Nan Khattai - Indian Shortbread

 A trip to Supreme Bakery in Kollam, my hometown, was always a much looked forward to treat. Amma got us delicious treats from there right through to the time her grand children came along. In my youth I remember amma cooking and baking a lot. But after appa's death, she didn't make so many treats at home - as it was just her at home a lot of the time. But when we came home for holidays, she got us all our favourites from the bakery.  This practice continued till the grand children came along.

One of the best things you can buy at Supreme is their nan khattai. Crumbly white biscuits shaped like a tiny bun with a few crushed nuts on top and smelling of cardamom with every bite. Delicious! Amma used to bake them at home in her round electric oven - slightly bigger than an air fryer but much smaller than what is commonly seen as a "regular" size oven in Australia.

So apparently, the nan khattais were brought to India by the Dutch in the 16th century - and then updated to suit Indian tastes.  It is essentially a shortbread made of plain flour, semolina and chickpea flour - some ghee and flavoured with cardamom. This recipe makes about 30 nan khattais.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup plain flour

1/4 cup chick pea flour

1 tablespoon semolina

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 green cardamoms

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup ghee

Optional: chopped pistachios and rose petals for garnish 

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Prepare a baking tray with baking paper.

Remove the green covering from the cardamom and pound the seeds to a fine powder 

Sieve together plain flour, chickpea flour, cardamom powder and baking powder.

Add semolina and caster sugar and mix well with a spoon.

I also added a tablespoon of chopped rose petals to this mix - but this is optional.

Add the ghee bit by bit to the flour and keep mixing until all of the flour comes together in a lump.

Lightly grease your palms with a bit of ghee and proceed to make 1 inch sized balls.

Flatten between your palms and place on baking tray.

Using a fork, make a small indentaion and place chopped pistachios and rose petals on it.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and let the biscuits cool for a minute before transferring them to a wire rack.

Cool completely and place in an air tight container.

These biscuits are a great idea for gifting.