(A crispy, salty, deep-fried, savory tea-time snack )

It’s 4 pm, and you are ready to have your tea. However, it would help if you nibbled something. The kids are back from school and want something to munch on too… What are the options? Yes! So many of us try to find an answer to this question. Today I bring a recipe that can be made in a big batch one day and then pulled throughout the week. Namak para or Nimki is a fried snack that perfectly complements tea/coffee.

You can make this recipe in many different shapes - diamond, rectangle, circle, or folded triangular shape. The choice is yours! I prefer an easy way out of cutting the rolled dough into narrow rectangular shapes.

RECIPE VIDEO

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour/maida (मैदा)

• 1/4 cup clarified butter (शुद्ध देसी घी)

• 1 tsp carom seeds (अजवाइन)

• water to knead the flour (आटा गूंथने के लिए पानी)

• salt as per taste (a little more than usual)

• Oil for frying (तलने के लिए तेल)

Method

• Take Maida in a bowl. Add salt to it.

• Heat ghee in a pan till it melts. Add this to the Maida. Rub it in properly till all the maida gets mixed with the ghee.

• Add carom seeds.

• Start adding little water and kneading the dough. Knead the dough using less water as we need a thick dough for this recipe. (The dough should be thicker than the chapati dough).

• Cover and keep the dough aside for 20 minutes.

• After 20 mins knead the dough again and roll it into an oblong shape as shown in the video.

• Cut the dough into 4-5 equal parts using a knife/ pizza cutter.

• Take one part, put some oil on it, and knead it again. Make a ball out of it, press it between the palms, and roll it into a round shape using a rolling pin.

• Cut the round in half using a knife/pizza cutter. Rotate the rolling board by 90 deg, and cut the dough into thin, narrow rectangles (or any desired shape).

• Heat the oil in a pan/kadhai, and add the cut rectangles little by little to it. Deep fry them and remove them on a kitchen paper towel to soak excess oil.

• Repeat the same procedure for all batches.

• Cool them down and store them in an air-tight container.

NAMAK PARA / NIMKI IS READY TO BE SERVED!

Notes -

• Kneading the dough properly is the key to getting perfect Namak paras.

• Add a little more salt while kneading the flour as this snack is supposed to be salty.

• You can add kalonji (onion seeds) to this recipe if you like.

• Store the Namak pare in an air-tight container to maintain the crispiness.

• Start frying them only when the oil is hot. To check if the oil is hot enough, drop a piece into the oil. If it does not rise to the top, the oil is NOT hot. If it does then proceed with frying. Check the video below too see this -

Did you make this recipe?
Kindly let me know in the comments section below, snap a pic, and tag @bitesandbokeh on INSTAGRAM.