Healthy Khara Biscuits are savory Indian style spicy, egg free whole wheat flour biscuits/cookies tinged with the spicy flavors of ginger, cilantro, jalapenos and hing/asafetida.
They come out so flaky and buttery, you would love to munch on it with a cup of your evening coffee or tea or even as a mid morning snack.
You go to any street in India, more so in south India, you are sure to bump into at least 2 to 3 bakeries on every street.
We Indians love our corner bakery store with all the lovely sweet cookies, soft cakes, puff pastry snacks and myriad of breads in all shapes and flavors along with savory cookies or “biscuits” as they call it in India.
One such savory cookie which every south Indian; especially the ones from Karnataka (a state in south India) loves is Khara biscuit.
“Khara” is "spicy" in Kannada (language spoke in Karnataka). These cookies are spicy and savory cookies with the flavors of fresh herbs and spices which are ground and mixed with the dough to give it the distinct aroma and taste.
Khara biscuits were first made by a famous bakery in Bangalore called Iyengar’s Bangalore Bakery which was started in the 1800s and is still run by its fourth generation descendants. They are known for their savory khara biscuits, savory vegetable stuffed bread buns or rolls and a sweet bread called “dil kush” or “dil pasand” (flaky buns filled with a sweetened mixture of coconut, fruits and nuts).
These baked goodies became so famous and were in such high demand that every bakery in south India started to make their own version and now you can find them almost in all the bakery stores.
We had family over the weekend and so I went on a baking spree with making beetroot chocolate cake, eggless peanut butter kiss cookies etc. and for the savory bite, I decided to make Iyengar style Khara biscuits.
I had first made them a few years ago when I came across them here. Ever since then, my baking adventures have turned much more healthier; so I have substituted most of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and added turmeric powder for color and its wonderful health benefits.
These spicy cookies are so easy to make. They do not need any beater and the amount of spice level can be adjusted to your liking.
We enjoy spice in our food; so I have added more jalapenos and herbs (curry leaves and cilantro) along with ginger and asafetida. You can choose to add any spice combination you love, be it cumin seeds, coriander powder, mint leaves etc.
All you need is one hour (including time needed to rest the dough) and these buttery, flaky shortbread like cookies are yours to bite into!!
Do try my version of Iyengar style Khara biscuits and let me know how they turned out in the comments box below.
(STEP WISE RICIPE IS ALSO BELOW)
Lets get to the printable/to save recipe shall we?
Healthy Khara Biscuits are savory Indian style spicy biscuits/cookies made with whole wheat flour along with flavors of ginger, cilantro, jalapenos and hing/asafetida.
Ingredients
- ½ cup maida/all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon hing/asafetida
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 to 4 green chilis/jalapenos
- 3 tablespoons coriander leaves
- 2 tablespoons curry leaves
- 1 inch piece ginger
- 1 to 2 teaspoons yogurt
- Extra flour for dusting
Instructions
- In a small blender jar, make a paste of green chilies, coriander leaves, curry leaves and ginger. You can choose to make a fine paste or leave it coarse; I love to see the bits of green herbs in my cookies, so I made a coarse paste.
- In a large bowl, sift all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, corn flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, turmeric powder and hing or mix with a wire whisk.
- Add softened butter along with the blended paste and mix with your hands to a coarse breadcrumb like mixture.
- Add yogurt a teaspoon at a time till you get a smooth dough; do not make it too soft like chapatti dough. I added about 1 ½ teaspoons of yogurt.
- Cover and keep aside for about 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Centigrade.
- Grease a baking pan lightly and keep aside.
- Make 2 portions of the dough.
- Roll one portion to a thin disc about ¼ inches in thickness.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into desired shapes, prick them with a fork (this prevents the cookie from puffing up while baking).and place them on the greased baking pan
- Bake at 200 degrees Centigrade for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges of the cookies start to brown.
- Remove from oven and gently place on cooling racks to cool completely.
- Continue with the rest of the dough.
- Cool completely and store leftovers in an airtight container.
- Enjoy crisp, buttery, healthy and spicy savory cookies with your evening chai/coffee, at your next party or as a mid morning snack.
Notes
For a flaky cookie, do not overwork the dough.
Adjust the amount of green chillies, spices and herbs according to your taste. Adding turmeric powder is optional.
For a slightly sweeter cookie, add a teaspoon or more of sugar.
How to make Healthy Khara Biscuits with step-by-step method:
- In a small blender jar, add green chilies, coriander leaves, curry leaves and ginger.
- Blend to a paste. You can choose to make a fine paste or leave it coarse; I love to see the bits of green herbs in my cookies, so I made a coarse paste.
- In a large bowl, sift all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, corn flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, turmeric powder and hing or mix with a wire whisk.
- Add softened butter along with the blended paste (not more than 2 tablespoons of the paste).
- Mix with your hands to a coarse breadcrumb like mixture.
- Add yogurt a teaspoon at a time till you get a smooth dough; just gather to form a ball. I added about 1 ½ teaspoons of yogurt.
- Cover and keep aside for about 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Centigrade.
- Grease a baking pan lightly and keep aside.
- Make 2 portions of the dough.
- Roll one portion to a thin disc about ¼ inches in thickness.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into desired shapes, prick them with a fork (this prevents the cookie from puffing up while baking).
- Place them on the greased baking pan.
- Bake at 200 degrees Centigrade for 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to brown.
- Remove from oven and gently place on cooling racks to cool completely.
- Continue with the rest of the dough.
- Cool completely.
- Enjoy crisp, buttery, healthy and spicy savory cookies with your evening chai/coffee, at your next party or as a mid morning snack.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container.
- Enjoy!!
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Hi
Just made a big batch of khara biscuits and it came out awesome !
Thanks a lot!
That is awesome!! So happy you loved it 🙂 It is a favorite in our house too...thank you so much for sharing your appreciation Mala <3
What is the purpose of the cornflour? If I skip it will it come out ok?
Hello,
Adding cornflour gives a lovely crispy crumb to the texture but if you do not have it, you can omit it. I have not tried but should work out ok.
Can I use oil instead of butter? And may agave nectar instead of sugar
Hello! I have not tried making using oil but If you want to, use only half the amount of butter used and try.
If you do, please share; I would love to know how the turned out.
About the sugar, as it is only 1 tsp of sugar, I am sure you could add agave nectar but as it is a liquid, you may need to add a bit more flour to make the dough. Hope this helps.
It worked. I swapped sugar with agave and butter with extra virgin olive oil.
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Will try that next time!
What rack should the greased pan be placed in OTG??. Which rods should be on??
Hi!
Preferably the middle rack and both rods should be on The cookies should bake all over; I baked mine in a convection oven.
Each oven is different so do check for overheating and the cookie burning or it may take longer etc.
Hope this helps.
Hi
I really liked the recipe and would like to try it. How many biscuits this recipe yields and what is the size of each biscuit?
Hi Priyanka!
Thank you dear. This is one of my most popular savory baked snacks which I have been making again and again as have my readers!
You can use any size cookie cutter, a bottle lid etc. but I have used a 2 inch cutter and it got me about 18 to 20 cookies I think.
One batch will yield about 18-20 cookies if you use that.
But this batch is enough for a family of 4 to enjoy once or twice with tea or coffee as they are so addictive!
Thank you again for stopping by and hope you enjoy making and eating these spicy Indian cookies!
I tried this recipe today. All wheat, half ghee half butter and mint leaves. It was good ! Thank you for the recipe ♥️
Thanks so much dear Purandhi 🙂 I appreciate your giving a beautiful feedback and I am so glad you liked one of my favorite cookies!
Substitute for wheatflour& maida plz reply
For most biscuits, you will need either only maida or a mix of maida and wheat flour.
You can either use only maida or only wheat flour too.
But for a good texture and crunch, either of them are needed.
Thank you for the recipes ? keep it up
Thank you so much dear <3
Hi will the recipe hold if I use ghee instead of butter?
Hi Malvika!
I have not tried with ghee but it should work fine!
If you do try, let me know 🙂
Thanks dear for stopping by!
Tried this recipe today (used whole wheat flour completely) ..taste was too good..thanks for the recipe..
Awesome dear Gayathri 🙂 I made a batch today using whole wheat flour and was not disappointed too! I am so glad you liked it!
Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Please update list of ingredients and quantity in the recipe
Updated 🙂
These khara biscuits with all that Indian touch suits best to our taste buds...perfect for tea time snacking
Thanks so much dear Ritu 🙂 Goes so well with adrak chai!
These Indian style khara biscuits looks so irresistible, great with masala chai and cheese board.
Absolutely dear!! I always have a cuppa adrak chai with these savory cookies. Thanks so much Jagruti 🙂
Thank you Poonam 🙂 Yes, those greens do give it a beautiful color and awesome flavor!
I always have a love for savoury biscuits..These looks amazing ..will give a try to enjoy my tea
Thanks so much dear 🙂 Do try; they go perfect with tea or coffee!
pass me these khara biscuits, craving for them now.I made once and I know these savory cookies taste amazing. great share must say.
Thanks so much dear 🙂 🙂
Khara biscuits look crisp and perfectly baked. Can imagine the flavors of curry leaves and coriander on it.
Thank you Poonam ? Yes, those greens do give it a beautiful color and awesome flavor!
I had first d these biscuits from a famous bakery in Bangalore and was wowed as how they have balanced the sweet, salty spicy flavours in this cookies , your recipe sounds so interesting have to try this for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Soma 🙂 🙂 Yes, those bakery biscuits do taste awesome! Miss those here 🙂
Super delicious looking cookies.. a replacement for frried mathris.
Absolutely!! Thanks so much Shobha 🙂 🙂
Wow these flavoured biscuits looks tempting..Thanks for sharing step by step in detail with pictures. Beautiful share
Thank you so much Jolly 🙂 🙂 Hope you get to make these soon! 🙂
Would love to munch on these super awesome flaky khara biscuits any time of the day. They are one of my favorite snacks and yours look so so good, absolutely perfect dear 🙂
Thank you so much Meghna 🙂 🙂 You must try these; so easy to make and absolutely crispy, crunchy and spicy!
Wow Khara biscuits looks yum yum... Thanks for explaining in detail.
Thanks so much Pavani 🙂
These savory cookies look so good!! Love all the spices in there 🙂
Thanks so much Freda 🙂
OMG it's wow.. biscuits with green chillies curry leaves sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing
Thanks a bunch Ruchi 🙂 🙂 It tastes amazing too; spicy, crunchy and crispy!
Vanitha, I am bookmarking this recipe! The khara biscuits are out of this world good an dI like that they use whole wheat flour!
Thanks so much Sandhya 🙂 🙂 This is one of my most favorite recipes, reminiscent of my local bakery in Mysore!!! I am so glad I could make these with whole wheat for a healthier twist!
Your ingredients list says 1/2 cup butter and in the procedure it says 2 Tbsp. Which is correct?
Butter is 1/2 cup; you should not add not more than 2 tbsp of the blended paste of coriander, curry leaves and green chillies.
Thank you!!
Wow looks crunchy and delicious...
Thanks so much 🙂