Bajre ki Tikki | Pearl Millet Cookies
A very Happy New Year to all my readers. Starting the new year with one of the traditional recipes which are made by mom every year in winters, Bajre ki Tikki aka Pearl Millet Cookies. Bajre ki tikki, is a simple 3 ingredient tikki or cookie made using Gluten Free Bajra, Jaggery and Sesame seeds. Traditionally it is fried but I added a bit of a healthy twist to this by baking it so that I can enjoy this guilt-free.
This post may contain affiliate links· Please read our Privacy Policy for details. You can jump to the recipe, but you will miss the tips and tricks mentioned in the post
Winter Special Food - Bajra, Jaggery, Sesame
Come winters and there are many special foods being prepared. Many of this food helps our body to keep warm as well as fight with some common ailments like cough and cold. All the three ingredients Gluten Free Bajra flour, Jaggery and Sesame are winter special food. Bajra rich in Iron and when combined with Jaggery and sesame gives the body its required nutrients. I have already described much about bajra in my earlier post on Stuffed Bajra Paratha, which is another gluten free and traditional recipe of my family.
Bajre ki Tikki - one of the lost traditional recipe
So this time when our Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge group is virtually making a tour of UP, my native and my parents birth place. I decided to make this Bajre ki tikki which is a favourite of my parents and a common dish being prepared in north or UP. Unfortunately this recipes are getting lost in time. Such local foods are being replaced by foods that are sourced from places far off in the name of health. Secondly people think it does take a lot of time to make this. Yes some recipes do take time, but then everything takes time. Do not want to start my rant here :-).
The Secret Ingredients and the Challenge
You will not get such traditional and regional recipes online. So I had saved this recipe to make it for this challenge. Sujata Ji from Batter Up with Sujata, was my partner in this challenge and I asked her if She is okay if I can make this. She happily agreed and gave me 2 secret ingredients Jaggery and sesame. I gave her Cumin seeds and Turmeric and she made a delicious vegetable. Do check her blog for some yummy and delicious recipes and specially some regional Bengali food.
Food of Uttar Pradesh…
UP being my native, was a must-visit every year or 2 years in summer during our school vacations. We had endless visits to the Taj Mahal, Red fort, River Yamuna, Janmabhoomi in Mathura, Vrindavan etc. And yes how can forget the mouth-watering food. Bedai , Dal puris dunked in Aloo Saag, hot and crunchy Jalebi, Mathura ka peda (I can give anything for this), Gajak and one of my most favourite Lassi in kulhad (Earthen pots). Healthy ladoos such as Atte and Gond ke Ladoo and delicious desserts as Gajar ka Halwa and Kheer… oh my gosh I am drooling and now I have to stop reminding me of the dishes.
Being a vegetarian I have listed few dishes which are my favourite but UP has a rich cuisine. Being a large state it has a lot of common recipes shared with neighbouring states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi etc apart from its two most famous cuisine of Mughlai and Awadhi. I can go endlessly on this but have to stop.
Bajre ki Tikki Recipe
So coming to today's recipe of Bajre ki Tikki. It is a simple recipe and made using a few ingredients. The dough needs to be made using a bit of lukewarm water or syrup as it is made using gluten-free Bajra Flour. A lump-free dough is made by kneading it with the heel of your hand. Small tikkis are made and then deep-fried. I have fried as well as baked them. I loved both the baked and fried versions. Fried will be fried, but I have no complaints towards the baked. And next time I would be making only the baked version.
Texture and taste of Bajre ki Tikki
These cookies are a bit dense and someone eating for the first time might not like it due to Bajra. It has a nutty texture and a mild sweetness due to jaggery. They are not overly sweet and are crunchier for a few evening bites. They stay good in an airtight container for a month.
Also keep in mind that these tikkis may be a little hard as compared to normal cookies. They are not very soft or melt in mouth types.
So here goes the recipe of Bajre ki Tikki | Pearl Millet Cookies
Ingredients
- 250 grams Bajra Flour (I forgot to take cup measurement will update next time, Should be approximately 1 cup)
- 150 grams Jaggery / Gud
- ½ Cup Lukewarm Water or as required
- 20-23 grams, 2 tablespoon Sesame seeds
- Oil for frying (Not required if baking)
- 1 tablespoon Ghee/Clarified Butter for brushing (Optional)
Preparation
- Powder Jaggery or cut into thin strips and put it into a bowl.
- Add ½ Cup Lukewarm water and mix everything. (Do not add more water at this stage, we can adjust the consistency later)
- Let it sit for 30 minutes and let the Jaggery melt.
- Now in a wide plate or a bowl, add the Bajra and 2 tablespoons Sesame seeds. Give it a quick stir.
- Slightly warm the jaggery syrup and use this to make a smooth and a semi stiff dough.
- Let the dough rest for 30 mins.
- After 30 mins, knead the dough one more time. If you feel the dough too smooth, add some flour, ½ tablespoon at a time.
- One should be able to make smooth balls from this.
- Take a tablespoon of mixture in your hand. Roll it into smooth balls and slightly flatten it.
- If frying, fry them on medium stove until golden brown on both sides.
- For baking, preheat the oven to 180 Deg C.
- Bake them for 10 minutes on one side.
- Brush the top with a bit of ghee. This is an optional step, but helps the tikki/Cookies in not dry and also giving them a slight golden colour.
- Bake for 10 minutes
- Flip, brush ghee on the other side and again bake for 5 minutes.
- They should be done when they are firm on the edges. For me it took around 25 minutes.
- Let them cool and store it in an airtight container.
Notes
- Frying on medium is essential or else they would not cook from inside.
Bajre ki Tikki | Pearl Millet Cookies
Print
Pin
Rate
Save
Equipment
- Pot/Kadai for Frying
Ingredients
- 250 grams Bajra Flour (I forgot to take cup measurement will update next time, Should be approximately 1 cup)
- 150 grams Jaggery / Gud
- ½ Cup Lukewarm Water or as required
- 20-23 grams 2 tablespoon Sesame seeds
- Oil for frying (Not required if baking)
- 1 tablespoon Ghee/Clarified Butter for brushing (Optional)
Instructions
- Powder Jaggery or cut into thin strips and put it into a bowl.
- Add ½ Cup Lukewarm water and mix everything. (Do not add more water at this stage, we can adjust the consistency later)
- Let it sit for 30 minutes and let the Jaggery melt.
- Now in a wide plate or a bowl, add the Bajra and 2 tablespoons Sesame seeds. Give it a quick stir.
- Slightly warm the jaggery syrup and use this to make a smooth and a semi stiff dough.
- Let the dough rest for 30 mins.
- After 30 mins, knead the dough one more time. If you feel the dough too smooth, add some flour, ½ tablespoon at a time.
- One should be able to make smooth balls from this.
- Take a tablespoon of mixture in your hand. Roll it into smooth balls and slightly flatten it.
- If frying, fry them on medium stove until golden brown on both sides.
- For baking, preheat the oven to 180 Deg C.
- Bake them for 10 minutes on one side.
- Brush the top with a bit of ghee. This is an optional step, but helps the tikki/Cookies in not dry and also giving them a slight golden colour.
- Bake for 10 minutes
- Flip, brush ghee on the other side and again bake for 5 minutes.
- They should be done when they are firm on the edges. For me it took around 25 minutes.
- Let them cool and store it in an airtight container.
Notes
- Frying on medium is essential or else they would not cook from inside.
Few More Regional recipes
- Baked Shana Jhieg | Meghalaya Starter/ Snack
- Sana Thongba | Manipuri Paneer curry (No onion, No Garlic)
- Chakki ki Sabji |Ate ki Sabji (Tangy and Spicy Gravy with whole wheat flour dumplings)
- Idli Podi
- Akki Roti
- Kashmiri Dum Aloo (No Onion, No Garlic)
- Authentic Pakodi/Pakoda Kadhi
- Mizoram's Panch Phoran Tarkari
- No Oil Tomato Chutney from Nagaland
- Odia's Sapuri khatta | Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chutney
- Dal Makhani | Indian Style Creamy Black Lentils
- Moong Dal Pakoda (Fritters)
- Thukpa | Vegetable Noodle Soup
- Kongu Thakkali Kuzhambu | Coimbatore Style Vegan Tomato Curry
- Vellulli Karam podi (Spicy Garlic & Red Chilly Powder)
- Tripura Tomato Chutney - Mosdeng Serma
Tried this recipe? Please comment and rate the recipe. Share your pics and tag us.
Subscribe to my email list to get the new recipes straight into your mailbox.
So nutritious and delicious cookies made with bajra, til and jaggery .. these have such a rustic appeal..a similar kind is made with whole wheat flour at my native village . loved your healthy baked verison.
Thank You
Bajra cookies with jaggery and sesame seeds sounds so healthy and delicious ! Don't you add baking powder in the baked version Renu ?
Thank you. No Baking powder is not required at all.
These millet cookies are amazing.. Never thought we could make cookies with millet flour. I am book marking them. These days we are off maida products.
We definitely can. Thank You.
I love bajara and til and it is such a healthy combo especially in the winter. Hope to try it soon 🙂
Thank You
Wow, such healthy cookies! With the goodness of bajra, til and gud, what's to not love? I'm sure these taste absolutely delicious.
Thank You
These sound lovely and simple to make! I like that you give me the fried and baked version, I'll be trying both!
Wow Renu, a traditional recipe from UP and it does look so tempting. Simple healthy ingredients put together to enjoy a body warming snack during winter. Don't know which one I'd reach out first, the fried or baked one.
Thank you
These cookies look delish! I've never tried pearl millet cookies before so my anxious to see what they taste like!
Thank You
I have never used bajra flour., but these look so good. I think I would try them fried!
Thank you, they are delicious
I like that you added instructions both for frying and for baking in the oven. They look perfectly crisp and delicious.
Thank You
Thanks for sharing your recipe for these Millet Cookies. I know what you mean about some of our food and recipes are being forgotten. Thank goodness for bloggers like you that put these types of recipes online for everyone to learn about.
Thank You so much
These sound lovely and simple to make! I like that you gave me the baked and fried options, I'm trying both!
Thank You
Cookies using bajra flour sounds very interesting Renu. It looks very tasty and super delicious and healthy. Love to try these crunchy cookies .
Thank You
Traditional but really a healthy and delicious recipe to make for our loved ones and I am sure that they will like it.
I have never worked with some of the ingredients in this recipe, but I love to learn about new foods I've never tried before. These Pearl Millet cookies look delightful. I bet they will be splendid with a big pot of tea on a cold day!
They are. The ingredients are different but available in asian shop. Thank You
All of these ingredients are completely new to me!! But if you know me, I can never say no to cookies. These look so good!!
Delicious millet cookies! Millet flower has a unique flavor that I really enjoy!
These cookies look amazing and will definitely be making them - will try and bake instead of deep frying, would that work well too?
Yes, I have done both and the pics show both the versions. Thank You
These cookies looks so healthy an d nutritious. will this be soft textured cookies? I see you have not added any oil/butter/ghee in the batter. how will be the texture of baked version?
Thank You
These cookies using bajra look delish Renu ! Both the version I like which you have shared. super delicious and healthy crunchy cookies .
Bajra tikki looks awesome Renu. Perfect cookies with tea or coffee. I have made cookies similar to this but with more ghee. Loved the use of less ghee to make it.
I loved the recipe and tried it almost immediately. But should the bajra flour be cooked in the jaggery syrup? My tikkas have a slight bitter taste. I had to add nearly 2 more cups of bajra flour to the 1/2 cup jaggery water to get the consistency you described.
Some pointers...Did you let the Bajra flour rest in warm water in the start? Was your Bajra flour old? Secondly I think you added more bajra with respect to the ratio of jaggery used and hence they went bitter. I will try to put the cup measurements whenever I get a chance.
We are not cooking the bajra here in jaggery syrup. If you see my pic, I have added the syrup in the bajra flour. Another thing I suspect is sometimes the quality of flour, some flour absorbs more and some less. Also let the dough rest after adding the syrup as it helps bajra or to that matter any millet flour absorb the water and hydrate.
@Renu Agrawal Dongre, Mam, didn't realise that we had to let bajra flour soak in warm water!
I directly added the syrup to the flour.
So we first have to soak the bajra flour separately in warm water 1/2 cup and jaggery in another 1/2 cup water? Then add the requisite amount of jaggery syrup to the soaked wet bajra flour?
Hi, First mix Jaggery in 1/2 cup water and let it rest for 30 mins (Step 3). Then add flour, sesame seeds and let it rest further for 30 mins. Do not add any more water. (In total I added only 1/2 cup) After 30 mins when you are ready to bake or fry, check the consistency at that time. If your flour is absorbing less water, start with 1/4 cup only. You can always add it later. Hope that clarifies. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Hello, Thanks for Recipe. I tried in Gas Tandoor Oven but the tikki's came out hard as rock. Need your help, what went wrong here.
Hi, Sorry I have no experience with gas tandoor. A few points, Were you able to bind the dough and was it smooth enough. Did you over baked it?
I do love the ( kurkura) rustic texture of Pearl millet flour in cookies. Have been making cumin cookies with this but I do mix some other flour too.
Will try your version, too
Thank You, hope you like it