For the dough:
1 cup all-purpose flour (maida)
2 tbsps melted butter (ghee)
Salt to taste
For the filling:
1/4 cup Bengal gram flour (besan)
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp. ajwain (carom seeds)
1 tsp. chili powder
3 tsps oil
Salt to taste
Oil or ghee for deep frying

Masala Mathris

1. For the dough, combine the flour, ghee, salt and enough water to make a semi-soft dough. Knead well. Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside.
2. For the filling, combine all the ingredients and saut� over a slow flame till the gram flour turns golden brown in color. Cool completely and divide the filling into 5 equal portions. Keep aside.
3. To proceed, divide the dough into 5 equal portions. Roll out each portion of the dough into a 50 mm. (2") diameter circle. Place one portion of the filling in the centre of each rolled dough circle and bring the ends together so as to seal the filling inside completely.
4. Roll out the stuffed dough circle to make a 100 mm. (4") diameter circle taking care to ensure the filling does not spill out. Pinch the sides of the mathri using your finger tips.
5. Pinch the surface of the rolled out mathri, so as to form a design. Prick the mathri all over with a fork. Repeat with the remaining portions of the dough and filling. Deep-fry the mathris in hot oil till they are half cooked. Drain.
6. Once all the mathris are half-cooked, deep-fry them over a slow flame till they are golden brown in color. These take a long time to fry as the crust is thick and needs to be cooked on the insides also. Drain on absorbent paper.
7. Cool and store in an air-tight container. Serve with any pickle or masala tea.
8. Variation: For plain mathri, You can make the masala mathris without the filling to make plain mathris.
   Makes 5 mathris
   Preparation time: 1 hour 10 minutes