Recipe of the week: nankhatai (cardamom shortbread)

These sweet, soft and crumbly biscuits are somewhat reminiscent of shortbread, says Farokh Talati. Traditionally, they don’t contain lemon zest, but I find that it imparts uplifting qualities. Go out of your way to make or find ghee for this recipe, as it really enhances that irresistible, biscuity flavour.

Makes 16

Ingredients

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• 100g ghee or unsalted butter
• 100g icing sugar (or caster sugar finely ground in a pestle and mortar)
• zest of ½ a lemon
• 1 tsp full-fat natural yoghurt
• 80g chickpea flour
• 40g plain flour
• 40g fine semolina
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of cream of tartar
• a pinch of fine salt
• seeds of 8 cardamom pods, crushed in a pestle and mortar
• 16 shelled pistachios, or 8 almonds/cashews, cut in half

Method

• Preheat the oven to 150°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
• In a food processor, cream together the ghee or butter, sugar, zest and yoghurt until pale and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients (except the nuts) and gently combine with your fingertips until the mixture forms delicate crumbs. Try not to be too heavy-handed at this stage – a lighter touch will give a more delicate biscuit.
• Divide into 16 pieces and form each into a ball. Gently press so they’re slightly flatter than a ball, then place on the tray, a few centimetres apart.
• Push either a pistachio or a halved almond/cashew into the centre of each ball and bake for 30 mins until pale golden. Serve with an ice-cold glass of milk.

Taken from Parsi: From Persia to Bombay by Farokh Talati, published by Bloomsbury at £26. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £20.99 (incl. p&p), call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.