Batasa Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
1/2 to 1 tsp salt (to your taste)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp double acting baking powder
1 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 cup warm water
Method:
Mix all of the above ingredients to form a ball of dough. Allow to stand for 15 to 30 minutes.
Roll into small balls and lay them on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes, then at 200 degrees for 3 hours.
Now turn off the oven and leave batasa in the hot oven for another 3 hours. Remove from oven and cool, store only when completely cold.
Batasa are very good with hot tea/coffee. The best way is to dunk the batasa into the hot tea, immediately remove and pop into your mouth!
Tip: The balls should be round when placed in the oven. While baking they will flatten slightly on the bottom as shown in the photo.
Sharing this recipe from my cookbook.
What is a stick of butter? It would be better if you could give us the value in gms. as per the Indian standard.
A stick of butter is equal to four 4 ounces or 114 gms (approx).
Here is a handy calculator site: http://www.traditionaloven.com/culinary-arts/cooking/butter/convert-stick-of-butter-to-ounce-oz.html
[…] dress for tea; I was made to do the same. Once we were ready, out came the treats: Parsi biscuits—batasa, nan-khatai and flaky khari, patrel, rolled, steamed arbi leaves stuffed with besan masala; […]
[…] Batasa is another parsi favorite. Dip the batasa into your tea or coffee for the right amount of … […]
These are my favorite. We also called them butter for some reason. Yummy by any name!
Sandhya, yes there are made with butter, so maybe that’s why they are called butter.
The content of butter makes them a good anti-constipating food! Batasa very popular in Mumbai, Surat.
The bakeries bake them by the millions and they are a MUST for breakfast in the morning for some people.
🙂
Baking at 250 C or F?
250 Farenheit
Hello…. How many Batasas does this recipe make approximately…. Thank you so Much for the recipe…
Regards
Zaraius
Hi Zaraius, This recipe makes approx 2 dozen batasas. 24 to 29 Depending on the size of the balls you make. The cook gets to taste some, after the 2 dozen are made. 🙂
Have a good time making Batasas and do send a picture to us at webmaster@Parsicuisine.com
Rita, if I don’t have double acting baking powder, can I replace plain flour/1tsp double acting baking powder with self raising flour/1 tsp normal baking powder? Thanks
Meher, sure do replace plain flour/1tsp double acting baking powder with self raising flour/ 3/4 tsp normal baking powder. Self raising flour has some baking power so use 3/4 tsp double acting baking powder.
Let me know how they turn out.
Lovely biscuits! These look so cute & delicious.
Rita I have made these so often for our Parsi crowd for Christmas, birthday, and instead of wine to a party favourite of Phiroza Modi and Phil and Dhun Shroff’s. am making a batch for Noshir Langrana’s b’day gift. I made one and a half times the recipe so that I could divide it in two. one batch will have finely minced orange peel which I keep in the fridge in a simple syrup. Thanks for this great version of batasas. Homi loves then too. Always on hand here.
Dear Ellen,
So good to hear from you! Hope you and Homi are doing well. Happy Birthday to Noshir L!
So glad you dropped a line, otherwise I would not know !
Love,
Rita