Finally after getting my convection oven that I patiently waited for, I set the ball rolling with my all time favourite suji biscuits. Suji biscuit is a melt in your mouth cookie made from flour, ghee and sugar with a pinch of salt that kind of gives the balance between sweet and salty. Most Malay and Indian households in Singapore and Malaysia would be busy making them for Hari Raya and Deepavali.

There has been many a debate as to why it’s called suji (semolina) when it’s not made of semolina. Friends in Dubai call it Nankhatai which they say is pretty similar in taste but am sure the ingredients are not the same. I threw the question out to my Singapore friends and one of them came up with the most likely theory that it originally could have been made out of semolina but over time the recipe got modified but not the name. I so prefer that theory!

There are many varieties in making this biscuit (with and without semolina) and my recipe below is without semolina. I do hope you get to make them and would love to hear from you as to how they turned out.

Ingredients

• All purpose flour – 500 gms
• Pure ghee – 250 gm
• Castor sugar – 220 gm
• Pinch of salt

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line the baking trays with baking paper.
• Mix all the ingredients together using your hand. This way you can tell if the mixture is too sticky or dry. If it’s sticky, add flour in small quantities and if it’s dry add ghee, again in small quantities.
• Make small balls and slightly flatten them and place them on a baking tray couple of centimeters apart as they will increase in size a little.
• Bake for 15-18 mins (depending on your oven). Cookies will be slightly cracked on top and for me this is the best way to know that the mixture was just right; not too dry nor sticky.
• Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Try not to hold the cookie for long cos they tend to leave a tiny dent where you hold them when you transfer from baking tray to wire rack. Alternatively, you may use a spatula to remove the cookies from the baking tray to the wire rack.