmmm, cudnt think about giving it a skip for two reasons:
a. I luuuuuuuuurve anything savoury
b. I never baked a savoury cookie before.




But this being the month of holidays and travel and all, I kept postponing the baking, till I saw Valli's mail this morning with the post. And then I knew I cudnt stall anymore. Back from work, was trying to put together the ingredients when I realised that I was really short on butter and on Kalonji/onion seeds that I wanted to put in the cookies for extra flavour.

So of course, the recipe was tweaked a bit but the result was still as great as all the comments I was reading through the day. I still want to make it the Champa way to know how the taste could change though.

Khara Biscuit

Makes :24 mini cookies/15 medium sized/8 large ones

Ingredients
All purpose Flour/Maida - 2 Cups
Softened Butter - 1/3 Cups
Sugar - 4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 6 chopped fine
Fresh Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp chopped fine
Yogurt - 3 tbsp or as required
Carom Seeds/Ajwain - 1 tbsp

To Make

1.Heat your oven to 160C and line your tray with lightly greased aluminium foil.Alternately you may chose to use parchment paper

2.Cream the butter and the sugar.Add the yogurt and continue to beat.

3.Add rest of the ingredients and knead them together lightly

4.Roll it out to 1/4" thickness and cut out the cookies in desired shapes

5.Bake for 18-20 mins. Rotate half time.

6.Cool to get a firm biscuit.




Preparation Time :15 minutes
Baking Time :20 minutes

Deviations & Notes

1. I was out of butter so I used equal amount of ghee/clarifies butter and vegetable oil

2. Champa suggests baking a while longer for crispier biscuits

3. Champa also advises favouring the biscuits with anything that suits your imagination and taste. I instantly thought of carom and onion seeds.

Lovely accompaniment to your evening tea or just something light to nibble at while watching your favorite soap...thats what I am doing!!

Bake it, you will love it!!

Pudachi Wadi - Coriander Rolls

Indian Cooking Challenge is an attempt by Srivalli of Spice Your Life to revive traditional recipes from all four corners of India.

Wanting to be a part of it, I wrote to her and joined the event. This is my first entry and I should add I loved it.

Pudachi Wadi- a native spring roll filled with fresh coriander- is a Maharashtrian recipe and the following recipe is courtesy Archana of Tried & Tested Recipes.

Since I have never had Pudachi Wadi before,I decided to stick to the recipe as given by Archana.However, I have taken a few shortcuts which I have mentioned at the end of the recipe.

Pudachi Wadi

Makes - 6 nos

Ingredients

For the dough
Chickpea/Gram Flour/Besan - 1/2 C
Wheat Flour/Atta - 1/2 c
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - To taste
Hot Vegetable Oil - 2 1/2 tbsp
Water - As required

For Filling
Coriander Leaves - 1 1/2 C Finely chopped
Onion - 1 medium Finely chopped
Dry Coconut Flakes - 2 tbsp
Poppy Seeds/Khus Khus - 1 tbsp roasted
Sesame Seeds - 1 tbsp roasted
Garlic - 3 cloves finely shopped
Ginger-Chilli paste - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt - To taste
Lime Juice - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

For Sauce
Tamarind Pulp - 2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp

Oil to deep fry.

To Make
1. Make the dough by adding all ingredients with enough water to make a stiff dough



2. For filling grind the roasted Poppy Seeds, Sesame seeds and dry coconut flakes

3. Heat oil, add onion and garlic. Saute till golden.Add ginger chilli paste and saute for some more time. Mix in the ground mixture followed by the condiments. Take off heat and add coriander. Add the lime juice.Mix well.



4. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce.

5. Make small balls from the dough. Roll out into circles.

6. Spread the sauce on the surface on the rolled out dough.

7. Spoon about 1 1/2 tbsp of filling in the centre of the chappatti/puri.



8. Roll into what else but Rolls!!



9. Pan roast the rolls.Deep fry before serving.

10. Serve with Sauce of your choice.

Preparation Time : 20 min
Cooking Time : 15 min

My deviations :
1. I used Ready to make Bonda/Bhajji Powder instead of Besan.It is already has
spices and salt. So I just mixed the Bonda/Bhajji Powder with Atta.

2. I skipped making the sauce. Instead I used store bought Tamarind Sauce which
again contained all spices and condiments.

3. I skipped the pan roasting part and deep fried them directly.

These are perfect tea time snacks for the winter months. And an easy to make from scratch one with the simplest of ingredients available in your kitchen. You will love biting into the fresh coriander filling through the hot rolls.