Thekua Recipe (Chaath Puja Special Sweet)

Thekua placed in a small white enamelled wok with a cream doily on the side

5 from 8 votes

Thekua Recipe (Chaath Puja Special Sweet)

Thekua are deep fried, crispy, crunchy cookies made with whole wheat flour, jaggery, coconut, ghee and flavored with traditional Indian spices - fennel and cardamom. It is a popular delicacy made during the Chhath Puja in the Eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkand.

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Course: Sweets

Cuisine: Bihari

Diet: Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings: Thekua

Calories: 85kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

1.25 cup whole wheat flour - 155 to 160 grams
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (saunf)
1 tablespoon fresh grated coconut or desiccated coconut
½ teaspoon green cardamom powder or seeds of 4 to 5 green cardamoms crushed in mortar-pestle, husks removed
3 tablespoons Ghee - 25 grams
½ cup chopped Jaggery - 85 grams
¼ cup water or add as required
1.5 cups oil - for deep frying, any neutral tasting oil

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Making dough

Take the wheat flour, salt, fennel seeds, grated coconut and cardamom powder in a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside.
In small bowl or pan, melt ghee until hot.
Add this hot ghee into the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon.
When the mixture becomes warm or cool enough to handle, then using your fingers mix the ghee with the flour till you get a breadcrumb consistency.
When you press the mixture it should form a lump.
In a saucepan take the jaggery and water.
Heat until all the jaggery melts on medium-low flame.
Add hot jaggery solution in parts to the flour and mix with a spoon first.
Keep on adding in parts and mixing and then begin to bring the dough together and knead lightly.
Make a firm or semi-soft dough.
Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and rest for 15 minutes.

Shaping

Later make small balls from the dough.
Lightly flatten the dough balls with your palms or with a rolling pin.
Press the flattened discs with a peda maker, cookie press or using a toothpick, fork or bamboo skewers make design patterns.
Keep covered with a kitchen napkin or kitchen towel.

Deep frying

Heat 1.5 cups oil in a kadai or wok.
Add a small piece of dough in the oil. If it is comes up gradually on top, the oil is hot.
Keep the heat to a medium-low and place the prepared discs in hot oil.
When one side is golden, gently turn over and fry the second side.
Be very careful when turning and do it gently with a dinner spoon or a slotted spoon so that they do not break.
Fry till golden and crisp. Due to jaggery these fried cookies have a deeper golden color.
Place on kitchen paper towels.
Fry the remaining shaped cookies in batches until crispy and golden. Place the fried cookies on kitchen paper towels for any extra oil to be absorbed.
When the cookies cool at room temperature store in an airtight container.
Serve Thekua as a tea time cookie.

Notes

Scaling: Easily scale the recipe and make a small or large batch.
Make ahead & storage: Make thekua and store it for a week in an airtight container after frying. You could also make the dough the night before you fry them and refrigerate it in plastic wrap. Just be sure to allow the dough to come to room temperature before shaping and frying, or it may break.
Dough texture: If dough looks crumbly and dry, add a few tablespoons of water. If the dough has become sticky or too soft, add a few tablespoons of flour.
Jaggery substitute: You could use dark brown sugar, light brown sugar or granulated white sugar and even molasses.

Nutrition