When it comes to "Thekua", I know only few Indian were aware of it. It is one of the well known snack item recipe of Eastern India, especially Bihar/Jharkhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh
What is Thekua ?
It's better I would give a more detailed explanation as available over the internet (Wikipidia).
Thekua or also spelt Thokwa or Thekariis is a dry sweet from the Indian subcontinent. It is very popular in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Terai region of Nepal. Thekua is a revered Prasada, offering to god in the Chhath puja. It has been used as a sweet snack for centuries in these places. - Wikipidia.
This item has a special significance during the Chatth Puja as it is one of the main Prasadam offered to Lord Sun durig the festival. However many people keep it at home to have it as a snack better than cookies and biscuits. So I prepare some today, just on the occassion of Teej Festival, which was celebrated across India yesterday.
Before, I proceed with the recipe process, I must admit of not having the initial photographs, as my phone was busy with my kid for her online classes.
What all are the Thekua Ingredients??
For making Thekua, we need to have following ingredients. As I was making only for few of us, I took small quantity of each of them :
- Wheat Floor (1 Cup/100 gm)
- Suji (1 Cup/100 gm)
- Maida (1 Cup/100 gm)
- Sugar (1 cup for sugar syrup)
- Refined oil (during chhatth puja, devotees use pure ghee)
- Water to mix
You can add dry fruits like raisins, almonds and coconut pieces, to make it more flavoured
(We can prepare the recipe without Suji & Maida as well)
How to start the Thekua process ??
Thekua making process is very simple. Only the quantity ratio must be kept in check. The process starts with, heating Suji & Maida separately , in low flame. Kind of light frying it before kneading.
- Let both the ingredient to cool down and mix the Wheat Floor on them.
- Pour little quantity of refined oil, to mix them properly.
- Make sugar syrup separately, in another bowl.
- Add sugar syrup,on the mixed ingredients and knead them properly. (Sugar syrup allows to give sweet taste to the thekua)
Make sure the Ingredients doesn't get kneaded to hard not too lose, it must be enough to make small balls.
Take small quantity of the kneaded ingredients on you hand start maki g right small balls of it.
After making the balls, we need to press them against a strong base to flatten. Few people use some designer base to give it a artistic look, infact there were many wooden base available in market. However, I used a new wall tiles to flatten the kneaded material.
Place the flatten materials in piece of paper or in a plate I here used a new paper, just in case the material doesn't get stick to any metallic plate.
You might have noticed, each one of them got a cross design, as it was flattened against a tiles base, allowing the material to take its shape.
Now place iron base cookware on the gas stove. Pour some refined oil, and let them to heat. Once the old gets heated, we will place the flattened raw thekua into it, one by one. (Be careful of the hot oil while placing them)
Let them to deep fry. Make sure to turn the material upside down, after a while so that it get cooked from both side. Once it started to get brownish, we must start taking them out in a different bowl.
Let them cool them down and enjoy the deliciousness of the Indian cookies Thekua. As we have added the sugar syrup, these are very low on sweetness.
Our traditional Thekua is ready to eat. Make sure it cooled down properly. You can store it any container keep it for long. Snacks item doesn't get easily stale.
This is also a favourite food for bachelors who lives far away from their families. Or we can call it a Moms Love,that take care of their child hunger.
This is my entry for this week 
