Roasted Makhana Recipe | Masala Makhana

step by step recipe to make roasted makhana, flavored with indian spices for delicious masala makhana

Course Snack, Tea Time Snack

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 9

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 90kcal

In a wide flat pan (see notes), add 3 tablespoon ghee, and lightly heat it up for about 30 seconds or so on medium low flame.
In a small bowl, mix together - ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder, ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder, ¼ teaspoon coriander powder, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and ⅛ teaspoon cumin powder. Then add the spice powders to ghee, and mix everything together. It's best to pre-mix the spice powders & add them together, to get all of them evenly roasted, and not burn them.
Let the spice powders get lightly roasted, for about 30 seconds to 1 minute on medium low flame.
Then add 3 cups of makhana to this, and mix it in, ensuring to coat all of the makhana with flavored ghee. This will take 1-2 minutes.
Roast the makhana on medium flame for about 5-7 minutes, till they get well roasted, ensuring to keep moving the makhana around as they get roasted, to ensure an even roast.
Eat a couple of makhanas to check if they are well roasted. Roasted makhana will not be chewy like raw makhana, and have a light crunch.

It's best to use a wide flat pan, that is wide enough to ensure all of the makhana touches the base of the pan. This helps the makhana get evenly roaasted.
Some recipes call for roasting makhana in ghee and adding the spices at the end. And you can definitely add salt at the end. But I've found that if we even lightly roast the spice powders for a bit before adding the makhana, it elevates the flavor of roasted makhana.
You can air fry makhana too, but I personally don't find it worth the hassle to get the air fryer out, and then later clean the air fryer basket, all for roasting makhana, which is just as easily done on the stovetop.