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‘Nankatayi’ can be called as Indian biscuits. I had thought this is a Konkani name, but recently I came across this name in many of the food blogs. So I guess this dish does not need any introduction.
When I was a kid, I was a big fan of Nankatayi. We had the round oven aluminum base and glass top, I haven’t seen any such ovens anywhere these days) at home. It used to take ages to bake anything and with the power fluctuations and power cuts at our village, things became worst over time. After getting the oven repaired for many times, finally mom stopped using it :(.
Her Nankatayis were the best I have ever had. I guess it is mostly because of the prolonged procedure she used to follow. She used to make the dough in the morning and start baking in the evening, allowing the dough to ‘stand’ for 4-5 hrs. When I prepared them here, I cut down the ‘standing’ time to 30mins (because I was in a hurry). Still they turned out great :D.
Ingredients:
Maida/all purpose flour 2 cups
Powdered sugar 1 cup
Vanaspati/ghee 1 cup
Baking soda 1 tea spn
Method:
Heat vanaspati/ghee till it melts and add it to flour. Mix all other ingredients. (Do not add water). Take all the mixture to one side of the bowl (press it using hand, there should not be any gaps in the dough) as shown below. Leave the mixture for 4-5 hrs.
Make small rounds with the mixture (this requires a bit of patience. Since this dough is very loose, it breaks easily while making balls. So apply a bit of ghee to the hands and apply pressure with hands while making the balls). Keep the balls on a greased oven proof dish (or on a parchment paper).
Bake in preheated oven at 300F for around 30-40 mins (till the nankatayis get a few cracks on the top).
Makes around 15-20
Preparation time : 30mins (excluding the ‘standing’ and baking time)
Shilpa
July 24th, 2006 at 8:02 amBiscuits look delicious! My grand ma used to prepare these for us when we were kids.
Hi Shilpa ,
i was really looking for this recipe .. though i found couple of recipes on the net , i was not so satisfied ..now since this is ur recipe , i can try this blindly ..
thanks a lot !!!
& Shilpa one more request , can u please post some more recipes like this which can b prepared just once n last for a long time & also not much oily & spicy ?
Thanks again in advance
July 24th, 2006 at 8:13 amHi Shilpa …..My mom just disposed this traditional round oven with a glass top (Bajaj). She used it for many years. My mamama and mom make the best nankatayi. She used to make lot of dough when we all grandchildren went to native place and send the same to the bakery. It is called Narainkatar in Konkani.
July 24th, 2006 at 8:52 amMy mum had the oven too!! Werent they really cute? But I suppose not convenient for the person doing the cooking!
July 24th, 2006 at 10:17 amI have some guests coming over and was wondering what to make for tea. This is so convenient as I can make them in advance. Will let you know once I try them out…
Thankx a ton Shilpa I always wanted a tried and tested recipe for nankatai. I am going to make these a soon as I get the time. Btw I had one of those round aluminium ovens some 8/9 years back when i got married. I remember i used to bake a cake for 1 hour in it and the whole kitchen became unbearably hot ,but what came out was a lip smacking cake .So i pay a tribute to those now almost non-existent ovens.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:34 amHey Shilpa… these look so yummy… I am gonna try this. Just wanted to know if I could use baking powder instead of baking soda…
Thanx… Tina
July 24th, 2006 at 10:37 amHi Shilpa,
July 24th, 2006 at 11:32 amNankhatai looks yum yum
Thanks for sharing.
Vineela
Thanks Arjuna, Aruna, Vineela.
Reena, I will see if I can remember any such recipes, because usually all the dishes which can be made and kept for weeks involve deep frying :(.I will surely post here if something pops up in my mind.
Ashwini, do let me know if you like them
Anupama, I know what you are saying.I remember we used to wait for the whole day when my mom used the round oven to bake nankatayis. I used to ask her hundred times if it is ready, starting mmediately from the time it was kept in the oven and I used to start crying if power went off in between :D.
Tina, Yes, you can use baking powder. When I prepared this, I was not having baking soda, so I used baking powder and they turned out yummy :).
July 24th, 2006 at 1:26 pmI do make it with the same proportion but letting this stand for 4-5 hrs is new to me. Next time I will try it this way. Thanks for sharing this recipe
July 24th, 2006 at 4:14 pmHi Shilpa,
July 24th, 2006 at 5:11 pmBiscuits looks very delicious. Will surely try it very soon and let u know. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh, Shilpa, it looks delicious and the unbaked ones looks like dooth-beda
and you got the loose mixture to perfection, i am not sure i will be anywhere near to it!
July 24th, 2006 at 7:38 pmHi shilpa..biscuits looks so yummy..will bake them soon for taniya..thanks for sharing..
July 25th, 2006 at 6:31 amHey Shilpa… thanx a lot… I am gonna try them soon…
July 25th, 2006 at 7:12 amI luv these biscuits..we make something similarly and call them ghee biscuits..i guess the recipe is kinda similar but not sure….few ing i remember r same and may be few ing r extra..
July 25th, 2006 at 7:50 amanyway i luv these..nice pictures btw..
That is so simple. Thanx for sharing.
July 26th, 2006 at 12:40 amHello Shilpa
I came across your website looking for some baking recipes and saw nankatyai . The biscuits looks very good.. They are still one of my favourites.
Looking at your recipes, I think your site is Must To Be “Linked” Site. Please let me know if its okay with you if I add you in my blogroll
Thanxs
September 15th, 2006 at 6:06 pmSushma
http://www.sunkiran.com
Sushma, thanks for linking me. I will also link you here.
September 15th, 2006 at 6:19 pmHello Shilpa,
My mother made Naankatayi.She used to add a pinch of yellow color and elaichi powder,this gave a nice flavour and color.
October 11th, 2006 at 7:23 amhi shilpa,
I searched a lot for this recipe. I really love this. thanks a lot.
October 11th, 2006 at 1:37 pmHiii Shilpa,
One question - Can I try this in a microwave oven? If yes, what are the times i need to maintain etc.
This sounds like an easy to do receipe….i want to give it a shot
U’r namesake,
October 25th, 2006 at 5:11 amShilpa
Saw ur baking section today. I tried nankatai a couple of times. Mine comes out like butter cookies. But the narayan katar from bakeries in Mlore are hollow in the center. How do I achieve that?
December 11th, 2006 at 2:05 pmHi
December 29th, 2006 at 2:00 pmThanks for the recipes, am gonna try it,just one question…do they become nice and hollow and also..the standing time, does it need to be at high temperature. I am in CHicago and the room is usually at around 66-68..is that ok? Please let me know, thanks. PS how do you add your page as a link to my page?
Manjula, You have to mix them well to get the hollow center. Leaving the dough for 3-4hrs also gives the good results.
December 29th, 2006 at 5:02 pmVidya, no problem about the temperature. In any temperature, the effect should be same.
Hi Shilpa….thanks a lot for the recipe…i tried it yesterday and believe me it was the best nankatayi i ever made…had tried baking them before but never so soft and tasty and it’s easy method too. My kids looooved it!
February 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 pmHi Shilpa, am going to try this recipe it looks great, i was wondering wether i can store them for a week without loosing the crispiness? Thanks for all the great recipes!
March 12th, 2007 at 1:41 pmNeetu, yes you can store them in air tight container after cooling them to room temperature. That keeps the crispiness. Last time I had used Crisco shortening for making these instead of ghee, I must say they came out very crispy. But ghee makes them very aromatic. So please choose what suits you.(I heard shortening is not very good for health, so I stopped using it).
March 12th, 2007 at 2:08 pmHey Shilpa, I tried this today and the taste was superb and it came out crispy yet soft on the inside.. the only problem I had was that the nankatayis spread a lot - I had made them doodhpeda size but while baking they became HUGE and flat! Any idea what I did wrong? The only thing I changed was I used half ghee and half butter.. otherwise i followed it to the T.. Actually, I have the same problem with any cookies I make
not sure how I manage to mess them up.. Hope you know the answer to my query.
March 12th, 2007 at 7:58 pmSudeepta, I don’t think anything went wrong. They are supposed to expand after baking. Even the cookies are supposed to expand. Next time, please try with pure ghee, butter might be the culprit, not sure though and make sure to leave enough space in between for them to expand. Believe me, if they don’t expand, they will become like stones :). If I get any more tips, I will let you know.
March 12th, 2007 at 8:23 pmSudeepta, I confirmed with my mom, the only two reasons might be butter might have made them smoother or the soda might have become more.Last time I used baking powder instead of baking soda, they came very well.
March 12th, 2007 at 8:49 pmOh ok.. more soda is probably the problem.. I added 1 tsp with andaz - I don’t have the spoon measures. anyway, my colleagues ate them (as sugar cookies) and LOVED them.. taste wise they were perfect. Next time Ill go easy on the soda. Maybe I should make smaller rounds too! Thanks
March 13th, 2007 at 4:09 pmhi shilpa..
April 24th, 2007 at 1:05 pmcan i prepare this recipe using a microwave? what are the timings i need to set?
Sowmya, sorry, I never used microwave to bake these, so I don’t know.
April 24th, 2007 at 1:11 pmI tried ur recipe,it turned out to be good.
I used granulated sugar, should i use powdered sugar.
Thanks
May 8th, 2007 at 6:04 pmDivya, yes, it is better to use powdered sugar.
May 8th, 2007 at 9:37 pmI tried nankatai for second time, this time used powdered sugar, also added some cocoa powder for flavor, it was good but i think using granulated sugar also will make cookies good.
May 10th, 2007 at 5:00 pmWhen I added the 1 cup melted ghee to the 2 cups maida flour it makes it look like a big bowl of pudding or custard, not loose dough. Any ideas what went wrong?
Shilpa: Did you add sugar?
June 8th, 2007 at 12:50 pmYes, I used granulated sugar (1 cup), and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
Shilpa: Sorry Mike. I have no idea what went wrong. Since there is 3 cups of dry ingredients and 1 cup of wet, the output should be pretty dry.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:16 pmHi shilpa,
June 20th, 2007 at 2:53 amGreat recipe easy to make dough! itoo used granulated sugar as i didnt read comments then..wd sure try wt powdered sugar…i got 21 aromatic pieces. I m glad i can give kids home made nankatai.tks a ton for this recipe.
Hi Shilpa,
I tried Nankatayi 2 times in a span of 4 days .So you can just imagine the response to it.Taste wise they were very good. Thanks a lot for that. But I am not getting the colour.They are little brownish in colour,not like the pure white ones we get in the bakery. Any idea what could be the reason? I used Ghee and Baking powder and allowed it to stand for 4-5 hours.
Your site is really good..I have been trying your recipes from just 10-15 days and i just love all of them.
Thanks
Shilpa: Sirisha, I don’t know the reason for the color, I have seen the homemade ones not pure white. The ghee which is yellowish in color here might be one of the reasons. I heard that in bakeries, they use shortening(which is similar to vanaspathi, but pure white in color). This is just a guess…
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:47 pmThanks a lot. I tried suqare and half moon shapes also along with the round ones and also added some badam pieces to them. They came out well.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:25 pmShilpa,
June 24th, 2007 at 7:59 amI tried ur recipe using microwave too…it tasted real gud..though googling didnt help me for microwave baking..i had to follow my instincts to get gud results! Tks for posting this recipe!
Hi Shilpa,
July 20th, 2007 at 10:27 amTried ur Biscuit yesterday, Came out so good. It remembered me the biscuit which I had in my child hood. We call it as Nila Biscuit(Moon Biscuit) It comes in half moon shape. I used Half ghee and Half veg oil
hey shilpa hay this is saima this is my first time i like your recipe iam gono try it today for my hubby thanks a lot
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 amhi shilpa,
September 27th, 2007 at 12:49 amnice design…. i liked it…its very fresh…
i wanted to know whether i can use the tray that is there in the broiler for baking?
Hey shilpa,
Thanks for the recipe,I am from konkan and i remember eating these fluffy biscuits as a kid.After reading ur recipe i tried doing ti myself.But somehow I am not able to get them to be light anfd fluffy,even after the said baking time i don’t see nay crack developing on the surface.
Could you guess what i am doing wronge?
Tried it two times both time the same result.
Thanks a lot for ur help…i love ur site
Shilpa: Did they puff up a bit? Even if they did not get any cracks, its still okay. I can’t think of anything else, sorry
September 27th, 2007 at 11:19 pmhi Shilpa,
can i use aluminium foil instead of parchment paper?
Shilpa: Yes, you can use. Just apply little ghee or baking spray before keeping the nankatayi on them
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:35 pmhi shilpa,
i tired it out…. but it didnt come out the way i thought they would….they were a dark brown on the bottom…. anyways….i’m going to try them again…. can you just tell me give me some idea on preheating the oven? i did it for 10 mins….
Shilpa: Soumya, There were dark because I think they got burnt. You should have removed it early.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:06 pmYes, 10mins preheating is fine.
ooooo….i see…this was my first baking experience…:-)…hahaha…anyways….i will try again…thank you…
Shilpa: Sowmya, keep an eye on them when you keep them in oven. When you see some cracks just remove them. If you don’t see the cracks after 15mins, just take them out and check. Sometimes, they look like they are wet when u touch them, but as they cool down, they will be perfectly fine. If this time your nankatayis have burnt within 15mins, then while making next batch, decrease the temperature of oven by 10F or so.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:16 pmThanks for your Nankatai recipe. I tried it and it out great. I also topped it with some crushed pista and saffron and that gave it a festive touch. My family loved the new item for this Diwali.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:06 pmHi Shilpa, I was waiting for this recipe from my mom who used to make them a lot when we were young! They were awesome. Thanks for posting this. One question, do you mix the ingredients in a blender or by hand?
Shilpa: Kanchan, since the dough is pretty loose, its better to mix by hand.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:23 pmhi Shilpa,
i tried this recipie but i had the same problem what “mike” described. did u mean i cup of melted ghee? because i measured the 1 cup of ghee before melting. the dough was not dry but extremely wet. so i added half cup more sugar and maida. after leaving it for 4 hours it had turned very hard. but somehow i managed making the small balls out of it. after keeping in the oven for 40 mins still it wasnt baked properly.it had few cracks so when i touched them to c if it was baked, it stuck to my finger as the top portion was still moist.. it was like powder on my finger. i baked it for some more time abt 20 mins but it did not bake properly.
any idea what went wrong?
Shilpa: Brin, I am not sure what went wrong. 3 cups of dry ingredients and 1 cup of wet ingredient should make a very dry dough. I don’t understand how it makes a wet dough, unless granulated sugar is used(or measurements are not right). Actually here dough is so dry that it is hard to make balls out of it. If you touch them when they are hot, it will stick to your fingers, you have to let it cool. I am wondering how they din’t get burnt after you baked them for 60mins!!!!.
December 20th, 2007 at 10:28 amHi Shilpa,
Actually it was all so funny.. when the nankatayis did not get baked properly in first 40 mins, i kept on adding 10 mins to it n checking it whether its geting baked. this way i might have gove above 60 mins infact!!. then i saw that the house was looking preety smokey n had some burning smell of wax n suddenly the fire alarm went on. n i was so scared what to do. i first put off the oven started to get rid of the smoke… nothing major happened only few of them had little black color on the bottom of it.
December 20th, 2007 at 1:14 pmactually m very new to using this oven n in baking myself so maybe i might have made some mistake in operating it.
thank u anyways.. i keep on visiting ur site though i cant prepare most of it.. everything looks so yummy!!
hi shilpa
January 1st, 2008 at 5:09 amthanks for this so easy recipe.can u also tell me how to cook wheat flour biscuits at home as my kids are fond of the biscuits.
Hi Shilpa,
These look awesome.
U and ur site rocks!!I’ll deffi try them out.
I have one query though. If I substitute the plain flour with Ragi flour, will it make good ragi cookies?
My son is 18 mths old and I’m generally trying to give him healthier stuff, so wondering.
TIA.
Shilpa: I have a ragi cookie recipe with me which is almost similar. So I think it should work out.
February 5th, 2008 at 5:46 amHi Shilpa,
February 13th, 2008 at 3:13 pmThanks a ton for the recipe.
Nice pics too.
I madxe it 2day waiting them to bake, lets c how they turn up. My dough was not very dry as u mentioned it was quite loose more like a roti dough , i used the same proportion as u said n also powdered sugar.Plz tell me where i went wrong, the dough was tasting good . The nankatayi are now in the oven will tell u once they are ready.
thank you for recipes can you please show me how to bake egg less cake
March 19th, 2008 at 6:18 pmThanks for your Nankatai recipe. I tried it and it out good. but not crispy as much as. do u have any idae why it happened
March 20th, 2008 at 9:02 amHii Shilpa,
March 25th, 2008 at 9:28 amtried these cookies yesterday and it turned out great.
i have a small doubt can we reduce the temp for baking the cookies.
I followed your instructions and baked them for 30 min. but few biscuits were over baked.
Can you please tell me the solution for this…
looks very appealing..am trying this soon
March 25th, 2008 at 10:06 pmhii !!
This blog is simply awesome…Thanks for sharing wonderful recepies with oll of us!!
I am new to baking. I’ve a common question like other readers about preheating. I am using samsung’s microwave. i want to know for how much time the oven be preheated at 350F (150C) ?
After preheating should the balls be kept immediately in the oven?
Thanks in advance
March 31st, 2008 at 1:37 amHi Shilpa,
R u sure it needs to be in the oven for 30-40min mine took a lot less about 20min… It definitely tastes great. I made a smaller batch so if it were go be a disaster then it would just be a small one….
Thanks!
April 25th, 2008 at 4:56 pmHi
i want to know how much temp should be set to bake the cookies?also i m using elecrolux microwave which mode is suitable to bake the cookies?
Shilpa: As I have mentioned in above post, set it to 300F. Use the convention mode for baking. I am not aware of functionality of any particular brand. Sorry
April 28th, 2008 at 10:50 pmHi Shilpa
thnx for dis recipe & a wondeful site… i tries so manythings from ue site & results r always cms gud..thnx Shilpa.. Now tell me can i use Non salted butter or pure desi ghee for dis recipe? actualy i don’t get vanaspati ghee here in dis country.. so i was wondering to use desi ghee/butter instead of vanaspati?
plz do rply coz i want to try dis recipe soon… thnx
Shilpa: Yes, you can use ghee or butter of same quantity.
July 6th, 2008 at 5:03 amhi shilpa
Recently tried ur biscuits again ….they came out really good….when i tried for the first time i couldnt figure out whre i went wrong…..but for the second time they came out just perfectly as i wished them to be….Thanks once again for ur recipe.
August 23rd, 2008 at 2:24 pmHi Shilpa,
Not sure if you will see this. But is this the same white biscuit in India which has a small red tuty fruity on it?
Do you know how to make Britannia milk bikis?
Thanks and look forward to your reply.
Sunil
Shilpa: No, its not same, they have slightly different taste. I will post if I find the recipe of brittania bikis.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm