Kucho Nimke is a salt Indian snack biscuit, They are typically diamond shaped and are made with very simple ingredients. They are made from all purpose flour (also known as maida flour), kala jeera (black cumin seeds) or Kalonji, water and salt to taste. If you don’t have black cumin seeds you can use nigella seeds or regular cumin seeds as a substitute.
Nimki is also known as nimkin, Tukkudi, Shankaroali, Namak para or in Uttar Pradesh it is known as Mathri. It originated in either North India or Pakistan. It can be cooked in oil or ghee. This pastry snack taste great, they have a slightly spiced flavour from the seeds, the texture is slightly crunchy but soft and fluffy on the inside. Even though they have no butter, they do have a buttery taste and they resemble a nicer pastry that can be eaten solo. This recipe serves 4 people and takes approximately 45 minutes to make. Even though the recipe has all purpose flour, you can use self raising for a more puffy snack.
Ingredients
- All purpose flour (120g / 2 cups)
- Kala jeera or kalonji (1 tbsp)
- Oil (2 tbsp)
- Water (40ml)
- Salt (to taste)
- Oil (for frying)
Method
- In a mixing bowl combine flour, salt, oil, and the seeds of your choice then mix it well.
- Add the water and make it a dough that is not sticky or dry.
- Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes, this step is optional but will make the nimke crunchy on the outside and fluffy inside.
- Make the dough into 2 balls then roll them out with a rolling pin to about the thickness of a pound coin. Cut the dough into diamond shaped biscuits.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and once hot let it simmer. Try the nimkis on a low heat to make them crunchy and once cooked drain them on kitchen paper.
- Serve them hot or once cool, store them in an airtight container. If you don’t want to eat then plain, we recommend pairing the Nimki with masala chai tea, and your choice of chutney. We like dipping them into mango chutney, mango and lime pickle, or mint sauce.
