Thattai

Thattai is a south Indian snack, prepared on auspicious occasions such as Sri Krishna Jayanthi. It’s known in different names. Telugu speaking people call it “Chekkalu” and Kannadigans call it “Nippattu”. It can be prepared in salted and sweet tastes, and is mostly prepared using rice flour. I have already added one Sweet Thatta recipe using wheat flour and jaggery. In this column, we shall prepare salted variant using all-purpose flour instead of rice flour.

Ingredients for Thattai:

1. Maida – 1.5 cups

2. Chana gram dal powdered (Bengal gram powdered) – ¾ cup

    Black gram dal fried and powdered – ½ cup

3. Ghee – 1 big spoon

4. Red chilly seeds – ¼ small spoon

    Asafoetida powder – 1 small spoon

    Salt – For taste

5. Chana dal (Pottukadala) – 2 big spoons

    Coconut pieces – 2 big spoons

    Groundnut chopped fine – 1 big spoon

    Red chilli skin chopped fine – 1 big spoon

6. Water – ¾ cup, approximately

7. Oil – For frying  

How to prepare Thattai?

1. Wrap maida in a cotton cloth and make a bundle.

2. Steam this bundle for half an hour using a steamer.

3. Transfer the maida to a plate, remove lumps and allow it to cool.

4. Blend together ingredients no: 2 and add to maida.

5. Mix the powders well.

6. Add ghee and mix the flour using fingers. The flour should be similar to flour prepared from steam cake.

7. Make a fine paste of ingredients no: 4 sprinkling a little water.

8. Add this paste to maida mixture, followed by ingredients no: 5.

9. Mix the ingredients together, add water and prepare dough.

10. Make gooseberry sized balls from this dough.

11. Place each dough in a plastic sheet or banana leaf and spread to prepare Thattai.

12. Deep fry them in hot oil till they turn golden brown.

13. Serve with any side dish of your choice.

Courtesy: Vanitha Magazine, September 1-14, 2019 Archive

Also read a few all-purpose flour (maida) snack dishes. Here is the page link. Click on the images in the gallery to read.