How to make Elo Jhelo Nimki | Kamranga Nimki | Bengali Recipe

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Elo Jhelo Nimki is a traditional Bengali snack prepared during festival seasons such as Durga Puja and Diwali. It is also known as Kamranga Nimki. It is a crispy and crunchy snack and can be stored in airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Apart from a savory snack, elo jhelo also has a sweet version.

This elo jhelo brings back lot of childhood memories. Many of our family lived in the neighborhood where I grew up. So during Bijayadashami we ( cousin brothers and sisters, you can read The Gang ) used to go almost all the relatives house to seek blessings from elders.

Frankly speaking, the gang was interested in food items than blessings! At times, it used to happen that each house had offered sweets but no savory items and after eating too much sweet we used crave for snacks. We used to visit this way every year so we observed one or two house only serves snacks. Therefore, we used to go in those house at last when our craving for snacks was extreme. One of the house every year used to make elo-jhelo and we used to relish it.

What are the different varieties of Elo Jhelo?

Since my growing up years, I have seen my family two versions of Elo Jhelo – one is savory or namkeen version and the other one was the sweeter or meetha version.

Usually, grandma or ma used to make a large batch of elo jhelo. A quarter portion of that batch was saved to make the sweeter version especially for the kids.

What are the ingredients required to prepare Elo Jhelo?

Elo jhelo preparation needs only few ingredients listed below:

Maida or All-purpose flour: The primary ingredient of this nimki recipe is maida or all-purpose flour.

Vegetable oil or Refined oil: While kneading the dough, you should ads shortening agent such as oil or ghee to make the dough crumbly. As a result , the nimki would turn out crispy and crunchy. You also need oil for deep frying.

Nigella seeds or Kalonji: It is also known as kalo jeera. It adds a distinct flavor to the nimki.

Salt: While kneading the nimki dough, add salt as per the taste.

Sugar: For the Savory version of elo jhelo, recipe calls for little amount of sugar. You can add the sugar while kneading the dough. For Sweeter version, you need good amount of sugar to prepare the syrup or chasni.

Cooking Soda: This ingredient is completely optional. However, addition of a pinch of soda makes the nimki for crispy and crunchy.

How to make elo jhelo nimki recipe with step by step picture

By looking at the shape of elo jhelo, you might think the making process must be very difficult. However, this is not correct. Here, I will explain each step and share tips & tricks to prepare this unique nimki.

Kneading of dough is an important part of this recipe. Take all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, and soda in a bowl and mix them using your fingers. Add kalonji or nijella seeds (kalo jeera) into the flour mixture and give a good mix.

Next add oil in the flour mixture and rub the flour using your finger. Later slowly add water and knead a stiff but smooth dough. Nimki dough should be similar like maida poori or luchi dough.

Cover the dough using a damp cloth and allow it to rest for 30 minutes or so.

Now make equal size of balls and roll a round disc like roti.

Leaving one cm from each edge, make parallel slits in one cm gap in that round chapati.

Next hold both the ends and give a twist to those cuts and lock both the edges by pressing with fingers

If your dough balls are bigger in size you can roll a bigger size roti and now cut into half circle. Following the above technique you can prepare 2 elo jhelos from the bigger size roti. You can follow any one procedure as per your convenience.

Repeat the above steps for the remaining dough balls.

Heat oil in a wok and drop nimkis for deep frying. Avoid adding multiple nimkis in oil. If the wok is small, you can add 1 or 2 at a time for frying. Fry all the sides of nimki until golden.

After frying take them out the from oil and keep them on kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil. Now you can enjoy the savory version of nimki.

For sweeter version, make sugar syrup by boiling water and sugar for 10-15 minutes. After cooling the nimkis dip them in warm sugar syrup and coat them well.

How long can I store Elo jhelo nimki?

Shelf life of elo jhelo nimki is approximately two weeks. After frying the nimkis, allow them to cool properly and later store them in a clean air-tight container, preferably glass container.

Every time you take out nimki from the container, it is important to close the lid properly.

How can I serve elo jhelo?

Elo jhelo is a dry snack and best served along with evening tea or coffee. You can munch them anytime you like. Also, they can be part of snacks platter along with sweets while serving to your guests.

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