How to make crisp bakery-style nankhatai in a pressure cooker, no oven or air fryer needed

Diwali is only a few days away. Homes make all kinds of sweets and desserts during the festival, and nankhatai, a traditional Indian cookie, is a favourite with young and old alike.

Most people think nankhatai cannot be made without an oven or an air fryer. That is not so. A bakery-style nankhatai can be made at home in a cooker. Melt-in-the-mouth and crumbly, it is a cookie people will want to eat again and again. Instead of bothering with an oven or an air fryer, you can make nankhatai quickly in a cooker. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients: ghee, powdered sugar, cardamom powder, refined flour (maida), gram flour (besan), semolina (rava), baking powder, finely chopped pistachios, salt and a cooker.

First, spread ghee over a plate and put it in the fridge to set. Take the chilled ghee out into a large bowl, add the powdered sugar and cardamom powder, and whisk.

Keep mixing until the ghee mixture is soft, light and creamy. Add the maida, besan, semolina and baking powder to this mixture and combine. Mix gently to form a soft ball of dough. Put the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes so that it sets.

Then make small balls of the dough. Press them lightly into the shape of nankhatai and garnish with pistachios and dried rose petals.

Now spread salt at the bottom of the cooker and place a stand in it. Remove the rubber gasket and the whistle, and close the lid. Preheat the cooker on a low flame for 10 minutes.

Place the nankhatai on a greased plate or baking tray, put it in the cooker, close the lid and let it bake on a low flame for 15 to 20 minutes. When the underside turns light golden, take the nankhatai out. The bakery-style, crumbly nankhatai is ready.