Friday, March 1, 2013

Masala biscuits ~ Tried and tasted!

Most of the dishes that we make have lot of memories attached to them. When I think of saaru it reminds me of our temple feast. When I think of Pathrado I am reminded of my dearest amma who makes the most delicious and soft Pathrado ever.. Shevai reminds me of my aunt who makes yummy shevai's with yam pickle..And when I think of Masala biscuits it reminds me of my mhanthu (my dad's elder brother). He has always been a fan of these sweet and spicy biscuits. He still stocks them at home at times to have with his tea. Growing up, we have always seen yellow coloured biscuits spiced with green chilli, turmeric powder and pepper in a transparent pearlpet jar at my uncle's house. The biscuits had sweetness from sugar and smelled heavenly. When I saw similar biscuits at Divya's place I was super excited. This does not taste exactly like those City bakery biscuits but you make them once you will not be able to stop yourself from making it again. These are simple and ADDICTIVE! I have made these around 4 times already and whomever I have shared them with had only good things to talk about!
Even though I had made them before I could never get a decent picture of it to post here. So when Nupur announced her "Spice and Something Nice" Event I decided to make these to be sent over to my new friend D.

I followed Divya's recipe to make these wonderful biscuits. I am copying her recipe here for my future reference.

Here is what's needed:

Maida - 1 cup
Butter - 75 gms ,softened
Powdered sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Green chillies - 3,chopped
Yogurt - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 10, chopped
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp,chopped
Ginger - 1/2' piece grated

Procedure:
1) Preheat oven to 150C.Grease/line a cookie tray.
2) Sift together flour,powdered sugar,baking powder and salt and keep aside.
3) In a mixing bowl,beat butter till smooth[about3-4 minutes].Mix in the cut chillies,chopped curry leaves,coriander leaves,ginger and yogurt.
4) Slowly mix in the flour little at a time and knead into a smooth dough.
5)Keep the dough inside a ziplock and seal it closed.
Start rolling-first to all four corners and then roll evenly till the dough stretches to all sides.
It might be sticky at this stage-so refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes or so.
Cut open the ziplock and cut the biscuits into shapes of your choice
6)Place the cookies on the baking tray and bake for 20-23 minutes.
Cool on a cooling rack and store in airtight containers.

Note:
The first time I made these I was in hurry to make them hence I skipped the step 5 and directly on a lightly floured surface rolled the dough and cut them into biscuits. It did not make much difference to end result and it was devoured in no time. Since it saves time I make it the same way even now. I have always made the biscuits a little thin but this time I rolled it a little thick and the biscuits puffed up beautifully and were very crispy. Perfect with a hot cup of coffee or tea.

Thanks Divya for sharing this with us. This is going to be one of my fav recipe!