Namakpare … Savory fried crackers
I made some a while ago, and while they tasted right, the texture wasn’t. They were not crunchy. You see they are meant to be crunchy and that’s what makes them so addictive. I was a little disappointed with this version and that was the end of it.
Anyway, I forgot about them for a little while and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, I came across a recipe a couple of days ago when I was looking around online. I decided I had to try them out. I was missing Indian flavours and I figured, this would be a good opportunity to try out another recipe.
This recipe simply involves making a tight dough, roll out into a disc, cut into diamonds, deep fry, cool down and … Enjoy! The ingredients required are also very basic ones. There is a good chance you will have all you need in your pantry. This recipe took me back home in a bite. The crackers taste fantastic, they are crunchy and so very yummy. Once completely cooled, you can store them in an airtight container. Enjoy them with a nice hot cup of tea.
Namakpare
Recipe from: Cooks Joy
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
Salt, to taste
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
Water, as needed
Oil, for deep frying
Mix both flours, salt and cumin seeds.
Add ghee and rub it into the flour.
Using water slowly and gradually, knead into a tight dough. (You want the dough smooth but NOT soft.)
Cover and let the dough rest for an hour.
When you are ready to proceed, preheat oil for deep frying.
Divide the dough into 4 portions.
Working with one portion at a time (keep the rest covered so that it doesn’t dry out), roll out to a disc about 1/8 inch thick.
Cut into diamond shapes. In India, they have a really cool cutter with multiple blades that makes the process much quicker. But if you don’t have one, use a knife like I did. I forgot to take a picture of this step 🙁
Pictured above is a different dough (the one for methi namakpare …. recipe coming up soon), but the process is exactly the same.
You can always re-roll the scraps and cut them out.
Carefully place the cut pieces in the hot oil. I usually place the cut pieces in my slotted spoon and place the spoon in the oil and gently tip the pieces in. I find that’s the only way I can keep from burning my hands.
Fry over a medium low heat. (This low frying ensures they cook through and get crispy later.)
When they are a nice golden brown, drain and set on some kitchen paper to get rid of any excess oil.
When completely cooled, store in an airtight container.
Note:
Because you’ve used ghee while kneading the dough, you wont need to sprinkle flour to roll it out, the dough will not be sticky.
Fry it over a medium heat. Frying it over high heat will just brown the outside while the inside will still be doughy and won’t crisp up.
Bombay Street Food Special #10 – Dahi wada
Bombay Street Food Special #9 – Deep-fried Lentil Fritters
Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you how to use these fritters to make another yummy snack.
Cajun Chicken Wrap
Breakfast Quesadillas
Breakfast Quesadilla
1 flour tortilla
Crunchy peanut butter
1 banana, sliced
Dark chocolate chips
A knob of butter
Spread some peanut butter on the tortilla.
On one half of the tortilla arrange the banana slices and sprinkle the dark chocolate chips over.
Fold the empty half over and press down lightly to make sure the peanut butter can do its thing and get everything together.
Add a knob of butter in a pan and over a low-medium flame toast the quesadilla till it gets nice and crunchy.
Then add another knob of butter to the pan and carefully turn the tortilla over to the other side and let it crisp up nicely.
I cut it into three wedges just to make it easier to handle.
Serve up…. and oh, please proceed carefully, the melted filling is hotter than you think it would be.
Baked Cauliflower Poppers
This is another ingenious way of cooking cauliflower, if you ask me. They call it a healthier alternative to fries, and I will agree. Can you imagine a healthier alternative to fries? It was hard for me to, and I always thought this would be a lot of hype and would not deliver. But, I was wrong, and I’m glad I was wrong. Because these little beauties turned out gorgeous. They are so more-ish, its hard to stop eating them. Like you see in the picture below, I served these up with some skewered chicken (recipe to follow in the next post). It was super quick to put together and it was absolutely delicious. It needs very little prep work, so once you pop it in the oven, you can get on with other tasks you may have to complete.
It turns out, that these poppers can be served with some ketchup, but we loved them just the way they were and didn’t even bother with the ketchup.
If you haven’t tried these yet, I really think you should. I know that these baked poppers will make an appearance at my dinner table every now and then 🙂
Baked Cauliflower Poppers
1 head of cauliflower
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt, to taste
Freshly crushed black pepper corns, to taste
Preheat the oven to 190º – 200ºC.
Wash and dry the cauliflower and cut it up into florets. Try and maintain the same size to ensure even cooking.
In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower florets, olive oil, salt and pepper. Make sure the florets are evenly coated with the oil and seasoning.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and spread the cauliflower over it evenly.
Bake for about 20-30 minutes, stirring and turning the florets over every now and then, to make sure they don’t burn. I stirred them around every 8 minutes or so. Keep an eye on them and turn them as needed. You don’t want them to burn.
Once they’re nicely roasted, serve them up hot and enjoy.
This would be so much healthier than a bag of potato chips to snack on too.
SRC: Caramel Popcorn
To check out my previous SRC assignments, click here.
Anyway, on to this month’s assignment. This was the first time ever I’ve been assigned an Australian blog, actually, I think its probably the first time I’ve spent this much time on one. My assignment this month was Leigh’s Chit Chat Chomp. What a fun name! And what a beautiful blog. Hi Leigh! I really enjoyed looking through your blog space this month. Leigh is from Melbourne and loves travelling and food. Her travelogues are very interesting. Though I didn’t have the time to go through them all, with Easter prep and stuff, I’ve bookmarked them to read through later. I think I could plan a lovely trip to Australia with tips from this lovely blog. Go on and visit her! You’ll have fun!!! Not to mention you’ll be drooling over her lovely food clicks and recipes. It was fun having so many lovely options to choose from. Oh did I mention that Leigh has a little weekend catering venture that she runs. I have a more than a few recipes I want to try out and I’m sure once you head on over there you’ll be in the same boat with me 🙂
For my assignment this month, I was on the lookout for some feel good food. I just got back from a 3-day weekend trip to Panchgani. More on that later. But coming back to the city had me down with a severe case of the blues. So when I saw Leigh’s caramel popcorn, I knew I was going to make it. Popcorn and caramel – two of my favorite things in one. Its tried and tested comfort food that makes you feel better instantly. Who am I to disagree? Its simple and quick to put together and I enjoyed every bit of it. I halved the recipe this time around since I knew I’d have no problem polishing off the whole lot and didn’t want to be faced with that kind of temptation. And I was right to do so! What a treat this caramel popcorn is! I had to try really hard to keep myself from finishing it off. Lovely caramel flavor, with a tiny hint of honey! I’m so glad I now have a recipe like this in my arsenal. This will be perfect for parties and around Christmas!
Caramel Popcorn
40g popcorn kernels (I used a pack of Act II – classic salted)
1 tbsp butter
1/8 cup honey
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Cook the popcorn according to the manufacturers instructions.
For the caramel sauce, place the butter, honey and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and stir it till the butter melts down.
Turn up the heat to a medium and bring the mixture to a boil for 3-4 minutes or until it turns golden and has thickened.
Take off the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda and stir well to combine.
Pour the sauce over the popcorn, mix to coat the kernels well and spoon onto a lightly greased baking tray to set.
Break into pieces and serve.
Check out these little chunks of deliciousness!!!
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Mushroom Toast Bites
Mushroom Toast Bites
200g packet of button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thickly
2 onions, sliced
1-2 green chillies, slit
1 tsp olive oil
A knob of butter
3 cloves of garlic, lightly crushed to release flavor
Salt, to taste
Crushed black pepper, to taste
Place the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat.
Add the mushrooms and saute till they’re done. Don’t overcrowd the pan as the mushrooms will just stew in their juices. Do this in stages if you’re using a small pan. Drain the mushrooms and keep aside.
Using the same pan, add a dash more oil / butter, if needed and tip in the garlic and onions and saute them on medium heat till they’re lightly caramelised.
Add the chilies and the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix well.
Take off the heat.
You can add some chopped coriander leaves at the end. I didn’t have any that evening, so I just left that out.
Lightly toast slices of bread and cut in halves and place the stir fried mushrooms over it.
Arrange on a platter and serve.
This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
My Meatless Mondays
Mix it up Monday
Recipe Sharing Monday
Just Another Meatless Monday
Mouthwatering Monday
Mangia Mondays
A Little Birdie Told Me
Mini Eggless Banana Walnut Muffins
Can you tell that I absolutely love bananas? They’ve always been one of my favorite fruits. If you’re new here and don’t believe me, check out these beauties – Banana Bread, Bananas Foster, Stuffed French Toast and Monkey Business. See I wasn’t kidding. Today I have yet another banana treat for you. And let me tell you that these were absolutely wonderful. Even though they were an eggless bake, they were light, moist and super yum. I made mini muffins this time just as an excuse to have a second helping, maybe even a third 😉 These were so great that the next time I whip these up, I’m going to make them the regular muffin size. I think that tells you how much we enjoyed them. I hope you do too! Oh, I love my new silicone mini muffin cups. They are so gorgeous, they just brighten up my day. Am I crazy to want them in every color available 🙂 ? Unfortunately I forgot to use them while baking the muffins but they do make a pretty picture. Can’t wait to bake with them.
Mini Eggless Banana Walnut Muffins
Yields 12 mini muffins
2-3 over ripe banans, mashed
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup natural unflavored yogurt
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and prepare your muffin mould
Mash the bananas in a bowl and add the oil, yogurt, sugar and vanilla and mix well.
Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Mix well.
Add the mashed banana mix and fold it into the flour till incorporated. Don’t beat the batter.
Add the walnuts, reserving a few and stir them in gently.
Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins and sprinkle the reserved walnuts on top of them.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or till done.
This recipe is linked to –
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweets for a Saturday
Savory Sunday
Mix it up Monday
My Meatless Mondays
Bake Fest