Thattai is an authentic & traditional South Indian crispy dry snack made using rice flour. It can be made on festive occasions like Diwali & Thanksgiving.
Dry snacks make a great gift during the holidays! So if you are thinking of picking up some goodies for your friends and family during this festive season, you must give this recipe a try. Although it's a traditional South Indian crispy dry snack called Thattai which is made during Indian festival days like Diwali, Raksha Bandhan, Gokulashtami, Tamil New Year, etc, who says we cannot make it during any other festive celebration like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! These snacks stay good for a long time if stored well, hence it's ideal for gifting purposes. After all don't we all love handmade delicious treats!
Thattai is made using rice flour and it gets its unique name due to the action used in shaping it. The dough balls are placed on a plastic sheet and flattened using your fingers. This action is what gives this recipe its name. I remember my grandma making this crispy snack not just on festive days but whenever we were craving it. She made the best Thattai in the world. I can still remember the taste of it. Back then she would not let us help her at all, she would do it all herself. This time for Diwali, I wanted to recreate her recipe and hence took it down from my aunt along with all the small tips she had to offer. This is hence a fool-proof recipe that you can follow to the T and get the same result.
Here is the detailed recipe. Dry roast roasted chana dal
and urad dal
in a pan
till then turn light golden. Be careful to not burn it. Let it cool. Once it cools down, grind it to a fine powder. Sieve
rice flour
and add it to a mixing bowl
. Then add the ground powder, salt, chilly powder
, asafoetida
, dried cilantro
, white sesame seeds
and roasted chana dal
. Knead into a dough using water, either with your hand or in a food processor
. Add ghee
while kneading.
Cover the dough with a damp cloth so that the dough doesn't dry up. Heat oil
for frying. Divide the dough into medium size balls. Take a zip lock bag
, smear some ghee on the upside and place a ball on top of it. Using your fingers, flatten it like shown in the picture. Carefully remove it from the plastic and fry them till they turn golden brown.
Strain them in paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Once it's cool, store it in airtight containers and devour them as and when you like. Let me warn you in advance, Thattai is super addictive. It's crunchy, crispy with a hint of spice, and extremely delicious.
Our annual Diwali party was a success. We all got together in festive wear, burst some firecrackers in our backyard, clicked happy pictures, and ate lots of food. The menu was Sultani Dal, Potato Curry, Kerala Egg Puffs, Chana Chaat, Cabbage Raita, Oreo Bark, and Boondi Rabri Parfait. I had also made Diwali hampers for all my guests as return favors. Had packed Thattai, Chocolate Rava Laddu, Cashew & Condensed Milk Cookies, and Parmesan Biscotti in them. Most of these recipes I will be sharing on the blog soon. Keep checking this space.
If you want to check out all the savory snack recipes that can be made for Diwali, check out this post.
Thattai
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice flour
- ¼ cup roasted chana dal
- ¼ cup urad dal
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- Salt as required
- 1 tablespoon chilly powder
- Pinch of asafoetida
- 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds optional
- 1 tablespoon roasted chana dal
- 1 tablespoon dried cilantro
Instructions
- Dry roast roasted chana dal and urad dal in a pan till then turn light golden. Be careful to not burn it. Let it cool. Once it cools down, grind it to a fine powder. Sieve rice flour and add it to a mixing bowl. Then add the ground powder, salt, chilly powder, asafoetida, dried cilantro, white sesame seeds and roasted chana dal. Knead into a dough using water, either with your hand or in a food processor. Add ghee while kneading.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth so that the dough doesn't dry up. Heat oil for frying. Divide the dough into medium size balls. Take a zip lock bag, smear some ghee on the up side and place a ball on top of it. Using your fingers, flatten it like shown in the picture. Carefully remove it from the plastic and fry them till they turn golden brown.
- Strain them in paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Once it's cool, store it in airtight containers and devour them as and when you like.
Notes
Like Thattai which is a fried Indian savory snack, I have tried my hand at a couple of other such dry snacks last year for Diwali - Cilantro Mathri, Banana Chips, 5-Minute Savory Rice Krispie Chivda | Trail Mix, and Kara Boondi Mixture | Namkeen Boondi & Dry Snack.
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