Savory Hearts & Roses

This Valentine's Day I decided to spice things up. Literally! Not because we do not enjoy sinking our teeth into sweet treats, but we had way too much of sugary goodness over the past couple of months. Starting from Diwali until the latest cookie frenzy that struck me over the last couple of days. So, how would you spice up a lovey dovey treat? This time my question was answered by my little sonny boy! He loves a savory crisp snack which we call Khuskhushi in our household that he's been asking me to make for a long time! (I will post that when I make it next). So, I took that recipe and extended it to something...ummm...hearty! Without wasting much more of your precious time, I'll jump straight to the recipe. Oh and before I forget, the amounts of ingredients used here are just enough to make a handful of savory hearts and roses, so if you want more increase all ingredients proportionally.



Ingredients
1/2 Cup All purpose flour (Maida)
1/2 tsp Chilly powder
Red food colour (I've used red icing colour since I did not have this on hand)
Oil
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Sift the flour
- Add the salt and chilly powder and mix
- Heat about 1 tbsp of oil to the flour and immediately mix. This aids in making the fried hearts/roses crispy
- Now, knead the flour into a dough using a little water (like you would for rotis/chapathis)
- Add the food colouring and knead further until all of the dough is coloured
- Make balls (about 1 inch each) and roll out on a large surface like chapatis
- Using a knife/pizza cutter cut out hearts
- Make roses using steps in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzp3XfhUpQ4
- Heat oil in a wok/kadai. (DO NOT heat the oil to very high temperatures!)
- On a medium-low flame fry each heart/rose quickly and take out over a paper napkin to drain off excess oil
- Serve these spicy hearts and roses with a cuppa garama garam chai

Makes around 8 hearts and 8 roses of small/medium size... Just right for a light snack!



I finally decided to particiapte in a event hosted by food bloggers. Priya, I stumbled upon your blog as I kept browsing. I saw that you have a The Hearts for St. Valentine's Day event and thought I could send this in as an entry. This is my first entry to events. Thanks for hosthing this one, Priya. I do hope you try it too!