It’s June 15th and time for another foray into the Indian Cooking Challenge! This month we have a spicy, savory shortbread called a Khara Biscuit from the recipe files of Champa. Unlike the fluffy, leavened biscuits we’re familiar with, this unleavened biscuit is more of a cookie. Studded with chiles and cilantro they make a nice snack or accompaniment to a meal.
Iyengar Bakery-style Khara Biscuit
Ingredients:
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
6 Green Chiles, finely diced
3 Tbsp chopped Cilantro
6 Tbsp Butter, softened
4 tsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Plain Yogurt, plus more as needed (I used a total of 6 Tbsp, I think)
Putting it all together:
Preheat your oven to 325° Fahrenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
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In a bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Toss in the chopped chiles and cilantro until both are coated with a fine layer of flour and set aside. |
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In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the yogurt and continue to beat until fully incorporated. |
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With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix slowly, adding more yogurt as needed to get a dry but workable dough. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it could become tough. |
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The original recipe suggests rolling out to dough to 1/4″ thick and cutting them with round cookie cutters. I found the dough difficult to roll so opted to scoop even portions of the dough and flattened them with my hands. |
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Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through cooking. They’ll stay pretty pale but the bottoms will turn golden brown. Depending on the thickness of your biscuits, they may need a little more than 20 minutes (mine took about 25). |
The original recipe mentioned using mint in place of the cilantro and I might have to make them again, just to try it out. The spicy cookies were a nice counterpoint to the sweet-garlic-eggplant we had that evening for dinner.
Prefectly baked cookies, looks beautiful..
like the rustic look…doing up with hands is a good option..
These look really scrumptious.
Those look yummy
Hand rolled cookies look just as good as the rolled and cut ones. I am curious though that you have served them with rice! Did they make a good side bite?
I know you will come out with a new method..:)..cookies look great..I guess I can answer Lataji’s question, I eat that way too most times.
Cookies are so inviting…