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I believe that salt is to food, what food is to life. In right proportions, it can heighten the taste of what you eat..and in the wrong - destroy! Even the most delicious sweets come added with some salt...to taste!

As for me, I've never enjoyed cooking. And as contrary to my owning a food-blog as it may sound, I always think about daily, routine cooking as a chore. But my tryst with the pots and pans began when I got a kitchen all to myself...I began experimenting and exploring new worlds in my own home. Some outcomes were excellent and some plain disasters. Then sprouted the need to keep track of all those good ones...and hence this blog!

Here, I share those experiments that pleased more than one palate!




July 12, 2010

Nan Kathai

If you have been wondering why there is so much silence on SSTT, its simply because I've been too busy. Too busy - enjoying myself this summer! We're planning trips and heading outdoors almost every weekend and making sure we stock up on loads of snacks to-go. That being said, one fine day I decided I had to dish up something all by myself. Something that we could throw into a zip-top bag and take it with us to munch as we rolled down the highway. And, right then I remembered this crunchy little, long forgotten (in my case) Indian cookie - Nan Kathai. Of course I did not know how to put it together...but why do we have the internet?! I remember having come across this one on Manjula's Kitchen - A site that I refer a lot of times when I want to 'see' how to make stuff rather than just read. You should look it up. She has some great videos wherein she explains recipes with utmost patience and makes it all seem like a breeze!


Ingredients
1/3 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/3 cup fine semolina/rava/sooji
1/2 cup gram flour (besan)
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

A pinch of baking soda
1/4 tsp green cardamom seed coarsely powder (Elaichi powder)
2 tbsp Mixture of finely sliced almonds and pistachios

Method
- Pre heat the oven to 375 degree.

- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until completely blended. I cannot resist myself from eating a glob of this! Horrible, I am, eh?!
- In another bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, semolina, gram flour, baking soda and cardamom powder and set aside
- Add this to the butter and sugar mixture and knead together to make soft, smooth dough
- Make small, equal sized balls of the dough (about 1 inch in diameter)
- Press each ball between your palms to form the shape of a thick cookie and place on a greased cookie/baking sheet
- Dab each nan kathai cookie with a pinch of the almonds and pistachios
- Place nan kathais in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until nan khatais are lightly gold brown
- Allow nan kathais to cool down completely before taking off cookie/baking sheet

Makes about 20 light, crunchy nan kathai - Perfect for tea-time, travel-time or just about any time!!

9 comments:

  1. Nice to see you again with yuumy & delicious nan kathai..

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  2. Deepti, they are mouth watering !!!

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  3. Such a beautiful nan khathai, looks super prefect and gorgeous..

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  4. oh this recipe is bit different with besan and semolina..looks yumm..

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  5. Yeah, I did drop in here a couple of times, wondering if I have missed any posts...the cookies look yummy yummm.. can I come along on these trips? Promise I will spare a couple of cookies for u too:-))

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  6. Looks yumm! I LOVE nan kathai.. I remember when I was in a hostel, my roomie's mom used to make these and send it over to her (officially atleast).. fact is she rarely got a chance to eat them as I used to pretty much finish them all .. I tried making these once but it was quite a disaster.. Will try out this recipe sometime soon :)

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  7. "They look yummmmmm"... LOL!! (you know what I mean)!
    OK, jokes apart, they really do look temptalicious, and I bet they're the perfect road-trip companions when you hit the road everytime. OK, so how many of these have you actually made, and how many are you planning on shipping to my address? ;)

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  8. Thanks, all!

    @ Suma - Come on over. I'd do anything for ya if you promise to not only save me a few cookies but also bake me sinful cakes!

    @ Tj - Do try it and let me know how you like these!

    @ Madhuri - I promise I made ONLY 20, I promise. They're all over, I promise *wicked grin* :P

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  9. OK, OK, I believe you! *even more wicked grin* ;)

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