Kneading dough

Cup of Yum
1. Powder the sugar in a dry grinder and keep aside.
2. First sieve the flour with salt.
3. Then sieve the powdered sugar.
4. Melt some ghee or warm the oil in a small pan. For ghee measure the melted ghee to 2 tablespoons.
5. Add the melted ghee or warm oil to the flour-semolina-sugar mixture. First mix with a spoon.
6. Then with your fingers mix the fat into the flour mixture and make a breadcrumb like consistency.
7. When gathered together, the whole mixture should be able to hold itself together.
8. Warm the milk. Then add 1 tablespoon of the warm milk in intervals and knead to a firm tight dough.
9. If the dough looks dry, then add 1 to 3 teaspoons milk and knead.
10. Keep aside covered for 20 to 30 minutes for the dough to rest.

Frying shankarpali

1. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan.
2. Divide the dough into two or three equal parts and roll each into a neat ball. Keep covered with a kitchen napkin so that the dough does not dry out.
3. Roll this ball into a disc having 5 to 7 mm thickness. Cut diamond or square shaped slices from the rolled dough.
4. Gently drop 6 to 8 of these rolled shankarpali pieces into the kadai or pan.
5. You can fry more if you have a bigger kadai or pan.
6. When one side is golden, turn over with a slotted spoon and fry the second side until golden. If required turn over a few times for an even cooking and golden color.
7. Remove with a slotted spoon and place the fried shankarpali on kitchen paper napkins. Fry the rest of the shankarpali in batches.
8. Also roll the other piece of the dough in a similar way and make diamond shaped pieces. Fry these pieces too in batches.
9. When cooled, store the shankarpali in an air-tight jar or container.

Baking shankarpali

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Place the diamond slices on to a baking tray or pan.
3. Bake shankarpali for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Turn over half way through baking if needed.
4. Remove and cool the baked shankarpali on a wired rack.
5. Once cooled, store the baked shankarpali in an air-tight jar.