Baked Indian savory crackers- Namak Para

I know i have been MIA lately but it was all for a very good reason. I was taking some time off and rejuvenating myself in India. Now i am back, all charged up and ready to share some of my fun experiences from my recent vacation to India and sharing with you a fun recipe of savory crackers – Namak Para. Lets read 🙂

Now, that i am back and away from all the Indian food goodness, what is the first thought in my mind? Indian food offcourse ! My mom had made some amazing Namak Para (Indian name for savory crackers. Namak = salt ) for me while i stayed with them and i was missing them to core. Although i stuffed myself with them in India, i really wanted to make some for myself and i did just that 😛

Namak Para are deep fried savory goodness which is enjoyed with chai. For my crackers, i took inspiration from another Indian dish called Theplas (Gujarati style flat breads) which is made using a mix of different flours and fenugreek. So, lets not wait longer and jump onto the recipe straight away.

Namak Para – Baked Indian Savory Bites

Baked Namak Para

  • Difficulty: medium
  • Print

namak para copy

Recipe

  • whole wheat flour-2 cups
  • all purpose flour- 1 cup
  • gram flour/ besan- 1 cup
  • salt- 1 tsp or to taste
  • turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
  • red chili powder (or as per taste)- 1 tsp
  • black pepper- 1/2 tsp
  • baking soda- 1/2 tsp
  • nigella seeds- 2 tsp
  • carrom seeds- 1 tsp
  •  oil/ clarified butter (ghee)- 1/2 cup
  • water- 1 cup (or as needed to make a firm dough)
  • dried fenugreek leaves- 1/2 cup

Method

  1. Begin with mixing the flours in a bowl. Add in the spices, fenugreek leaves and oil/ghee and using your hands, mix together till the flour starts to resemble bread crumbs.
  2. Now, slowly start adding in the water and kneading into a dough. The dough should be firm, not too soft.
  3. Once the dough is ready, cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
  4. Once the dough has rested enough, divide the dough into 4-5 parts and roll it out into a circle of 3-4 mm thickness. Using a knife, cut into diamonds and then with a fork, poke holes into the dough diamonds. Poking holes prevents the crackers from fluffing up upon baking/frying and helps in even cooking. baked namak dough

You can either Fry the namak para (which is the traditional way) or can take a slightly healthier route and bake these. Either ways, the result is crunchy crackers, so choose your own style. If you decide to bake, like i did mine, pre-heat the oven at 350F till ready.

For fried Namak Para

namak para fried

Take a frying pan and add atleast 1 inch of oil into it to ensure that the crackers can fry easily without touching the base of the pan. Heat the oil to high. Once hot, add in one cracker to check the temperature, if the cracker comes on the surface of the oil as soon as you put it in the oil, the oil is hot enough. If it sinks, the oil is not hot enough to begin the frying.

Once the oil is hot, fry small batches at a time and cook on medium flame so that the paras get cooked while frying and not brown up really fast. Each batch should take about 5-7 minutes.

For Baked Namak Para

Pre-heat the oven at 375 F till ready. Take a baking tray and grease it. Now, place the diamond crackers on the tray and keep a little space between the pieces as the crackers will expand a little upon baking. Bake each side of the crackers for 7-10 minutes * on each side or till crunchy.

namak para baked

*Keep an eye on the crackers while baking because they tend to brown up really fast and can burn.

So, whats your take? Don they look outright awesome !!

These crackers surely brought back some Indian trip memories with it and a big smile on my face 🙂 I love these crunchy little treats to core. The best part is that savory crackers are like blank canvases… add in your own flour mix and spice spins and these crackers and make your own favorites. I love nigella seeds and fenugreek combination in this one and the gram flour brings in a very interesting nutty flavor these crackers.  Try these out for ourself and discover he magic of Indian spices in this one.

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7 Comments

  1. Welcome back and a great snack to start off. Love d addition of fenugreek.

  2. They do indeed look awesome!! Personally, I like the baked version 🙂
    Welcome home, I look forward to seeing what other fabulous food your trip has inspired…x

  3. Welcome back! So glad to hear you had a wonderful trip 🙂 These crackers look incredible baked or fried!

  4. Pingback: Diwali 2016- Collection of 27 recipes | Divine Spice Box

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