Savory Diamond Cuts/Maida Biscuits

Diamond Cuts or Maida Biscuits as we call it at home are my childhood favourite. Not one Diwali goes by where my mom doesn’t make these. These biscuits can be made sweet or savory. As my kids prefer savory stuff more than sweets, I prefer to make these. My MIL makes the sweet ones to add in the mixture. I like both the versions. I will post the sweet version later.

These biscuits are very easy to make and get ready in no time. A perfect snack to try for beginners. And you really need no occasion to make these. They are perfect to much along with your cup of coffee or tea on a nice rainy day.

Even though, it is very simple to make, there are certain things to keep in mind, else you might end up with not so crisp biscuits. Please read the recipe and the notes. The dough I have given is a basic dough and you can use your imagination to bring out many variations to this.

Makes about 2 cups

What you’ll need

1. Maida/All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
2. Hot Oil – 1.5 tbsp
3. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
4. Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
5. Salt to taste
6. Oil to deep fry

Method

1. In a wide bowl, add the maida, salt, chilly powder, cumin seeds and mix well.
2. Now add the hot oil and mix it well with your hands so that the oil is incorporated very well in the flour.
3. Now sprinkle water little by little and knead into a smooth, pliable yet firm dough. If the dough is loose, the biscuits will turn out soggy.
4. Add a few drops of oil on the dough and knead again for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Cover the dough and rest it at least for 20 minutes. Resting helps in making the dough more pliable.
6. After the resting time, knead the dough again for a couple of minutes and then divide them into lemon sized balls.
7. Heat oil in a Kadai for deep frying.
8. Take one of the balls and roll out into a thin circle like chappati, grease your rolling pin with few drops of oil, for easy rolling.
9. Poke holes with a fork on the chappathi to prevent puffing up.
10. Now, with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut vertical strips and then again cut it diagonally, to result in diamond shaped pieces. Separate the pieces
11. Once the oil is hot, reduce heat to low and add diamond cuts in small batches to the hot oil, fry on medium flame, until the bubbles stop. Don’t fry in high flame, frying in medium flame is important to get crispy biscuits.
12. Drain on tissue paper, once it has cooled, store in air tight container. Repeat the same with remaining dough.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Notes:

1. You could add Omam or ajwain to the dough.
2. You could also grind some dry red chillies and garlic and add it to the dough, if you like the garlic flavour.
3. Be very careful while adding water to knead the dough. Adding more water, will make the dough sticky and the biscuits will be soggy.
4. Also add the mentioned amount of hot oil which gives the crunchiness to the buiscits.
5. You could had melted ghee or butter too.
6. Don't make the chappathis too thin.