Namak Para (Maide ki Namkeen)

Raj (for those of you who don't know, he's my hubby) once asked me to make “mathri" from the left over Plain flour.
Oh! Let me break off a second to let you all know that this incident is a story from when I was newly married. Actually, the story started afterward and ended only way later.
We were newly married couple and I tried various recipes that I could to make an impression on him, without realizing that at times it was torment for him. (Shhhh…. He’s not aware that I did all this just to impress him). To be very honest I never tried Mathri at home before my marriage. But yes I tasted Haldiram’s mathri in different aroma. I was a little puzzled so I asked which mathri ? He so frantically said "Mathriiiii"(As if, there is just one thing called mathri in this whole world). Consequently after a long question and answer session, all I could get from him was that it was a delicious snack of plain flour. He just didn't know how to explain it. Wow! What a great technique to make a request!
Since I had to show my talent, I decided to go for it. All I knew was its rounded shape and green color, flavored with pudeena. I took small amount of plain flour and prepared the Namak para mixture. To give it green color and flavor, I added pudeena in it. Finally I ended up with a snack appear like Mathri.
I went to Raj and asked him to taste it in order to verify whether it is " THE ONE " that he asked for, but I was taken aback by his reaction…Guess What?????????
He retorted so badly that I felt very twitchy. After a stretched discussion I realized that it is Namak Para that he calls Mathri. Finally he helped me to prepare Namak Para. And the story ended on a happy note.
Days and months passed and so did a couple of years but every time when we visit Market; I pull his leg by showing real ‘Mathri’.
Namak Para is a North Indian recipe commonly used for evening snacks.

Ingredients:

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup maida (Refined Flour/Plain Flour)

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ cup Ghee

½ tsp Carom Seeds (Ajwain)

Salt to taste

Direction:

• Take a bowl; mix plain flour, wheat flour and baking powder. Add ghee/refined, rub in with fingertips to get a consistency and knead the mixture into dough.
• Add salt and crushed carom seeds. Add ample water to make it medium-hard dough.
• Cover dough with a muslin cloth and let it rest for some time.
• Meanwhile, heat a seal with oil.
• Then divide the dough into equal balls. Take a ball and flatten on the rolling board using a rolling pin. The dough has to be of thickness of 1 inch.
• With the help of knife cut them into tiles of 2 inches size and do a cross cut. Each piece will be like a diamond.
• Once the dough is cut as small diamonds, gently drop them into hot oil. Let it cook on both sides.
• Namak Para is ready. Keep it in air for about 5 mins and serve with tea.
• You can also store it for a month. Make sure the container should be closed properly otherwise it would capture moisture.