Recipe from Dishoom by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar and Naved Nasir
Paris Bakery serves an excellent version of these little cheese-and-pastry twirls. They are just right for dipping into hot masala chai, and an easy snack to make: you only need ready-made puff pastry and a handful of store-cupboard ingredients.
The cinnamon sugar sticks are a lovely sweet variation (see below). You probably already have the ingredients to hand, so we recommend you make both, to satisfy sweet and savoury tastes.
MAKES 16–20
1 sheet of ready-made puff pastry (320g), about 35 x 23cm
Flour, for dusting
1 egg white, beaten
FOR THE TOPPING
1¼–1½ tsp chaat masala
40g mature Cheddar, finely grated
4 tsp chopped coriander leaves
Take the pastry out of the fridge, remove any packaging and allow around 20 minutes for it to come to room temperature before using.
Heat the oven to 210°C/Fan 190°C/Gas 6–7 and line
a large baking sheet with baking parchment.
Unroll the pastry and cut in half horizontally (to create two short rectangles rather than two long strips). Take one piece of pastry and lay it flat. Slice into long strips, 1.5–2cm wide, leaving the strips where they are as you go (a floured pizza slicer is best for this). You should be able to get 8–10 strips.
Brush the pastry with egg white, then dust lightly with chaat masala and sprinkle over the cheese and chopped coriander (you might find it easiest to microplane the cheese directly onto the pastry). Lightly run a rolling pin over the surface to secure the cheese and coriander, then dust with a little more chaat masala for luck.
Trying not to dislodge the topping, lift a pastry strip by both ends, twist it around to create nice twirls in the pastry, then lay it on the lined baking sheet and give it a light press to make it stay in place. Repeat with the rest of the strips, then with the other half of the pastry sheet.
Bake for 15–18 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed, golden and quite crisp. Place on a wire rack to cool. Serve the pastry twists once they have cooled, with plenty of chai.
Variation
Cinnamon sugar sticks: For the topping, mix 4 tsp white granulated sugar with 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Roll out the pastry and cut into strips as above. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar (there’s no need to press it in with a rolling pin), then twist and bake as above.
