Thattai Recipe | Thattu Vadai

Preparation

1. Firstly rinse and then soak chana dal in hot water for 30 minutes.
2. Heat a heavy kadai or pan. Keep the heat to low or medium-low. Add urad dal (husked and whole or split black gram).
3. Lightly roast urad dal for 1 to 2 minutes. Urad dal need not be browned. Remove and set aside.
4. In the same kadai or pan, add rice flour.
5. On a low to medium-low heat stirring often, roast the rice flour till it becomes warm to touch.
6. Remove and set aside in a mixing bowl.
7. In a small grinder, take the roasted urad dal. Also add roasted chana dal. Roasted chana dal can be skipped too if you do not have it.
8. Grind to a fine powder.

Making thattai dough

1. In the bowl containing the rice flour add the ground lentil flours.
2. Add chopped curry leaves, asafoetida powder, red chilli powder, white sesame seeds and salt. You can even add freshly grated coconut or thinly sliced fresh coconut (optional).
3. Mix the salt, spices and herbs with the flours evenly.
4. Now sprinkle 2 tablespoons water and add 1 tablespoon butter or ghee in the flour mixture. You can add opt to add ghee instead of butter. The butter can be cold or at room temperature.
5. With your fingertips mix the butter with the flour. Mix thoroughly.
6. Add 3 tablespoons water.
7. Gently mix and start bringing the mixture together.
8. Drain all the water and then add the soaked chana dal to the dough mix.
9. Mix and then knead to a semi-soft dough. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons more water or as required while kneading the dough. I added about a total of 9.5 tablespoons of water. Addition of water will depend on the texture and quality of rice flour. So add in portions.
10. Tip - avoid making a soft dough as then it becomes difficult to shape and lift the thattai rounds. Do not make the dough too hard as then thattai will not be crisp. It will have a hard and dense texture. Also check the taste of dough and add more salt if needed. Cover and keep aside.

Assembling and Shaping thattai

1. Take a butter paper or parchment paper or a ziplock bag or a clean cotton napkin. Grease the butter paper or parchment paper with some oil. Keep oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. Keep the heat to medium or medium-high.
2. Make small balls from the dough.
3. Place a dough ball on the greased parchment paper.
4. Press and flatten thattai with your fingertips to a thin round. Spread some oil on your fingers while flattening them. Do not make them too thin and flat as then you cannot lift them.
5. Make 5 to 6 thattai on the parchment paper.
6. Check the temperature of oil by adding a tiny piece of the thattai dough. If it comes up swiftly on top, the oil is hot enough.

Frying thattai

1. Lift the prepared thattai round gently from the paper.
2. Gently place in the hot oil.
3. Begin to fry thattai on a medium or medium-high heat.
4. When one side is crisp, then flip over each thattai with a slotted or spider spoon.
5. Fry the second side till crisp. You can flip a couple of times to get an even golden color and crispness.
6. Fry thattai till crispy and crunchy. When the oil stops bubbling and sizzling, this means the thattai is fried well.
7. Remove fried thattai with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper towels.
8. When frying the first batch of thattai, shape the second batch and keep them ready. However do keep an eye on the batch of the thattai that is being fried. This way make all thattai in batches.
9. As soon as the thattai cools at room temperature, place them in a steel box or jar.
10. Serve thattai to the deities. If making as an evening snack, then serve with chai or filter coffee.