Shankarpali recipe with video and step by step photos. Shankarpali is one of the crispy deep fried festive snacks popular in Maharashtra & Karnataka. These are usually made with maida (all-purpose flour) and are also known as maida biscuits or sweet diamond cuts in South India. These are great to serve as a tea time snack. Shankarpali keeps good for 2 to 3 weeks if stored well in air tight jars.
Shankarpali can also be made with whole wheat flour & maida in equal quantities. I try to avoid maida in our diet except for a few tablespoons of the organic all-purpose flour for some Indo-Chinese recipes.
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Though my mother used to make these often during our childhood. I never made these for my kids & they had never tasted them.
During our last visit to India, my kids had these shankarpali made with maida in one of my friend’s home and loved them a lot.
During the June holidays, I tried these with atta and found a lot of difference in the flavor, texture and taste. So this time I made these in small quantity using Organic unbleached all-purpose flour.
You can also use whole wheat flour. There is slight difference in the taste and flavor. Whole wheat flour shankarpali have a nutty taste and flavor while the all-purpose one will have a milky taste.
More Diwali Sweets
Kaju katli
Besan ladoo
Mysore pak
Puran poli
For more Diwali snacks recipes, you can check
Karanji recipe
Namak para
Murukku
Butter murukku
Plain sev
Making sugar syrup
1. Add 1/4 cup sugar to a pot. I used organic sugar.
2. Add 1/4 cup water.
3. Add 2.5 to 3 tbsp ghee or oil. I used ghee.
4. Stir and begin to heat on a low flame until the sugar melts. Switch off and take away from heat. Do not overcook this mixture, sugar may crystallize.
5. Switch off and allow the temperature to come down.
Making dough
6. Add 1 cup flour to a mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp cardamom powder.
7. Make sure the mixture is still slightly hot not very hot. Just hot as much as we can bear.
8. Knead the dough well. The dough must be stiff and not sticky. If the dough is sticky then you can just add 1 tbsp of flour and knead. I did not use any more flour.
9. Divide the dough to 4 parts and roll them to balls.
How to make sweet shankarpali recipe
10. Grease the rolling area or board. Begin to roll a ball. Keep the rest of the balls in a warm place covered to prevent turning hard.
11. Roll it to a neither too thin or too thick chapathi.
12. With the help of a cutter or knife, begin to cut the chapathi vertically with 3/4 inch lines apart. Repeat horizontally to get diamond shapes.
13. Separate them and remove to a plate. You can finish making all the diamond cuts and spread them on different plates.
14. Heat oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot enough, add few to the kadai and fry them stirring until golden.
15. Drain Sweet shankarpali to a kitchen tissue.
Cool sweet diamond cuts completely and store in a air tight steel or glass jar.
Related Recipes
Sweet shankarpali recipe
Shankarpali recipe (sweet diamond cuts)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2.5 to 3 tablespoons ghee
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder or elaichi pwoder
- 1 cup wheat flour (or all-purpose flour or both in equal quantities)
- 1 cup oil for deep frying
Instructions
Preparation
- Add sugar, ghee and water to a pot.
- Heat them until sugar dissolves completely. Cool this down for sometime.
- The syrup must be slightly hot and not completely cold.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt and cardamom powder along with hot syrup.
- Bring the flour together and make a stiff dough. If the sugar syrup is not enough and the dough looks dry, then sprinkle some water. The dough should not be sticky.
- Knead well until the dough turns soft. Divide the dough to 4 balls and roll them in your palms to smoothen. Keep them covered in a bowl.
How to make shankarpali
- Grease a rolling board and flatten a dough ball.
- Begin to roll to a 6 to 7 inch roti which is neither too thick nor too thin.
- Make cuts with ¾ to 1 inch apart vertically. Then repeat horizontally to get sweet diamond cuts. (refer pictures below)
- Separate the shankarpali and transfer to a plate.
Frying shankarpali
- Heat oil in a kadai on a medium heat. While the oil heats, keep rolling the dough and making more shankarpali.
- Check if the oil is hot by gently sliding a small piece of dough. It should rise slowly without browning. This is the right temperature.
- When it is hot enough gently slide them one by one to the hot oil. Do not crowd a lot of them in the pan.
- Ensure the flame is medium to medium high and not low. Keep stirring & fry until golden & crisp. Remove to a colander.
- Repeat frying the next batches.
- Cool sweet shankarpali completely and store in a air tight jar.
Notes
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Really simple that give confidence
Tried the sweet shankarpali for divali.It turned out very crisp and tasty.Thank you very much.
Awesome recipe… It came out so yummy…
Thank you
Hi Swasthi,
Thank you so much for the recipe ,I made this yesterday and my kids loved it.i used maida as it was the first time I made it and it turned out delicious.this recipe brought back my childhood memories as my mom used to make this with atta for me and my sister .thanks Swasthi.
Hi Ashika
You are welcome. Glad to know your kids loved them.Thank you!
🙂
I made it for the first time with half wheat flour and half all purpose and my god! What a heavenly taste. My husband and kid are in love with it. The sugar syrup was not completely used to knead and yet the sweetness is perfect. Thank you swasthi for such a simple yet delicious recipe.
Hi Vinita
You are welcome! Glad you all loved them. Thank you!
Can we replace water by milk.. Please reply
Hi Heena,
I haven’t tried this with milk. So not sure
I made them today.They Turned out good and are so delicious. Thanks Swasthi.
You are welcome Sailaja
Glad they came out good! Thank you!
Hi Swasthi…this is Dr.Swara…i tried your recipe of shakarpali..thanks for such a nice and easy recipe.my daughter,husband n my in laws got impressed by the recipe…n also you are the best guide for beginners…thanks again?
Hi Dr.Swara,
You are most welcome. Glad your family liked them. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for all the great recipes. These help me a lot to cook whatever my children ask for. We will be making these this week.
Hi Paru,
glad the recipes are helpful! Thank you so much and hope your kids will love these.
Our dinner group chose Indian for our theme dinner and I made these for a little snack. Thankfully our community has an Indian grocery store and I was able to get all the ingredients. ( the green cardamon smells so good!) The dough was easy to make and the finished shankarpali was a tasty, perfectly sweet little snack. Not all turned out “puffy” and I think I rolled the dough too thin at times. I will make these again and roll it to be around 1/4″ thick. Watching another video where the dough was cooled in the fridge for a bit may help get them puffy too and may try that. PS we are all a new fan of Indian cuisine (curry vegetable in puffy pastry, Indian Chopped Salad, Mulligatawny soup, Butter Chicken, Tandoori Chicken with coconut lime rice, Gulab Jamun)
Hi Shawn,
Glad you liked the shankarpali. Thanks for the comment.
Awesome recipe I prepared the same but it is very crununchu and hard to bite as well . I need soft version pls suggest
Hi Reshma,
Thank you. These shankarpali do not turn out hard. Frying them on a low flame or making them too thin can make the shankarpali very crunchy and hard. They have to be neither too thick nor too thin. This is what will give you the correct texture. Using maida will give a lighter texture to the shankarpali. I make this many times a year at home for my kids and never they turned out hard. Do give it another try.
I liked ur recipes a lot. It’s clean, easy and in a very simple language. I’ve tried many of ur recipes. They all came out lip smacking ??. I’ve tried veg, nonveg and even sweets…. Please upload desserts also… N some authentic traditional Royal dishes ?
Hi Rashmi
Thank you so much for trying. So glad to know the recipes turned out good.
Yes will surely keep sharing more recipes.
🙂
Good shankarpali receipe. Tried it and it came out really good. Thanks.
Welcome and thanks for trying
How to make cardamon powder
Add cardamoms to a blender jar . Blend it finely.
Excellent recepie, the measurement we exact. I love that you provide healthy alternatives in your recepies.
Thanks Sheril
Happy to know you liked the recipe
🙂
Hi Mam i follow all ur receipes r good written theory explanation r very good but in you tube ur not explaining u talk mam or else u give names wat ur putting in dish so that every one eill understand u get more subscribers
woooww delicious
Thank you
Wow! Love shankarpali! Your version sounds so yummy!
Anu
Thanks Anu
Hi Swasthi,
Could you tell me the difference between plain flour and maida ?
Hi Lavanya
In India, both are same. But in some countries flour made with 2 kinds of wheat – hard and soft wheat is marketed as plain flour. While maida is mostly made from only one kind of wheat i.e hard wheat. However both are processed refined flours
Thank you