Nankhatai - Indian Spiced Biscuits

photo by Ozzy

One of my favourite recipes from my Indian Afternoon Tea last weekend was Nankhatai - they are the perfect cup of tea biscuits and are very easy to make. You can customise them with different spices and once they are baked, different toppings.

Nankhatai can be found in most Indian bakeries and sweetmarts, they usually bake with a cracked top but I couldn't achieve this - I'm not sure what the technique is - but they tasted just as good!

Nankhatai are eggless biscuits, a lot of Indians don't eat eggs for religious reasons which is why they are such a popular baked good in India. They contain a pleasingly large amount of butter, which gives them their melting soft texture and makes them very moreish.

My biscuits are flavoured with cardamom and saffron and I topped them with chopped pistachios (bound with a little runny honey to stop them falling out), and some of them cumin seeds, which I love with sweet things.

Nankhatai - makes about 30 biscuits (easily halved)

100g softened butter
100g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of saffron
3 pods worth of black cardamom seeds - ground finely
250g plain flour
20g gram flour / chickpea flour
30g coarse semolina
Pistachios or other nuts to decorate.

Preheat your oven 160c / gas mark 4
Cream together the butter and sugar til smooth.
Add in your spices and baking powder and stir briefly
Sift in your flours, mix with a wooden spoon first and then as it comes together use your hands to form a dough - it will be quite soft.

Line or grease a couple of large baking trays and then make 1 inch balls out of the dough and place on the sheet. They should be fully round, don't flatten otherwise you won't get lovely rounded biscuits at the end.

Once you've got all the dough balls ready press into the middle to create a small hole, being careful not to flatten them. I used a velun (a rolling pin for rotli) - you could use the end of a tablespoon very carefully to do this.

Bake for 15 minutes til they are only just a little golden on the edges. Remove from the oven and then add your pistachios or other choice of topping - other nuts work well, as does desiccated coconut, or when they are cool you can add chopped chocolate.

They keep very well for a few days in an airtight tin stored at room temperature. I recommend you have them with a cup of masala chai!

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Peach Clafoutis & A Week in Limousin

We spent a week in Limousin last week, a much needed relaxing break after a few crazy months of working too much, making a lot of jewellery and generally not finding a lot of time to sit still. We went to the land of clafoutis, madeleines, pottery and cows. Limousin is very sleepy - lots of small towns and even smaller villages and hamlets tucked in to the rolling hills and next to winding streams and rivers.

We ate reasonably well, being with a vegetarian in France is a little tough and we planned to eat more in the gite (for budget reasons too) so we made good use of the local shops for this. We ate a lot of cheese and bread, as was my target and expectation. There is an excellent bakery in Saint Yrieux la Perche called Tartine which I would highly recommend - otherwise most other places you'll go will be great anyway!

I was keen to get back in the kitchen, and spend some time recreating local dishes and French classics. We had tartiflette one evening (minus the bacon for the veggie) and I tried my hand at the local speciality of clafoutis. Traditionally it is made with cherries, but I fancied peaches after we bought some gorgeous ones at the local supermarket.

I didn't realise just how easy clafoutis would be! I had pretty limited kitchen equipment - no scales, a tiny whisk and a casserole was to be my mixing bowl. I baked the clafoutis in a gorgeous old metal tart tin and it didn't stick!

I went for this adaption of a Julia Child recipe - an American recipe (mon dieu!) because I could estimate about what a cup would be, and use the teacups we had in the house. It worked out just fine, the only change was that I added 1 tsp of baking powder to ensure puffiness.

I sliced peaches with the skins still on and arranged them artfully(ish) on the top after one layer of the batter had cooked in the oven for a few minutes - this ensures the fruit doesn't sink. Once the second layer was baked I sprinkled the still warm clafoutis with sugar and left to cool slightly.

Limousin was a very lovely holiday destination, if a little quiet, but if you want to force yourself to do little then it is a great place to unwind, eat too much bread and cheese. :)

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A Very Indian Afternoon Tea

I’m holding my very first food event! After lots of talking, thinking and encouragement from the lovely people who make up the Cambridge food blogger ‘scene’ (not sure I like that word but it fits) I have decided to hold two events celebrating Indian food.

First up I’m starting with afternoon tea, which seems like the natural first event for me, someone with such a sweet tooth. After that I will be holding a supperclub where I’ll be cooking up an all vegetarian Gujarati feasts for around 15 guests.

 Indian Afternoon Tea – Sunday 4th August, 3pm – 5pm  - a few places left
A central Cambridge location, not far from the rail station 

 The much loved British afternoon tea but with an Indian / Gujarati twist. Savoury nibbles (think Indian street food) to begin, sweet treats, a masala chai cake (pictured) and of course tea!
 £19 per person
To book places for the afternoon tea email me at deepa@lazygiraffe.com with the number of places you'd like, I'll then send you a PayPal invoice for the tickets. 

Gujarati Supperclub – no date as yet but it will be late August / early September. 
I’m still scouting around for the perfect venue, plus perfecting a stack of perfectly round rotli (chapatti). 

I’m really excited to be bringing you my ideas for these two events, I’ve had a lot of fun planning the menus for both and I really hope my guests will be wowed. Email me if you’d like to book or for more details. See you in August!

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Monday Moodboard - Chocolate

Monday Moodboard - Chocolate, originally uploaded by lazygiraffe.

Scrummy yummy chocolateyness from the UK
Sweet Treats Bakery
WoollyDuck
TeaLovesCake
SweetMcBirdie

See more moodboards on Fleur Fatales Blog

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