Baked Nippattu, as they are referred to, are common in Bangalore bakeries. They are basically savory cookies, flat and circular in shape with dominant flavoring of baked onion and green chillies. They are salty as well as spicy at the same time and the taste is just divine. Not all the bakeries make the best, but some bakeries specialize in them and worth every bit of it. My father brings it from Srinivasa Bakery in Gandhi Baazar and we love their taste.
Now I am not sure why they are referred to as Baked Nippattu. For all those unfamiliar with Nippatu, these are famous deep fried snack of Karnataka made of rice flour, peanuts etc. But the actual Nippattu does not have onion or All purpose Flour (Maida) like the baked ones have. In my opinion they are a distant cousin of our very own Maddur Vada. Anyway, that is something for the experts to think about.
If you sense some kind of enthusiasm and excitement here, then it’s rightly so. Based on experience in tasting it, let me fore warn that these cookies are very addictive. You start off with one, then 2, then 3, you decide to stop but then somehow you loose track and end up eating a fair share. Here is another bad scenario in our case;
This weekend I was browsing the net and chanced upon finding the recipe for this here at the Cooks Collection. I was very excited when I saw the recipe and read through the ingredients. Having scrutinized the baked Nippattu so many times, all of us in our family had kind of guessed the ingredients in it. One look at the recipe and I had the gut feeling that Ramya (author) had nailed the recipe. I tried this during the weekend and boy was I so pleased. Thanks Ramya for sharing this, I know I will be making this all the time.
I have pretty much followed the recipe mentioned there, I have used all measurements in cups and made some minor changes of my own.
Ingredients
· 2 cups of maida (All purpose flour)
· 1/4 cup water (warm)
· 4 tsp sesame seeds
· 1/3 cup oil
· 4 Tbsp butter (melted)
· 1 big onion(finely chopped)
· 1 tsp baking soda
· 3 green chillies (finely chopped)
· Handful of chopped coriander leaves
· 2 tsp Sugar
· 1 tsp Salt
Update on 3/14/2009: I baked 2 batches of these today and had to mention a note of caution. One batch baked a little longer and that caused the onions to burn a bit and taste bitter. So it is best to take these crackers out of the oven when the crackers are light brown in color.
Update on 09/14/2009
After trying this out few times myself and reading some of the comments, here are few suggestions to keep in mind:
1) While making the dough, as less water as possible. Knead extremely well and keep the dough completely covered in a damp cloth.
2) Roll the discs out as thin as possible, the thinner the better. Use a Rolling pin if necessary. If the discs are thick, they tend to get soft and not crispy.
3) I cannot stress this enough. Do not forget to prick on the circular discs with fork before keeping in the oven.
4) Do not over bake, so keep a close watch toward the end.
5) After they are baked, store in air tight container.
Method
- Take a big plate and put in maida, sesame seeds, onions, salt, sugar, soda, chopped coriander leaves, green chillies and mix well. Add the oil and spread it to the mix. Do the same thing with melted butter also, big and uneven lumps will form but that is ok.
- Now add the warm water and make thick dough. At this point if you feel there is too much onion, do not worry, the more the better taste. Knead well for about 2-3 minutes and cover this with a damp cloth. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 325 F.
- Now from the dough that is already prepared, we need to roll out flat discs. Rolling out like Chapathi/roti did not work out for me as it sticks to the rolling pin.
- So instead take small ball of dough and place it in between 2 greased plastic sheets. Apply pressure and make it into flat disc. Remove the top cover and with the tip of your hands flatten the rolled dough and make it as flat and even as possible.
- Take a round cookie cutter or any small round lid and cut out small rounds. Repeat this process for the remaining dough as well.
- Place the round cut outs on a greased cookie sheet. Make sure to poke holes on all of them with a fork, this way the cracker will not puff and also the air will go out while baking.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until they are brown.
Good that your post came with a statutory warning ,will keep that in mind ….lolz
Looks simply out of the world and i prefer spicy cookies anytime than sweeter versions,so glad that u shared this recipe
You have a beautiful blog here
We developed a taste for baked nippattu during our 2 year work stint at Bangalore. Lovely to see the recipe here. And, I sure do agree that these spicy delights can be fatal if approached on a famished evening after a hard work day
savoury cookies!! those look perfect for an afternoon tea. Love it, especially with the onion in it
Hey thanks for trying out my recipe.. This one has worked great for me all the time.
Cheers,
Ramya
That looks more like maddurvada than Nippittu. I have never came across baked nippitu.. looks very nice and guilt free:)
thanks for the recipe RC, I would love to try this.
I too thought they were Maddur vadas:), and Srinivasa bakery is my fave. Their congress kadale is to die for!! Your nippattus look so good I will ask my parents to get some from SB when they come here next month!
Nippatu is one of hubby’s fave snacks,he restraints himself from having it coz he just cannot stop eating once he starts!!Baked version is lovely..shall def try it out!!
hi, my first visit here. You have a fab! blog…fantastic pics and presentation. Baked nippatu…healthy and tasty…will try it out some time
TC
I love maddhur vada and this sure looks more like maddhur vada than nippatu, but i always fry the vada so now I will try the bakes one thank you
The pantry raids are such a familiar story here as well…
LOVE that this is baked and i’m a big fan of savoury crackers. with little bits of onion – i can’t wait to bake a batch soon. Will let you know when i do.
Slurp!! Woman!! What are you doing to me?! They look excellent, almost like Maddur vadas. It’s so freezing here, I need some of those NOW!
Gosh, I was just going to say: maddur vada
I love them! Surely will make them now that you started this.
WOW..They look so thin and perfect!!
Wish I had seen these yesterday! It was so cold here and I made some bajjis and pakodas (after a year though) and ate them all without shame! Now am wondering if I would have gained the 2 pounds I lost last week. I’m definitely trying this very soon.
These are just fantastic. Love the fact that they are baked. It is white all around and this would be perfect to chase those blues away
are these similar to maithri? I bought some (Haldiram brand) and they seem the same.
At the moment i am really hungry and i am like why don’t i have this for me, looks so yummy delicious.
WOww crispy onion crackers looks really appetizing…just makes me hungry!!
oh I remember srinivasa bakery & baked nippattu .. these look soo gorgeous
Wow, savory could u parcel here some? Bookmarked!
Looks fantastic …. nice recipe
Nipattu and it is baked..wow looks so yumm..Nice munch for this cold weather..
Baked Nippattu sounds great!! Crispy and delicious snack.
baked nippattu sounds yummy…
I am going to try it soon
Never had this before, but the onion and chilies sounds great in this!
this is fabulous… i love the bowl and the pictures….
This looks crunchy and yummy savoury snack……….
will try this soon
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This sounds delightful, definitely going to try this one!
Lovely! Wonderful flavours and spices blended together. Delicious!
I love savoury snacks (I’m addicted to them)and the crunchier the better. And this fit the bill perfectly.
Oh yum! Those do sound very, very addictive
Thank you all very much. I agree, it looks so much like Maddur Vada and the taste is also closer to it. But strangely it is called Nippattu in bakeries. However the taste is crunchy and yummy.
Wow simply love it……
By golly, RC!!
Since I am one among the proud receipient of this Nippattus, I got to engrave my comments on your blogging plate.
Those were the most delicious savory snacks that I’ve ever munched. Loved and loved it!!
Much thanks to you, dear dear RC.
also, wondering if we can subsitute maida with whole wheat, or say 1 c maida + 1 cup whole wheat.
The baked nippattus doesn’t sound that bad afterall. No deep oil frying like its counterpart vadas.
RC you are totally right about how addictive these baked cookies are. I baked these today and can’t keep my hands off the plate. I used red chili powder instead of green chillies so that my son can also eat it. They have this “melt in the mouth” texture. Since I’m making it for the first time I did not experiment with substituting whole wheat flour and using even less oil/butter. Next time I’m going to do that too. Thank you so much for finding this recipe. I thanked Ramya too.
Forgot to mention one more thing. I didn’t have to add the entire 1/4 cup water too. I added little by little and I think I used only 2 tablespoons of water approx.
Nippattu, i want them right now:) reminds me of bangalore bakeries..never been to srinivasa bakery but heard of them..will sure give a visit next time..but how to wait till then???
Thanks all.
Dear Upsi,you are a sweetheart as always
Please do try out the 1 c maida+ 1 c wheat and do let me know. DH will not let me change the recipe.
Madhuram, that was quick. Glad that you liked it and I am glad that Ramya posted it. This is a keeper. I will wait for your low-fat version
now that i read your warning, i’ve got to try this.
Nippattu is looking soo good. Baked, even better, who wouldn’t like it ??? Yum yum yum..
looks so good!
Thanks for this post… tried ‘em and they tasted yummy… was really longing for some savory stuff but didnt want to fry ‘em… these were a perfect fit…. but only issue was they turned out to be softer the next day…. i did store them in air tight containers… any suggestions??
I guess I know why they are getting tried out so quickly by everyone. They look abs. divine and such a welcome change from the usual sweet stuff.
Thanks Madhu for trying this out and letting me know your comments.The other reason why they might have become soft is maybe the water might have been a little more while making the dough. Please use as less as possbile and knead throughly. Hopefully that should make a difference.
Thanks Bee, Maya, Pearl, Bharathi.
I tried this today… its awesome… this goes well with tomato catchup..
Hi first time here.You have a very nice space here..I like the pictures.I came here through Madhuram’s post.I tried these crackers today.It was superb.Thanks for sharing the recipe
I tried this..albeit a Sindhi version…..thanks much.
http://veggiefoodist.blogspot.com/2009/04/cracker-of-koki.html
this is one delicious snack RC. tried it.. will be posting my version tomorrow. thx for the recipe.
I am in the process of making this, just finished the dough. Will let you know:-)
The first set came out! Awesome:-D I am gorging on them right now…don’t know when i will stop.
My batch just came out of the oven and I must agree with everybody else: These are addictive!
I added a little jeera (not enough, though…) and they are… well, perfectly delicious
I’m a new fan of your blog (in Mexico, BTW) and I’m enjoying it very much!
(I’m trying a recipe for dosa but the batter is fermenting, so I’ll post about it tomorrow, LOL)
Great job!
Came out very well! Thanks!
I made them yesterday and it was yummy!! But i agree with Madhu (comment # 42). It did turn out soft the next day.
Hi San, thanks for trying this out. I have updated the post with few more suggestions. Hope that will help you the next time.
Hi
I made these yesterday.. I used equal portions of all purpose flour and rice flour. It turned out good but i felt they needed a lil more salt and spice to suit my taste.
Also my dough turned out very soft, although i took care to add water only lil at a time and as less as possible. So it was a lil tough to roll them, so pressed them between two plastic wrap sheets and patted with the hand .. They are still crisp today , hope they stay so for atleast a week.. So its the onions that make it go soft I think …
I just baked my batch … OMG they are addictive. very yummy. I added a spoon of ajwain ( I didn’t have till, and had to try the recipe today, couldn’t wait). I added just few spoons of water, but after leaving it for an hour, still found it a little over water. Thanks for the warning!!!
I had used non-stick pan, and learnt this trick. You out a small ball of the dough on the pan, and just wet your fingers in water , and press it to flaten. They came out very thin.
Thanks RC for sharing this wonderful recipe.
I made these crackers over the weekend. I over baked them & have a little burnt taste to them… I baked them for only 22 minutes… I think 18-20 minutes of baking would do in my over… will bake them again very soon…
Usha, thanks so much for your comments and for trying it out.The oevens are so diferent and also depends on the placement of the tray. I hope it works out for you next time.”Keeping fingers crossed” Cheers ~
[...] a while since I made these. After I was done I realized that I got carried away by the process of Baked Nipattu and made the maddur vada patty bit thin. Never the less they turned out [...]
Rc, Made this yest and they are truely addictive! But have a question….some came out crispy but some were lil hard eventhough all were very thin discs. Am I missing something? I added only 1 tbsp of butter and ommitted baking soda…Was it the reason or will it be a lil harder only?!. Will post the recipe sooner!
Sharmilee, thanks for trying them out and for your comments. I have experienced that with less butter than the recommended 4 Tbsps makes them to become hard. I wonder if that is the reason.
I am not sure how skipping the baking soda will make a differnce though.
Maybe next time, you can add the 4 tBsp and see?
hey hi,
Yesterday my friend emailed me this blog and I was so impressed with this site that today i baked this crackers..its amazing…and all other recipes also looks yummy..i cant wait to try….
Thank you very much for the sweet comments. You really made my day.
Hi ,
Does anybody know the address of Srinivasa Bakery in Hyd? I can ask my parents to check it out. I will try this recipe tomorrow. Looks yummy !!
Unfortunately I have no idea of bakeries in Hyderabad. I am familiar with Bangalore one’s though. Do give this a try and let me know