Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Nankhatai - The famous Indian Cookie


Nankhatai evokes lots of nostalgic memories in me mainly because,that is probably the closest I came to baking while I was a child.I don’t remember if I enjoyed eating it as much as I enjoyed seeing it baking.I used to shout in happiness when I saw them puff up and break oh-so-gently on top making it the best and perfect nankhatais ever.Sadly,amma doesn’t remember the recipe now.It took me a while to master the art of baking these ‘Indian Cookies’ as I wanted to perfect the looks.

Another funny incident comes to my mind.Many people call this ‘Narankhatar’ in Konkani.Me and ma-in-law once made Butter cookies while she was here and she reminisced about her mother-in-law and how they enjoyed cooking together.Bapama[grandmother-in-law] always called this ‘katar’ as opposed to narankhatar because her bro-in-law’s[who is elder to her] name was Narayan and it was impolite to call his name,even if it was the name of an edible item..sounds strange,eh?

I got this recipe from here,sadly she doen’t blog anymore.I loved her blog and the recipes and hopped on there during my non-blogging days.


Nankhatai
Recipe source – Vaishali of Happy Burp

Ingredients - makes 14-16 cookies

Maida/Flour – 1 cup
Powdered sugar – ½ cup

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Baking powder or baking soda– ½ tsp[heaped]
Salt – a small pinch

Ghee - 6-7 tbsp [preferably homemade]

Method

Sieve the flour and baking powder/soda together into a mixing bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the ghee.

Add ghee, a little at a time, while mixing and kneading the dough until you have it the consistency of chapathi dough.
It should be pliable enough to be shaped into a ball.
Cover the dough well or put it into a container with a tight lid.

Keep it in a cool place for a few hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.Grease/Line a baking sheet.

Divide the dough into 16 portions. Shape those portions into round balls and flatten them a little between your palms.

Arrange them on the baking sheet well away from each other.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits develop a few 'scars' on top and are slightly browned at the bottom.

Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet itself.Once cool, store them in an air-tight container.

30 comments :

  1. Love the cookies dear. Beautiful color !!!

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  2. I love the new look..crisp and clean..

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  3. looks so perfect..have been baking cookies this week..will be posting mine soon..

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  4. Cute and elegant nankhattais, looks awesome..

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  5. even i too love nankatai...looks really good and i loved the new look of your blog too, very beautiful divya

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  6. Have heard a lot of these cookies, never tried them, your look great!!

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  7. Ur blog is shining Divya... bright nd beautiful.... nd same story vth my bapama.... she too called it katar nd as one of my pachi's name was chithra she used to address her as talkiesa navachi bhaini (vth my mom :P) as there was a chithra talkies in mlore :)
    Nankhatai luks fab divya :)

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  8. These nankhatai look wonderfuly delicious.

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  9. Slurp! I love them, so simple and tasty.

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  10. looks delicious .. I love nankhatai

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  11. Ohhh lovely color like your blogs new look Divya.Crisp looking nankhatai yummmm

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  12. This is one of my fave homemade cookie! And I surprised that it never made into my blog! :D

    Nice pics!

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  13. Turned out perfect for u . Nice rcipe. YUM!

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  14. Nankhatai looks so crunchy and yumm!

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  15. Delicious looking cookies with wonderful memories.Like the new look of your blog too.

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  16. Love nankhatai..your looks tempting!!

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  17. Perfectly baked without any crack!

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  18. Very tempting clicks Divya.Loved the new look of your blog:)

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  19. by the way the fresh new look is looking very good ! glad to see the old one change to this :) It indeed was a tiny bit of setback for a strange blog hopper like me :) Now I feel like visiting your blog daily :)

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  20. Looks perfect and tempting !

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  21. One of my fav cookie!! Love the new look of your blog Divya:)

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  22. Nankhatai looks perfect! I love it so much and even now I buy it in dozens when I go to a mallu bakery here. Btw, the new look of your space is nice. Loved the colours :)

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  23. Like your change in template Divya. Nankhatais look perfect :)

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  24. hey divs, i think i wrote another comment before i wrote this one :) maybe it got lost on its way :) ok i write again...I am genuinely jealous of ur cookie making skills :( ...each time i try it it falls flat though the taste is not compromised (lucky me, else i wud have had to throw the whole batch into the garbage)...i too tried nankhatai coincidentally few days back and see the difference, urs looks like cute buttons...boohoo...

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  25. Just tried these! Amazing!

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Love,
Divya.

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