Saturday, December 16, 2006

Crunchy baked methi biscuits

In the interests of authenticity, I refrained from calling these crisp baked savoury biscuits "mathri" - "mathri", apart from being deep-fried, contain very few ingredients, the main flavouring coming from ajwain or carom seeds. These biscuits have a lot of things added, but carom seeds isnt one of them things. I used black sesame seeds as a substitute instead and kasuri methi instead of fresh (didnt have any fresh, natch). Not because the sesame seeds are similar in taste to ajwain, because they certainly are not, but because I had a pack of black sesame seeds I hadnt got around to opening till then. I like black sesame seeds - they have a stronger flavour than the white ones. They're used a lot in oriental cuisine. These cookies - or okay, biscuits - are just the thing when you get the munchies because they're low-fat. (Next time I'll follow the original recipe which specified fresh methi leaves and ajwain.)



The dough for this, by the way, should be made with as little water as possible. The less water you use, the quicker the biscuits will bake and the crunchier they'll be. (Why do I get the feeling that I sound like Yoda?)

Recipe for:
Crunchy baked methi biscuits




Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour (or plain if you prefer)
Salt to taste
1 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
2 tbsp kasuri methi (dried crushed fenugreek leaves)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tbsp black sesame seeds (you can use white or natural too)
2 tbsp oil
Water as required

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with silicone paper. Put all the ingredients except the water, in a bowl.



2. Add water little by little to make a stiff dough.



3. Divide the dough in half and roll one half out into a thin circle (1/4cm). Keep the other half covered.



4. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter (or just use a pizza cutter to cut the circle into 2" squares). Re-roll the scraps and finish up the rest of the dough in the same way. Prick the cut-out dough all over with a fork.



5. Place the cookies carefully on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or till they are brown and crisp. Keep an eye on them so they dont burn - take it from me, burnt kasuri methi tastes awful!

6. Cool completely and store in an airtight jar.

17 comments:

Mamatha said...

This is a very interesting recipe Shammi. This looks like a low-fat alternative to murukku. I must try this one. Thanks! Happy Holidays.

Anonymous said...

Hi Shammi, thanks alot for posting this -- I am always on the lookout for non-fried crispy snacks :) Looks delicious!

Anupama said...

I like your recipe very much Shammi. I have by-hearted it because it is so simple. Will try to make it today itself

TNL said...

This is so creative..and healthy too...I love that. These will taste great with some tea, I think.

Thanks for this great recipe.
-Trupti

The ramblings of a shoe fiend said...

Oooh! Love the tree and scrolling pictures! Such fun!!

Anonymous said...

tasty and healthy??? I want some!

cheers!

love your scrolling display!

Swamy VKN said...

Hi Shammi - fabulous results. Great biscuits as cool evening snacks. Cheers!

jayakarthik said...

wonderful shape
looks lovely
will try ur recipe
thanks for sharing
HAVE A WONDERFUL FUN FILLED CHRISTMAS

Anonymous said...

Murukku Rings?? I saw them in the scrolling display and it caught my eye. Please post more details!!!
ash

Lakshmik said...

Wow Shammi. What a recipe. Especially I love the whole wheat flour in it. I am going to try it tomorrow for sure. Thanks.

Menu Today said...

Hi Shammi,
I made last week this one fried version. Baking is nice idea . Thanks for sharing.

Seema Bhat said...

Shammi:
just loved this recipe buddy. Indeed a very healthy and creative recipe. I just loved a lot of recipies in your blog and have added your link in my buddy list.Hope you don't mind.
Thanks
Seema

Anonymous said...

Hi Shammi,
I tried this recipe yesterday. I guess i didnt pay attention on your 'learn it from me' warning. anju nimisham dhaan kavanikaama viturppaen. One batch was waste. (adhayum waste panna masillaama podichu vachurkkaen - maybe edhaadhu roast/currykku podalaam)
I was careful with the second one. It came out good. Crispy and spicy - Just the way i like it.
Have some more flour remaining - so planning to make puri or chappathi from that. Thanks for the idea. I have got more ideas from it.
Julyvee

J said...

Thank you, this is a wonderful blog!
My mom is making the baked mathris for my thatha tomorrow :)

and great category widgets! very user-friendly :)

Anonymous said...

Hi - Just wanted to bring to your attention that this site - http://www.topintownbakery.com/productdetail.php?name=144 filched your methi biscuit picture (http://srefoodblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/crunchy-baked-methi-biscuits.html)

Shammi said...

Hi Anon, thank you very much for pointing out the copyright theft by this Lucknow bakery. I wish I could do something about it, but there is no way to contact those people as the website is incomplete and there are no contact details :(

Anonymous said...

That sucks (the copyright infringement).

In any event, thanks for the awesome recipe - I've made these methi 'matris' several times, with the intention of storing some, but end of gobbling them all :)