Preheat oven to 350F. Butter an 8 inch round cake pan. Dust lightly with maida or all purpose flour. Use a tea strainer and a tablespoon of maida to achieve this.
Cook half the jamuns and castor sugar with lime and zest in a saucepan on medium heat until jammy and thick.
Beat butter, vanilla and brown sugar until fluffy. Add yogurt and beat again. Add both flours and baking powder and beat until just combined.
Pour into the greased pan. Smoothen the top of the batter. Using a tablespoon make 8 depressions in the batter and spoon in the jamun compote. Top each depression with a half jamun. Press down gently so it sits in the batter.
Bang the cake pan on the counter to ensure there are no air pockets.
Bake 40 minutes until golden brown and sides of the cake pull away from the cake pan. Remove from oven. Cool 15 minutes and gently turn the cake over on a cooling rack then flip the cake again. Serve warm with whipped cream and any leftover Jamun compote. Garnish with a few mint leaves if desired.
An English version of a grilled cheese this is vegetarian and can be made eggless as well.
Ingredients
150g yellow or white Cheddar, grated (you can do a mix of plain and Sharp, aged cheddar also)
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten or use 1 tsp cornflour for vegetarians
1 tbsp beer (preferably stout) or plain whole milk
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce (vegetarian HP or non vegetarian Lea Perrins))
1 tsp English mustard (Kasundi is amazing)
pinch red chilli powder or cayenne pepper
4 thick slices country white bread, rye bread or use regular plain sourdough
2 tsp butter unsalted
METHOD
Butter the bread on both sides (1/4 tsp on each side of the bread) and set to toast in an OTG or regular oven at about 350F until golden brown. Remove from the oven and raise temperature to broil.
Combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl. For an eggless version use 2 tbsp hot milk and make a slurry with the cornstarch first. Once it has cooled down add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Spread the cheese mixture on one side of every one of the 4 slices of bread. Broil until golden brown and melted. Serve immediately.
It seems appropriate that Nankhatai is a word of Persian origin; its decadent luxury and enduring elegance is an ode to it’s buttery past. In India the name evokes joy, serenity even sheer delight.
You sip your tea and in the mist of rising steam, your world becomes a soft and dreamy bubble, albeit for a fleeting moment. You may dip the biscuit, you may not but you linger over your tea, holding that knob of promised satisfaction between your fingers. When the tender crumb gives in between your teeth like a hesitant lover, the aroma of burnished flour envelops your senses.
This is a biscuit for gardens, for cool fountains, for swans, for rainy days, for giggling ladies and happy youth gathered over a table of hope but it is also for the meditative, for those of us who have been down life’s rocky road before.
Nankhatai is as much at home in the company of gilded china on a well set table as it is with clinking chai glasses on a street corner.
There are many recipes for this vegetarian cookie, you may call it biscuit too but most of them contain either chickpea flour, rice flour, all purpose flour and in some cases like mine almond flour. They are often made with ghee though I prefer mine with homemade clarified butter.
But I also like to have fun with the soft and pillowy dough so I used a cookie press. I made sandwich cookies with dulce de leche, Jim jam Nankhatai with chocolate filled centres and some traditional ones crowned with pistachio crumble.
DULCHE DE LECHE AND CHOCOLATE NANKHATAI
Here is the recipe-
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour
2 tbsp chick pea flour
2 tbsp fine semolina
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup clarified butter (method below)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp Powdered cardamom or nutmeg or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract mixed with the milk
2 tbsp plain cold wholemilk
To garnish
Roasted pistachio crumble
Dulce de Leche or thick caramel sauce
Melted semi sweet chocolate and dark chocolate chips
TO CLARIFY BUTTER AT HOME
To clarify butter melt 450 grams of butter in the microwave in a heatproof freezer proof bowl. It should be just a little foamy.
When melted remove, cool, cover tightly and freeze for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the freezer. You will find a layer of water above the butter. Drain it out. Now cut the clarified butter into pieces and use what you need by weight for the recipe.
CHOCOLATE NANKHATAIDULCE DE LECHE NANKHATAI
FOR NANKHATAI
In a bowl sift the baking powder, chick pea and all purpose flour with salt. Add the semolina, almond flour, spices if using and confectioner’s sugar. Stir together. Dice cold but softened clarified butter into small pieces and add to the flour. Using only your fingertips crumble them into a soft mealy dough. Add milk and bring the dough together. Knead lightly only until well incorporated. Now divided into 3 small balls if you intend to make only traditional round biscuits or into narrow logs that can fit into your cookie press tube. Cover tightly and refrigerate 20 minutes.
Preheat oven 350F. Prepare baking trays with parchment or silicon mats.
Press one dough log into cookie press using a disc of your choice and squeeze them out onto a sheet of parchment, an inch apart.
Repeat with the remaining logs using discs to change the shapes of the cookies. If you are doing the chocolate Jim jams ones you need to show a disc with a hole in the centre.
For the traditional button shapes rolls the dough into inch size balls and lay them on the sheet with an inch between them. Press down with your thumb to make a light impression. Garnish with pista crumble or finely chopped nuts of your choice.
Bake in the middle run for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove and let cool completely. place a teaspoon of dulche de leche on one cookie and press another one down on it. Spoon chocolate over another one and sandwich it with a second cookie. Place a dark chocolate chip in the centre.
Put in an airtight box and in very humid climate keep refrigerated.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, yogurt and butter together until well incorporated. Add the milk, orange zest, and stir again. Now add all the remaining ingredients and mix well for a smooth batter.
Brush aa square 9 inch or rectangular 10 by 8 inch cake pan with oil and then line with parchment paper. The size of your pan will determine how deep each square is. Some like a thinner slice but if you prefer a thicker one use an 8 inch square.
Pour the batter into the pan and smoothen the top with a spatula.
Cover the batter and let it rest about 25 minutes. As the semolina absorbs the liquid it will thicken.
Remove the cover and using a thin sharp knife lightly score the tops diagonally to make 12 diamonds. At this time preheat your oven to 350F. prepare the middle rack.
Place the almonds in the batter one for each square. For a thick square you could place it face down for a thinner slice you could place the almond on its vertical side.
Bake until the top is golden and the edges are beginning to caramelise about 30-35 minutes. Turn the broiler on to broil the top a few minutes. Remove the cake pan from the oven as soon as the top begins to darken to a colour you like. Be careful not to burn the cake.
Immediately pour the hot sugar syrup over the hot Namoura. Let it cool at room temperature for a few hours before serving.
FOR SUGAR SYRUP:
Combine all the ingredients for the syrup and boil until thickened and reduced in volume by a third. Do not stir while it boils. the syrup need
In a large jug pitcher, combine hibiscus petals, honey, and boiling water; let steep 20 minutes to 40, depending on how strong you like the colour and flavour.
Strain, add lime juice and refrigerate until chilled.
4 tinned peaches, peeled and sliced (or you can use frozen)
4 tablespoons cold orange juice
2 cups chilled sparkling white wine or sparkling apple juice, plus more for serving
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Instructions
Place sliced peaches in freezer for 1 hour. Reserve the liquid syrup.
Combine peaches and lime juice to a smooth puree. If you like you drink sweeter add some of the fruit syrup to the peach puree.
Pour half the puree into two champagne flutes. Drizzle two teaspoons of orange juice into each glass. Pour remaining peach puree. Top up with sparking wine or juice as per your choice.
Garnish with a peach or orange slice. A young basil flower or edible flower is also an option.
A classic Sindhi street food of thick lentils and crispy fried dough. Vegetarian. Can be vegan if you replace ghee with oil and milk with water.
Ingredients:
1 cup Bengal Gram
1/4 cup Refined Flour
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp amchur or dried mango powder
3 tbsp ghee or vegetable Oil
1 tsp whole Cumin seeds
Pinch asafoetida or hing
2 slit Indian Green chillies
9 fresh Curry leaves
FOR DOUGH
1 cup maida or all purpose refined Flour
1 cup atta or indian wholewheat flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee melted
2 tbsp fine Semolina
1 tsp black pepper powder
1/4 cup plain wholemilk
Water as required
GARNISH
1 small red Onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped Coriander leaves
Sweet and green chutney
METHOD FOR THE DAL
Soak chana dal 3-4 hours until puffy.
Drain, wash and pressure cooker in 3 cups water for two whistles.
Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, dry mango powder and salt and 1 tbsp ghee.
Stir gently and cook on low heat until mixture thickens. This dal should have a chunky, spreadable consistency.
Heat oil or remaining ghee in a small tempering spoon or mini skillet on high heat.
Add green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida and cumin seeds and cook till fragrant .
Pour the oil and spices over the dal.
Mix well. Taste for salt and adjust to taste. Remove from the fire.
FOR THE PAKWAN
Sift refined flour or maida and atta into a large bowl.
Add semolina, half teaspoon cumin seeds, black peppercorn powder, oil and salt.
Add milk and stir.
Add room temperature water a little at a time and knead into a soft pliant dough. Cover with a slightly damp cloth and let rest 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into eight portions and keep covered with a damp cloth.
On a flat clean surface dusted with maida, roll each portion into a flat chapati of five-inch diameter using a rolling pin.
Prick lightly with a fork. This prevents the pakwan from puffing up while frying.
Heat vegetable oil in a large kadai or deep heavy bottomed dutch oven on high heat. When hot but not smoking lower temperature to medium and deep-fry pakwan in hot oil until golden and crisp in 2-3 batches. Make sure they are golden on both sides.
Drain over paper towels. Serve immediately with the dal. Spread luke warm cooled dal over the fried dough.Garnish with chopped onion and coriander leaves and chutney as desired.
Cream or whisk sugar and margarine together with the vanilla. Add eggs and mix to incorporate evenly. Add flour and mix with a fork until it just comes together. Add cold water and using your hands bring the dough together into a flattened ball. Plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.
Preheat oven to 350f and prepare the middle rung. Line a baking ray with parchment or a silicone mat.
On a clean well floured surface roll out the dough into a square about 1/4 inch thick. Use a 2.5 inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Remove excess dough and reuse to cut out more circles.
Place 1.5 teaspoons of preserves in the center of each circle and then using your thumb and forefinger pinch the sides together to create a triangle. Brush sides with egg wash and sprinkle with black poppy seeds if desired. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden. Cool and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee. Refrigerate what’s left in an airtight box for up to 3 days.
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