Spicy Diamond Biscuit | Savory Maida Biscuit | Khara Biscuits
The most addictive savory snack that you will ever make is this Spicy Diamond Biscuit. A favorite bakshanam / snack made during the Diwali festival season, this Maida Khara biscuit is absolutely kid approved and a great snack for the entire family.
Savory diamond biscuits got its name for the specific diamond shape they are cut into. This snack made with maida is a very traditional recipe made during Diwali.
Table of contents
This Maida Biscuit is one of the easiest savory snack that we can prepare and are very addictive. Maida Biscuits are made with very basic ingredients and can be made within an hour.
I personally like the sweet version of this biscuit called the Shakkarpara, but this time I was craving something spicy, my thoughts immediately went to this
Why Make These Maida Biscuits
Growing up, making snacks was a ritual in every household. There were not too many varieties of snacks that were sold in the stores. Hence everyone made them at home for the kids to eat when they came back after school or when they were traveling.
Now because of the wide choices of snacks sold in the stores, I see the snack-making trend disappear. I would still prefer to make the snacks at home whenever possible just because I know what goes into the recipe and it is definitely healthier and safer than the store-bought ones.
My theme for this week is 'snacking all the way' and this is my second recipe for the theme after the Crostini recipe.
Ingredients, tools, and substitutes
We just need an handful of ingredients to make this Khara Maida Biscuit. The most fun is the part where we use a roller attachment to cut the rolled dough. I bought a fancy roller last year and used it, but it really didn't show up when frying the biscuit. A pizza wheel will perfectly work for the recipe.
Check the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact measurements and printable detailed recipes.
Maida / All Purpose flour - This is the flour that we knead with spices to make the khara biscuit. I hardly buy the maida sold in the Indian stores and use All Purpose flour to make this.
Oil - We need any frying oil to deep fry the maida biscuits. Apart from it we also need a little hot oil to pour into the flour when kneading the dough.
Red Chili Powder - This is what we use to spice the khara biscuit. I use Kashmiri red chili powder as it gives the bright color without adding too much heat.
Omam / Ajwain / Carom seeds - Another spice to add some flavor to the maida biscuit. This is optional and can be skipped.
Substitutes - We can use cumin seeds, garlic and ginger as well in the dough. If using the ginger and garlic we can skip the carom seeds and use these instead.
Procedure
- In a bowl, add the flour, red chili powder, and the omam (Step 1).
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small pan and add the hot oil to the flour mixture (Step 2).
- Now add water little by little and make it into a stiff dough (Step 3). Cover the dough with a moist cloth and let it rest for at least half an hour. It is very important to rest the dough, otherwise, it will be hard to roll it out.
- Once the dough has rested, divide it into equal sized balls (Step 4). Dust the dough with flour and roll it out to form a thin circle (Step 5).
- Using the pizza cutter, cut the rolled out dough into thin strips about ½ inch wide (Step 6). Now cut it horizontally to form a diamond shape (Step 7).
- Remove the cut pieces and lay them out on a plate (Step 8). The dough scraper helps a lot to scoop out the cut pieces. If not, use a flat spatula to scoop the pieces.
- In the meantime heat the oil. Add the cut pieces to the oil (Step 9) and deep fry them until golden brown and crisp (Step 10). Make sure you fry these on medium flame, otherwise the outer will cook too quickly and the inside will still be soft. To get a crunchy texture, fry it in low to medium flame.
- Drain the diamond biscuit on a paper towel and once cooled, transfer it into an airtight container.
Expert tips
- Make sure to make a stiff dough with the all purpose roll. That helps when rolling and also to keep the shape of the diamond.
- Adding hot oil to the dough helps in making the maida snack crunchy.
- Use a dough scraper or a flat spatula to remove the cut dough pieces from the surface.
- Dust the dough liberally with flour before rolling to help remove it easily after rolling.
- Deep fry the diamond biscuits in a medium flame throughout. If the heat is too high, they will become too dark outside and yet remain soft inside.
Frequently Asked Questions
We can store the Maida biscuits for couple of weeks or even longer if stored properly in an air tight container.
I have personally not used any other flour, but I have had my family say that half wheat flour and half all purpose flour works well. The texture will be slightly different though.
Yes, sweet diamond biscuits exist and I have a couple of different versions of them in the blog as well.
I am sure it is possible. I have not ye tried it. But will update right after I give it a try.
This Maida snack is perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. This is a great tea time snack idea. My boys love it with a cup of juice in the evening.
More Spicy Snacks
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | twitter
Printable Recipe
Recipe
Spicy Diamond Buscuit | Maida Biscuit
Ingredients
- 1 cup Maida All purpose flour
- 1 tbsp Oil Plus more to deep fry
- ¾ teaspoon Red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Omam / Ajwain
- to taste Salt
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the flour, red chili powder, and the oman. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small pan and add the hot oil to the flour mixture. Now add water little by little and make it into a stiff dough. Cover the dough with a moist cloth and let it rest for at least half an hour. It is very important to rest the dough, otherwise, it will be hard to roll it out.
- Once the dough has rested, divide it into or 3 equal portions. Dust the dough with flour and roll it out to form a thin circle.
- Using the pizza cutter, cut the rolled out dough into thin strips about ½ inch wide. Now cut it horizontally to form a diamond shape.
- Remove the cut pieces and lay them out on a plate. The dough scraper helps a lot to scoop out the cut pieces.
- In the meantime heat the oil. Add the cut pieces to the oil and deep fry them until golden brown and crisp. Makes sure you fry these on medium flame, otherwise the outer will cook too quickly and the inside will still be soft. To get a crunchy texture, fry it in low to medium flame.
- Drain it on a paper towel and once cooled, transfer it into an airtight container.
Notes
- Make sure to make a stiff dough with the all purpose roll. That helps when rolling and also to keep the shape of the diamond.
- Adding hot oil to the dough helps in making the maida snack crunchy.
- Use a dough scraper or a flat spatula to remove the cut dough pieces from the surface.
- Dust the dough liberally with flour before rolling to help remove them easily after rolling.
- Deep fry the diamond biscuits in medium flame through out. If the heat is too high, they will become too dark outside and yet remain soft inside.
Such a addictive snack sandhya! Love how crunchy and crispy it looks! perfect evening snack with a cup of coffee!
Spicy diamond biscuits or khara para as we call it is my favorite tea time snack to munch on with tea. Love how you have explained the recipe with stepwise procedure. Thanks for sharing it.
How i miss making these treats!! My inlaws had a cat too who loved these. Such fond memories these bring. that bowl ful makes me want to make some soon.
That is so cute! I miss those days as well.
Spicy diamond biscuit or khara para as we call them is an all time favorite snack in many households, including mine. I've made tonnes of it when my kids were young. Sandhya I have made them using only wheat flour and they turn out just as crunchy and delicious as the maida ones.
I will try the wheat flour version soon. This is how my mom made it and those memories are still lingering.
Namakpara is my childhood favourite snack and still remains close to my heart. Yours look so tempting ! Now I make them with whole wheat flour.
Diamond-shaped biscuits are our all-time tea-time snack! Recently I switched to wheat flour from all-purpose flour. This looks so crispy and yummy Sandhya!
Thank you for sharing this savory diamond biscuit recipe. This is one my childhood favorite but I never made it myself. Now I can make these crispy and addictive snack right at home.
YUMMMM! my favourite snack is this spicy diamond biscuit. I have not made it for ages and you are tempting me to make them immediately. As for the fancy rolling pin cutter, I know what you mean I had one roller that I finally dumped because there was no cutting happening only pulling. The pizza cutter is a life saver.
Your post brings back a lot of childhood memories. I always love the savory version than the sweet one and this looks so crispy and perfectly made.
It's such a nostalgia to read this post about diamond biscuits recipe. You took me down memory lane as my mom used to make these every Diwali or as any time snack when wer were kids.
The biscuits have come out perfect and look so delicious.
I so agree! Recipes like this bring back so many memories Lata!
Yummy looking Namak para, i like this version than the sweet version. I add crushed black pepper instead of red chili powder. Have to try your version sometime, good one Sandhya
Amma makes big tins of these biscuits for our holidays sandhya! Such lovely memories attached with diamond biscuits. I always believe anything homemade is healthy!!! Such an addictive share!!!
It's quite long since I made these. They look addictively delicious and your post is sending me to kitchen to make some of these. They are a perfect pair with chai.
I make these even today and I keep changing the flour ratio. I try to avoid maida but I agree these taste very close to the store bought ones but as you said home made snacks are healthier even if we deep fry them as we know what goes into each of the recipes.
As you said this used to be such a frequent snack during growing up..love the crispy texture of your biscuits Sandhya..