Namak Paare karele

Since our childhood we all have been enjoying homemade namak paare, made by our grandmothers and mothers. These are the same namak paare with a twist. Their shape is like karela / Bitter Gourd but taste is same as the good old namak paare.

 

 

Ingredients:

Maida / flour --------------------------- 250 gms
Suji / semolina-------------------------- 2 tbsp
Salt --------------------------------------- 1 tsp
Ajwain / Carom seeds------------------ 1 tsp
Luke warm water ----------------------- to knead dough
Oil ---------------------------------------- to fry


Seive maida and suji in a big bowl / paraat. Make a well in between and add salt, ajwain and 1 tbsp oil in it. Now moyen the mixture. Moyen means rubbing flour with oil from the tips of the fingers until the mixture starts to look like breadcrums. Now, add water and knead a puri like dough. Rest the dough for half an hour.

 

Knead the dough again for few mintues. Make small marble size balls. With the help of rolling pin / belan roll a puri of a ball. Draw straight-line cuts in it by leaving 0.5 cm gap between them. Also leave some space on the periphery of the puri. 

 

Now roll it inwards as shown in the pictures below.

Repeat the process for all the dough balls.

 

 

Heat oil in a pan / kadhai. Deep fry Namak Paare karele on high to medium heat until golden brown. Then transfer them into colander to drain the excess oil. Let them cool and then store in a air tight container.

 

 

 

 

Some ideas:

1. Different flavours can be given to these namak paares by adding Mint (Pudina), Seasame etc.
 

Moong / Channa / Dal Moth Namkeen

Everybody likes Namkeen. The recipes for Moong, Channa, Dal Moth are almost same. Only frying time differs according to the size of the dal. If size is big it will take more time to fry. 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Moong/ Channa/ Masoor dal --------------------- 1 cup

Oil ---------------------------------------------------- to fry

 

Masala:

 

Salt --------------------------------------------------- 1/4 tsp

Black Salt ------------------------------------------- 1/4 tsp

Black pepper powder ------------------------------ 1/2 tsp

Chat masala ----------------------------------------- 1/2 tsp

 

 

Soak the dal overnight or for 4-5 hrs. Wash and drain well. Spread dal on a towel evenly so that all the moisture will be soaked by it.

 

  

 

 

This is how dal will look like now.

 

 

 

Heat Oil in a kadahi/ Pan. Oil should be very hot - it should be heated to the point so that you will start to see fumes coming out of it.  Add dal in it.  Keep the stove flame high as it needs to be fried at a high temperature, else dal will get hard. When dal starts to come up on the surface of the oil, it means frying is (almost) done. To check that it is crispy and well cooked, see if it will easily break just with a little pressure of fingers. Fry a little more if it is still soft. Once done, take dal out of the oil and keep it in a colander to drain the extra oil.

 

 

Then transfer dal from colander to paper napkin for it to absorb all the extra oil.  Let it cool.

 

 

 

Now add the masala and store it in an air tight jar. This will remain good at least for a month. But if you have kids a month :) is a very long time.