Spicy Savory Cookies/khara Biscuits

Spicy Savory Cookies/ Khara biscuits 

Khara biscuits are spicy cookies that are very popular in bakeries across Bengaluru, especially in Iyengar bakery. 

Khara means spicy/hot in Kannada language. Khara biscuits are egg-free cookies that are crunchy with mild spicy and sweet taste making it a perfect accompaniment with a hot cup of tea or coffee.

These cookies are very easy and simple to bake at home. These are prepared using wheat flour, clarified butter or ghee, and few spices like cumin seeds, chilies, cilantro, curry leaves, etc. You can add more or less spices to suit your taste. The spices can be ground or can also be directly added to the flour.

Ingredients:-

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

Pinch of asafoetida/ hing

1/2 cup Ghee

3 tablespoons of yogurt/curd

3-4 green chilies

3 tbsp cilantro leaves

1/2 inch ginger

1 tsp cumin seeds/ Jeera 

Method:-

1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees and line the baking tray with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor or in a mixing bowl add cumin seeds, chopped ginger, green chilies, cilantro leaves, and curry leaves. Pulse it a few times to get a coarse paste. Do not add water and make a fine paste.

3. If you wish, you can skip grinding and chop all the ingredients finely and add it directly to the flour.

4. Take a large bowl and sieve together whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Now add hing/asafetida, sugar, and ground paste. Mix well using a whisk.

5. Add Clarified butter /Ghee to the flour mixture and mix with your hands to get a breadcrumbs texture. Now add yogurt little at times and bring the mixture together. Add little more yogurt if required to get a smooth nonsticky dough.

6. Do not knead the dough give it a cylinder shape rap it with cling wrap tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes take out the dough from the refrigerator and using a knife to cut the dough into the desired shape. You can also use a cookie cutter to cut the cookie dough.

7. Place the cookies on the lined baking tray. Prick the cookies using a fork so that it doesn’t puff up while baking.

8. Bake them 15-18 minutes until the edges of the biscuits start to turn golden brown.

9. Once baked, take out the tray from the oven and rest it for 2 minutes. Then, place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.

10. Store the biscuits in an airtight container when cooled down completely. Stays fresh for 15-20 days at room temperature.

11. Enjoy healthy Khara biscuits /Savory cookies along with your tea/coffee or as a snack any time of the day. 

I hope you like my recipes and will enjoy trying it. I would love to hear from you about your experiment in trying my recipes and how it turned out for you. Your feedback and suggestions are highly appreciated. Please leave a comment below. Also, do share the recipes with your friends and family on your social media networks.