Mathri Recipe (Punjabi Mathiya or Mathari)

Making dough

1. First heat the ghee or oil in a small pan until hot. Take the hot ghee or oil and all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, all the spices, dry fenugreek leaves, salt and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
2. First mix everything well with a spoon. Then when the mixture is warm or cool enough to handle, mix the fat evenly in the flour with your fingertips.
3. The whole mixture should resemble breadcrumbs. The more you do this, the more flaky texture the mathri or mathiya will have.
4. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water at a time and only mix the dough. Don't knead like a roti or poori dough. But only mix the water in the dough until it comes together.
5. When the whole mixture can be easily clumped or gathered together into a ball, cover with a kitchen towel and keep aside to rest for 30 mins.

Rolling mathari

1. Heat oil for frying in a kadai (wok) or frying pan. Pinch small balls from the dough. Simply roll them lightly in your palms to even them. No need to give them a proper round shape.
2. Keep the balls covered with a kitchen towel so that they do not dry out.
3. Flatten each ball with a rolling pin to medium thickness. You will see jagged uneven edges and they are alright. 
4. Prick each rolled dough with a fork or pierce them with a knife.
5. In case you want a smooth finish, then use a biscuit or cookie cutter. Roll a large piece of dough and cut with a cookie cutter.

Frying Mathri

1. Check the hotness of oil before frying the mathari.
2. Drop a small piece and if comes to the surface gradually, then the oil is ready.
3. If it comes to quickly, then the oil is very hot and the mathri will brown from out but remain uncooked from inside and will become soft.
4. If it comes slowly, then the oil is cold. Result would be the mathari would absorb a lot of oil and become dense due to over frying.
5. Fry them in medium hot oil turning over as needed until crisp and golden.
6. Regulate the heat between medium-low to medium if required.
7. Drain on kitchen paper towels and when cooled store them in an airtight box.
8. Fry them in batches this way.
9. Serve these flaky spiced punjabi mathri with ginger tea or masala tea as an evening snack.

Baking Mathri

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Roll the dough into round disc as mentioned above.
3. Place them in a baking pan or tray and then bake for 20 to 30 mins or till light golden in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit).
4. After 10 to 12 minutes, turn over the mathri for even baking and browning.
5. If even after 20 to 30 minutes the mathri look soft or under-baked, then bake for some more minutes.
6. Please keep an eye on the baking as oven temperatures differ in various models and brands.
7. Remove with a spatula and place the baked crackers on a wire rack to cool.
8. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container or jar.