Thattai

Thattai is a popular savory in the southern part of India. Mostly prepared using rice flour. The ingredients for this recipe are:

2 cups rice flour
3/4 cup of daliya powder or pottukadalai podi
A pinch of turmeric
Salt according to taste.
1 tsp of chilli powder
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tbsp of coarsely crushed cumin and caraway seeds
Few curry leaves torn to tiny bits
3 tbsp of soaked channa dhal
2 tbsp of unsalted butter
Approximately 1 cup of water to mix
Oil for frying


Mix all the dry ingredients rice flour, daliya powder, turmeric, chilli powder, salt, asafoetida, grounded cumin and caraway seeds.Caraway seeds are ajwain / omam/ carom seeds. They give a wonderful aroma and flavour.

Add the soaked channa dhal and butter to the mixture and form a dough with water. To test, whether the dough prepared is of right consistency, make a small ball out of the dough ....about a size of a gooseberry / amla and press it gently to flat ( Thattai is also prepared the same way). Slight cracks appear towards the edges and dough does not stick to your hands. Voila !! you have passed the test and you are on right track...

Before frying, poke the prepared thattais with a fork or a toothpick and this makes the thattai flat and does not fluff up like poori. Deep fry thattais to golden brown.

Note: You can also flatten the dough to thattais between two wax sheets/ paper to avoid stickyness.