Naan Khatayi... Melting in Mouth !

In my home town, Aligarh, there held an Exhibition every year where all those kids’ rides and small shops, Circus etc. take place. It was fun to visit that Mela in the month of February, slight winters and those hot fried crispy Indianised Potato Fries with steaming Nan Khatayi was our favourite. Even when we grew up, and stopped going to the Exhibition, these two things were a must in that season from the same shops every year. This tradition was continued for very long unless I relocated completely to New Delhi.

My Mum was very fond of those crumbly Nan Khatayis and hence where ever I got them in good quality, I used to get them for her. When I finally got to make them at home, this was the memory I had in my mind. Didn’t fry those potato chips though, these soft delicate cookies were enough to satisfy my cravings for a long time. Loaded with Ghee/Butter and Sugar , they are a rare but real treat .. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup Gram flour, besan
• ¼ cup semolina, sooji
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Ghee ( clarified butter )
• 1 tsp Kewra Water
• 1 tsp Cardamom powder
• Handful of pistachios , for garnishing

Method:

• Sieve all the flours together and mix cardamom powder and kewra water to it properly.
• Melt the ghee and add sugar to it. Whisk for a while to get it mixed properly. It will take around 3-4 minutes of rigorous whisking to get the desired consistency.
• Add this Ghee-Sugar mixture to the flours and start getting the dough together. It will not be like a proper pliable mass of dough but will be crumbly and tight.
• Now make equal rounds of balls out of it and flatten them for a cookie shape. Place a pistachio in the centre for garnish.

• Bake them in a preheated oven for 10 min at 200 degrees. Check them once at this point and bake for another 5 minutes if required. Mine took precisely 13 minutes.
• The cookie coming straight from the oven will be very delicate and crumbly. Give them some time to cool off , around 10 minutes. Enjoy while they are still warm, they will turn harder when cool completely.

Notes:

• You can skip Kewra water completely, although it did provide a very delicate flavour to the Nan Khatayis.
• These cookies are best eaten warm, so you can Micro them for 30 sec every time you have them for that rich taste.
• Nan Khatayis are delicate to handle when warm, so be careful not to break them.
• These are eggless cookies and you can also make them Vegan by substituting Ghee with Vegan butter.
• Can be stored in Air-tight containers for up to two week or a bit more. I doubt they will remain in the container by then though. :)

Off to Radhika's ILove Baking, Sara's Women's Day,  Ayeesha's Healthy Morsels- Pregnancy,  
Kalyani's Bake Fest, colorful Palette - Holi, My own For you Mum