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mathri recipe, crisp mathri recipe | how to make mathri recipe

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punjabi mathris
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mathri recipe with step by step photos – these mathris, i had made on karwa chauth festival.  as i was not able to find mathri in the shops close to our place. we usually break the karwa chauth fast with mathris. so i made these indian spiced salty crackers laced with ajwain and peppercorns at home.

mathris are popular in north india. they are also known as nimkis. i prefer to have mathris with tea, but in north india people have mathris with mango pickle. this is my mom in law’s recipe. this method of making mathris will give a crisp version and not the flaky ones. the flaky mathris are made with a slight different method. in the flaky mathri recipe, i have shared both frying and baking method.

mathris can also be made during diwali. you can make these crackers and store them in an air tight container.

nimkis, mathri

usually mathris are fried. i have seen the baked versions and even tried them at home. but after being baked, they were pretty dense and hard. i tried many times and every time the mathris would become hard. so now i just fry them instead of baking them.

mathris are made with refined wheat flour/maida. i wanted a healthier mathris, so i have added wheat flour to the recipe. the result was a healthy, crisp and flavorful mathri.

if you are looking for similar recipes then do check namak paare, shakkar paare and gujiya recipe.

mathri recipe details below:

mathri recipe

mathri recipe

mathri recipe - indian spiced salty crackers laced with ajwain and peppercorns
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course snacks
prep time 25 minutes
cook time 35 minutes
total time 1 hour
servings 3 to 4
author dassana

ingredients (1 cup = 250 ml)

  • 1 cup wheat wheat flour (atta)
  • 3/4 to 1 cup all purpose flour (maida or white flour)
  • 1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
  • 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper (kali mirch powder) - optional
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) - optional
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoon ghee
  • ½ to ¾ cup water
  • salt to taste
  • oil for frying
  • few black peppercorns (sabut kali mirch)

how to make recipe

  1. seive the wheat flour, white flour, cooking soda and salt together. add the ajwain.
  2. mix the carom seeds with the rest of the seived flours. add the ghee.
  3. add water and start to knead the dough.
  4. the dough should not be soft, but a little tight and hard.

  5. make the mathris in any shape as shown in the pictorials below. you could make them round or triangular.

  6. if making round mathris then make it a little thick.
  7. fry the mathris in low to medium hot oil till browned and crisp.
  8. serve mathri as a snack with indian chai or with punjabi mango pickle.

recipe notes

few tips for making mathri recipe:

  • the mathris should never be fried in a very hot oil. they become browned quickly from the outside but do not get cooked from inside.
  • the oil should be kept on a low to medium flame. hence, the mathris take a longer time to fry than other fried indian snacks or pooris.
  • you could also warm the ghee or oil and add to dough for more flakiness.
  • the mathri dough should be firm and not soft.
  • avoid adding too much water while making the dough.
  • the triangular mathris can be laced with cloves instead of peppercorns.
  • you could also add coarsely powdered black peppercorns instead of full ones.


step by step crisp mathri recipe:

1. seive the maida, wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

flour for mathri recipe

2. keep it aside.

flour for mathri recipe

3. take ajwain and add it to the sieved flours.

ajwain for mathri recipe

4. mix the ajwain with the flours.

ajwain to make mathri recipe

5. add ghee and some water.

ghee for making mathri recipe

6. start to knead.

dough for mathri recipe

7. add some more water and knead into a smooth but firm dough. it should not be soft.

dough to make mathri recipe

now there are 2 ways of making the mathris:

a) circular or
b) triangular mathri

8. first, lets see how to make circular mathris. take a tennis ball size dough in your hand and roll into a thick disc/chapati. prick with a fork on this rolled dough.

rolling mathri - mathri recipe

9. with a biscuit cutter, cut round discs. you can also take small balls from the dough and roll them each into round discs. the round discs can be in the range of 3 to 4 inches in diameter.

preparing mathri recipe

10. on the round disc embedd some peppercorns. remove the extra dough from the sides and make another ball of it.

making mathri recipe

11. now the second way of making triangular mathris. take a small ball of the dough and roll into a puri.

dough for mathri recipe

12. fold the rolled puri sideways.

making mathri recipe

13. and then again fold it in a triangular shape.

punjabi mathri recipe

14. embedd the peppercorns. you could also insert a clove in the dough. i do not like the strong taste of cloves, so i have not added these to the recipe. you don’t have to prick with the fork, but just for fun i used the fork.

punjabi mathri recipe

15. make the mathris in any shape of your choice. keep all of them aside.

making punjabi mathri recipe

frying mathri:

16. heat oil in a pan and start to fry the mathris till they are crisp and golden brown. (please see notes below for the hotness of the oil)

frying mathri - punjabi mathri recipe

17. also fry the triangular ones. the triangular mathris have to be fried really evenly to ensure that the inner folds inside the triangles are cooked as well.

frying mathri - mathri recipe

18. drain mathri on tissues to remove excess oil. when the mathris are cooled, store them in an airtight jar.

fried mathri - mathri recipe

19. enjoy the mathris with pickles or just with evening chai or tea.

punjabi mathri recipe, mathri recipe




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Reader Interactions

{ 51 Responses }

  4. hi dassana, happy diwali to u n ur family..i m regular reader of ur blog it is fantastic n easy to understand. i have tried so many dishes which made my family happy..thanx n god bless u..

  5. Hi
    Awesome & easy recipe….thanks a lot for posting this…this was the first snack recipe that I tried…it turned out great….everyone loved it a lot and the bowl got emptied within minutes:-)

  6. Hi,
    I have never attempted preparing any snacks recipe like this….this evening m going to try this..hope the mathris will come out good…but m really nervous…hoping for the best…fingers crossed

  7. Tried this recipe today! The mathris came to be good. My daughter loved them. Thanks for sharing!!

  8. I doubled the recipe and changed the measurements accordingly but my mathris are becoming soft.they are not remaining crisp even immediately after taking out of the kadahi .)they are soft . what may I have done wrong 🙁 ?

    • i think the change in the measurements have not worked. could also be that the dough has become soft. if the dough becomes soft, then the mathris will have a texture like that of pooris. you can add some more flour and make a tight dough.

  12. I tried these and they turned out really well. A very simple recipe that leads to yummy mathris… Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  13. I like mathri but I don’t found recipe ,today ‘i win now I try D’s evening.Thank you for upload D’s recipe 🙂

  15. Hi Dassana,
    It was so wonderful to come across your blog and to note that you’ve recently gone vegan as well. Yaay!

    How does one veganize this recipe? Should I add hot oil instead? Would you also let me know the temperature at which to bake this mathri if I want an option to frying it? And can you provide the recipe for the pickle to eat this mathri with?

    • glad to see your comment here preethi. now when i make mathris or the flat crisp puris, i just add oil. in fact i make flaky tart pastries with oil now. i use organic sunflower or sesame oil. add the oil to the flour and then just mix it with the flour. work through your fingers, so that the whole mixture looks like breadcrumbs. the longer you do this process, the flakier will be the mathris. also avoid over kneading. you can skip baking soda if you want. the dough should not be moist or soft but firm.

      i bake the mathris for at 180 degrees C. bake for some 9-12 minutes. keep any eye. last time i had overbaked and extra browned mathris 🙂

      here’s the link to the punjabi mango pickle: https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/punjabi-mango-pickle/

  16. hi Dassana
    i tried Mathri snacks at home, it is so crunchy and crispy as in your descriptive pics, its looks soooooo yummieeeee. bt there is problem- that it becomes so salty coz i added more salt…
    what should i do now

    • have you fried the mathris. if not then add some more flour with some more water and a little bit of oil/ghee proportionately & knead again. check for the salt and add more flour if required. if you have fried them, then there is nothing that can be done 🙁

  17. mathris are my all time favorite snack ….
    instead of maida can i use wheat flour again & at what temp & how long should i bake these ?

    • hi shruti, you can use only wheat flour and make these… make the mathris a little thick if you are baking. what usually happens with me is that when i bake them, they become hard. you can bake them at 180 degrees c for some 25-30 minutes or till golden browned. all the best.

      • for baking(10-12mins at 170-180C) i made thin mathris, like you said it’s hard, don’t know how to soften it. so i baked very few. i fried the rest in sesame & coconut oil separately, came out well. i rolled out thin discs…will try triangles next time. thanks ! happy diwali in advance 🙂

        • mine too always come hard. so i have stopped baking them. what i had done was last time when they became hard, i added them to some sweet almond milk flavored with saffron and cardamon and then had them as a dessert. the savory taste of the mathri with the sweet almond milk is quite a unique combination. you can also use regular milk.

          wish you too a happy diwali shruti.

  19. I hope I get to see the moon on time this year. The last two years I broke my fast at 11:30 at night .. crazy it was 🙂 I was fried some and sat for blog hopping and saw this out here!

  20. These Mathri’s look absolutely delicious. Usually we make them little thicker and we don’t add cooking soda. I should definately try your recipe….

  23. hi Dassana
    i tried Mathri snacks at home, but its not as crunchy and crispy as in your descriptive pics, someone said to add ammonia bicarbonate instead of baking soda, bt i never heard of it befor. plz let me know how can i made such crispy and crunchy mathries as u made in this recipe. its looks soooooo yummieeeee.

    • it is sodium bicarbonate. it is the chemical name of baking soda. i think the person must have mistakenly forgotten the name. we never add baking soda when making mathris.

      to get the right texture, the ghee added to the flour should be in the ratio of 1:5 of ghee to flour respectively. also the flour should be kneaded with less water and must be a little hard. knead very well. thats it and you can make good mathris at home. in fact when i made them some extra water fell and hence the bubbles on the mathri.

  24. You can make out they are crisp! Been looking for a mathri recipe. Though this is thinner than what we get at the local store, they look yummier.

    • i made them thinner than the ones available outside. i have to replace these pics as soon as i make the next batch in the monsoons.

  26. thanks so much for this recipe i was fed up of searching for he proper recipe as the ones we get in the shops are yuck to taste finally i will be making these today itself all ingredients ready

  27. These look lovely. I like ajwain a lot. Unfortunately, I have fear of frying so only eat fried things in restaurants, but I’m going out for an Indian meal to celebrate Diwali tomorrow night. They’ve promised us free sweets with our meal and rafts of lights. Can’t wait.

    • thanks sharyn. you could even bake these. they will taste more like baked crackers.

      enjoy the diwali celebrations…

      • D I never cooked in my life. And now when I cook the first thing is to check your blog. I am really glad that I found your blog. LOVE your recipes. Makin mathri right now !!!!!!