Shakkarpara
Shakkarpara or Shankarpali is a crunchy and mildly sweet snack made using basic ingredients in the pantry – Maida or plain flour, sugar, ghee and cardamom powder for the flavouring. These are deep-fried Indian style biscuits made especially during Diwali and Holi. It is a popular sweet snack during these festivals especially in North and West India. It is called Maida Sweet Biscuit in South India.
Shakkarpara is a super quick and easy sweet/ snack to make and especially a great choice for beginners who want to try making sweets at home during festivities. The ingredients are very simple too and readily available at home. It tastes great and is one of my personal favourite as a kid and even now!
Shakkarpara is not just made during the festivals and is an all-time popular snack served with tea too. It has a great shelf life and can be made ahead and stored for a long time. Kids love it too. You can take it along for your travel as a munch-bite.
The key element in Shakkarpara’s recipe is to get the right texture and crunch. It must be crispy and crunchy, but at the same time neither too hard to bite, nor too soft from inside. There are few basic tips and tricks to get this right. Follow the below tips and you would never go wrong.
- Use right ratio of maida: ghee: sugar, follow precise measurements given in the recipe. This is important to get the right amount of crispness and sweetness.
- Some people use oil for the dough, but Shakkarpara tastes best when made with ghee.
- Sugar is to be powdered coarsely so that it mixes well in the dough. However do not use icing sugar as it contains corn starch and would alter the texture of Shakkarpara.
- Add a small amount of salt to the dough as it enhances the taste and sweetness.
- I use water for kneading the dough, however you can also use warm milk.
- When rolling the dough, make sure to keep it thick. Do not roll it too thin as it would not yield a good texture.
- It is important to rest the dough for at least 30 minutes before it is rolled out and fried.
- Always fry Shakkarpara in low to medium flame to get uniform colour and also to ensure that it is cooked through from inside. If it is fried on high flame, it will turn brown immediately and remain uncooked or soft from inside.
- Shakkarpara continues to cook and change colour even after taking it out of hot oil, so ensure that you take it out while it turns just golden in colour, else it might turn too dark.
- Shakkarpara would be bit soft from inside when hot, but as and when it cools, it turns crunchy from center too. Store in an air tight container once thoroughly cooled.
Serving Suggestion
Shakkarpara is served as a sweet snack and tastes good along with tea/ coffee. You can also serve this along Mathri or Namakpara for savoury combination. It can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature and stays fresh for couple of weeks easily. It can be packed for travel too.
Shakkarpara
Ingredients
- 2½ cups Maida or Plain Flour
- ¼ cup Ghee or Clarified Butter
- ¾ cup Sugar
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Cardamom Powder
- ½ cup Warm Water
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Powder the sugar coarsely in mixer grinder.
- In a mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar, ghee, salt and around half a cup warm water. Whisk well till the sugar is incorporated.
- Now add 1 cup of plain flour or Maida, and whisk well.
- Next add another 1 cup of maida and mix again.
- Finally add the remaining half cup of maida and cardamom powder and knead the dough well using hands. Sprinkle water if required.
- The dough should be a medium soft (like puri dough). Cover this dough and rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Now, divide the dough in 4 portions.
- Roll each of the portion one by one. Roll it thick, roughly around half a centimetre in thickness. Need not dust the dough with flour or ghee, as it has sufficient ghee in it.
- Now using a pizza cutter, or biscuit cutter (rolling knife), cut the rolled dough into squares.
- Separate each of the squares.
- Heat oil in a kadai. Once oil is just hot, turn the flame to low. Now assemble the cut square pieces in a ladle and transfer to oil. Repeat the process till there is enough space in oil.
- Cook the shakkarpara in low to medium flame while tossing in between.
- Take the shakkarpara out of oil while it is golden pink in colour. Transfer to a tissue paper so that the excess oil is absorbed. Leave it in open till it completely cools down.
- Fry the remaining shakkarpara. Once cooled completely, store in an air-tight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Use good quality maida and ghee for best results.
- In the above recipe, the measurement given for sugar is regular sugar (before powdering it). If you are using powdered sugar, use 2/3rd cup for this recipe.
- You can also use warm milk instead of water for kneading the dough.
- Do not use icing sugar for this recipe, as it contains corn starch.
- Cook the shakkarpara on low to medium flame to ensure it is cooked through inside.
- Shakkarpara continues to cook and change colour even after taking it out of oil, so take it out of oil while it has turned golden pink in colour.
- Shakkarpara becomes crunchy from inside once cooled down. When consumed hot, it would be soft from inside, so do not panic.
