Ayurvedic Anzac Biscuits

24 Sept

This is an Indian take on an Aussie classic! I use this recipe as the base for all the biscuits I make, sometimes substituting nuts or seeds or adding some spices.

The key is using jaggary, a wonderfully rich unrefined form of sugar which is high in iron and minerals and slower to digest than the white stuff or even the brown stuff. Where to find this wonderful sugar? Look in Asian or Indian grocery stores for dark, moist, soft jaggary, also called palm sugar or coconut sugar. The pale, dry, hard stuff from the supermarket is hard to work with and not as tasty.

The next feature that makes these bikkies Ayurvedic is atta flour. Atta flour is somewhere between wholemeal and white flour. It is finely ground and sifted, so that the flour retains the wheatgerm, but loses the rough husk. Because it is low in insoluable fibre it is easy for delicate new mummy tummies to digest, and much lighter for baking cakes and bread than wholemeal. There's a mill down south called Eden Valley that makes atta flour. It's available from Kakulis, Peaches and some health food stores.

If you don’t live in WA it’s hard to get atta flour! Use any good quality plain flour. And any local dark sugar.

Ingredients

1 cup atta flour
1 cup oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
generous 1/2 cup jaggary
generous 1/2 cup butter
1 tspn baking powder (optional-not a particularly Ayurvedic ingredient!)

Roughly chop butter and jaggary and warm gently on the stove until butter in melted and jaggary is dissolved
Mix dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
Form into biscuits if you can be bothered, or simply press into a tray to make a slice, or even into mini muffin tins!
Bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes.

Once you have the ingredients these are super easy to make, and very versatile and forgiving. I'll post some more variations when I have a moment.

For more recipes for new mums, including lactation biscuits, check out my book Nourishing Newborn Mothers - Ayurvedic recipes to heal your mind, body and soul after childbirth. Buy it now or click here for more info.