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Thattai Recipe
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5 from 94 votes

Thattai Recipe

Thattai is a crispy and flavorful, traditional South Indian snack that is made for several festivals. 
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 30 minutes
Course: Festival Recipes, Snacks
Cuisine: South Indian
Diet: Vegetarian
Servings: 25 Pieces
Calories: 43kcal
Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Rice flour
  • 1 ½ tablespoon Urad dal flour/ullutham maavu
  • ¼ cup Roasted gram flour
  • 2 tablespoon Bengal gram dal / kadalai paruppu
  • 2 tablespoon Coconut grated
  • 1 ½ teaspoon Chili powder adjust based on your spice preference
  • ½ teaspoon Asafetida
  • 1 tablespoon Ellu/White Sesame
  • to taste Salt
  • few Karuvepillai / Curry leaves
  • 1 ½ tablespoon Butter
  • to deep fry Oil

Instructions

To make the urad dal flour / ullutham Maavu -

  • Ullutham podi is used for many savory snacks during the festival season. If you are planning to make couple of dishes involving this, I would suggest that you make a big batch and store in an air tight container.
  • To get ¼ cup of urad dal flour, I used about ½ cup of Urad dal.
  • Fry the urad dal until brown and let it cool down.
  • Grind it to a very smooth powder and sieve it.
  • Again grind the coarse remaining dal and sieve it again. Use the fine powder to make the thattais.

To make Roasted Gram Flour / Pottu kadalai Maavu –

  • Slightly warm the pottu kadali/roasted gram (for about 2-3 mins).
  • Cool it down and grind it to a smooth powder. Sieve it and use the fine powder in the recipe.

To Make the Thattai Dough -

  • Soak the Bengal gram dal for about an hour.
  • Roast the rice flour until it is hot and aromatic. The rice flour does not have to change color, but it has to be hot to touch. Sift the roasted flour and place it in a large bowl.
  • Add all the flours, drained Bengal gram dal, coconut, salt, red chili powder, sesame, asafetida and chopped curry leaves to the same bowl. Mix it well.
  • Now add the butter and using your hands mix everything well until it resembles bread crumbs.
  • Slowly sprinkle water to this mixture and bring it all together to form smooth dough.

How to shape the Thattai -

  • Spread a large, clean cotton cloth in the counter top. I use a cotton veshti.
  • Make small balls (as big as key limand place it between 2 parchment paper. You can also use a thick plastic sheet and grease it to shape the thattai.
  • Use your fingers initially to flatten and then using a flat bowl or your palm flatten it entirely to form a thin disc.
  • Place the shaped thattai on the cotton cloth.
  • Do the same with the rest of the dough and leave them on them cloth until they are ready to fry. Doing this ensures that all the excess moisture is dried from the thattai, that results in crispy thattai.
  • Prick few holes on the thattai with a fork. This ensures that the Thattai does not puff up when frying.
  • In the meantime, heat oil in a wide pan. Once the oil is heated through, lower the heat to low. Slowly slide the shaped and dried thattai into the oil.
  • Depending on the size of the pan, you can fry 3 to 4 thattai at the same time.
  • Slightly increase the heat and fry them until light brown. Remove it on a paper towel and then transfer it to a container. Repeat the same for the rest of the dough.
  • Once cooled completely, store them in an air tight container.

Notes

Tips to make perfect Thattai

  • Roasting and sifting the flours is very important to make smooth thattai. Do not skip this step. 
  • Spread the shaped thattai on a cotton cloth to dry it a bit before deep frying.
  • Pricking the shaped thattai is very important to make sure that it does not puff up when frying. 
  • Fry the thattai is low to medium heat to ensure that it cooks evenly. 

Nutrition

Calories: 43kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 3mg | Potassium: 35mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 36IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 1mg