Thattai

Gokulaashtami and Diwali are two festivals that calls for lots of sncak varieties and thattai a traditional rice and udad dal based savory is one of the many preparations. These thin rice crispies called Thattai/Nipattu can be seriously addictive. With easily available ingredients in most kitchens these are now no longer festival snacks. With the easy to make steps , can be made in minutes with small quantities as you don’t want to indulge too much but yet craving for something spicy and savory.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice flour

2 tbsp udad dal flour ( black gram)
2 tbsp chana dal ( bengal gram)
2 tbsp roasted gram dal flour (pottukadali powder)
pinch of asafoetida/hing
salt to taste
2 tsp chilli powder or chilli flakes and as per individual taste
1 tsp sesame seeds
2 1/2 tbsp butter or melted ghee
2 tsp coconut bits
sprigs of curry leaves. oil to deep fry.

Method:

Soak the chana dal/bengal gram in water for an hour. After it soaks well, you can mix the flours.

Mix all the flours together with salt, chilli powder,sesame seeds,coconut bits,Asafoetida/hing powder and the curry leaves pinched and the soaked chana dal with butter/melted ghee..

Before adding water to make a soft dough make sure the butter has mixed well with the flours and all ingredients mixed well and the mixture is coarse and crumbly as a result of adding the butter.

Then slowly add water little at a time to bind a soft dough.

This step is very important, you don't want to add too much water to make it too soft. Just enough water to make a soft dough.

Once the dough is ready you can make the crispies by taking a ziploc bag and smearing little oil all over and then pinch off a small ball of dough , keep it on the greased ziploc cover and flatten with your fingers or with a flat ladle or a flat cup.You will get a nice round shape. It shouldnt be flattened too much or else it will be difficult to take out from the greased cover and put in oil to deep fry.

The other way is to take a plantain leaf and grease it and follow same method as above. Make sufficient crispies by flattening out on the greased cover and then when the oil is sufficiently hot , drop them carefully and deep fry till they appear lightly golden brown and fried.

As soon as you drain them in a colander you may think the crispies are not crisp and may appear sometimes chewy. But once cooled they will get nicely crisped. , dont panic.

As I made the crispies with little time I have not taken pictures of the method but will upload them soon.

Drain well and store in an airtight container when cooled completely. Will stay good for a fortnight if you haven't gorged on them already!

Notes.....Make small balls of the dough and place them on a greased ziploc cover, place another greased ziploc cover on top and press lightly with a falt bottomed plate or glass to get uniform round thattai, you can also individually pat them on a greased plantain leaf , but it takes time.

Notes:

Some interesting variations in the ingredients. You can use green chillies finely cut and deseeded., in case you dont have chilli powder.

If you dont have fresh coconut bits to add , then you may add dried coconut gratings called copra.If you dont have butter to add to the flours , hot oil will also do.
To make udad dal flour , roast the udad dal till golden in a pan and then grind them to a fine powder and sieve them before using .

Check my Youtube video of making thattai with small variations .

Recipe as shown in video

1 cup rice flour

1 tbsp udad dal flour

2 tsp soaked chana dal

1 tsp sesame seesds

big pinch of asafoetida

red chili powder

coconut bits , curry leaves, salt

1 tbsp butter

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