Thattai

This is  a fried snack my mom prefers to do for festivals, to pack for my brothers and for me when we leave to our hostels (during college days) and when we go on a long journey in holidays. Also great for an evening snacks. This is my modified version of the recipe whereas my mom soaks and  grinds rice freshly in a wet grinder and add dall powder to it.

Ingredients:

Rice flour- 4 cups

Fried gram dall flour/ chutney dall flour – 1 cup

Gram dall- 1 cup

Butter- 2 tbsp (or)  Heated and cooled canola oil-  2 tbsp

Dry chillies- 8 no

Garlic – 10 pods

Asfoetida- 1/4 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp (optional)

Sesame seeds-  1tsp (optional)

Salt – 2 tsp

Oil – sufficient to deep fry

Thattai

Method:

Soak the gram dall in water for 1/2 hour.

Grind the dry chillies first in a blender. Add peeled garlic pods next and fried gram dall atlast. Measure this flour and  for 1 cup of this flour add 4 cups of rice flour. Take them in a large bowl, add salt, asfoetida, cumin seeds, sesame seeds and drained chana/gram dall. Mix the dry  ingredients with the butter without any crumbles, and add water slowly . Mix till you can make a ball out of it. The dough will be like chapathi dough except for the elasticity.

Heat the oil in a wide bottom kadai so you get the maximum surface area to do large batches of frying. Also ensure you heat good amount of oil .Whne you take smaller quantity, the oil  gets heated up  easily and regulating the temperature will be  a tedious  job by itself.

Back home, my mom gets help from her house maids when one fries and others do the  pressing. They  spread a  Dhoti (veshti) on the floor and take a small ball of the dough and press it on the dhoti by greased hands to get a  thin round disc. When a batch is ready , it is fried in oil, on the both sides, till it turns golden yellow color. They are then drained and cooled before packing in air tight containers.

Here in USA, I am  a single woman army, so, I go for smaller batches of frying.  I have no enough floor space in the kitchen and moreover my kids have no patience in seeing me work on the floor. So, I cut the edges of a few  ziploc bags and pressed the dough in between the sheets.  Since you do it like a sandwich, the thattais do not dry that fast  and you need no oil for your hands.

Don’t miss my fellow bloggers’  version of thattai:

Food in the main

Vegetarian concoctions

Just for fun

Letz cook

Menu today

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24 thoughts on “Thattai”

  1. Just for fun says:

    Delicious looking thattai. Thank you for linking mine. Yes the ziplog bags are great idea. It helps a lot.

  2. Sushma says:

    They look so amazing. I love them. We often buy these snacks from store but never tried it at home. Now since i have the recipe i would give it a try. Thanxs so much for sharing .
    -Sushma

  3. maheswari says:

    wow..crispy crunchy thattai..one of my fav.diwali snack my mom makes..

  4. Menu Today says:

    Hi Lakshmi,
    I never tried with garlic. Your Thattai looks crispy. Thanks for linking my version.

  5. Asha says:

    I love these.Thanks for the recipe and the list of other Thattais too.Heaven!:)

  6. swapna says:

    hi ammal

    nice snacks.we call it as “pappu chekkalu”

  7. Hema says:

    Wow! garlic thattais. My husband will love these. Thanks for the idea

  8. sia says:

    looks absolutely delicious… gr8 munchies for this cold winter

  9. Nidhi says:

    Nice recipe and presentation. Great snack with a hot cup of tea/coffee or if served with Dahi and Tamarind Chutney along with some spices. YUM!

  10. Trupti says:

    Thats a nice snack recipe..would love to dunk this in some hot tea…

    Trupti

  11. usha says:

    Wow!!thattai look cripsy and tempting.I never tried with garlic,sure gonna try this.

  12. RP says:

    Great! I love crispy snacks.

  13. Krithika says:

    Tattai looks delicious. Have never tried it with garlic. Will try it next time. I too end up using ziploc bags

  14. prema says:

    My MIL makes wonderful thatais.. but haven’t used garlic… they look very crispy. thanks

  15. Lakshmiammal says:

    Thanks friends!

    HI MT,Prema, Krithika,Usha ,
    Do try with garlic, it gives fantastic flavor and taste!

    Sushma,
    Tell me the outcome if you try it!

  16. sanjana says:

    Thattai and thattai and thattai -wish I cld eat more and more of it but I needto watch my weight too. Thanks for sharing this traditional recipe. Chitvish has given her recipe here:
    http://www.indusladies.com/forums/2503-post7.html

  17. A Yunus says:

    Hi,

    This is the first time Iam “Thatting your kadavu”, but wow…..I found my very very very very….and the list goes on…favourite Thattai murukku….I jus love it. My Ammi prepared for me sometimes, even I have tried but never the crispy version we get in shops…Would try this soon…insha Allah…

    one ‘Chinna’ request, Iam a fan of Poondu Murukku too…I have had this only during my college days in Ramanathapuram. It would be great if you could post me the recipe…Thanks Ammal!!

  18. Latha says:

    Hi Lakshmi,

    i want to try this recipe for sure.. i’ve had thattai with garlic only from shop so far! but i’Ve a doubt with the recipe. When you say grind the pottukadalai with garlic and dry red chillies you mean flour or the chutney dal itself. can i not just grind the garlic and chillies and mix with 1 cup of pottukadalai flour? it’s a bit confusing for me…pls. help! thanks, Lakshmi(ammal) 🙂

  19. shubha says:

    My mother used the traditional kerala towel (thortha mindu) for making thattais. That ensured the correct consistency that did not dry them and enabled easy peeling off the towel.

  20. shubha says:

    Try making with maida flour, add a pinch of powdered sugar to other ingredients, and it will be delicious southie version of north indian mathri 🙂

  21. Uma says:

    Hi Lakshmi,

    I tried it and came out really good. Thanks to ur recipe.
    This was one of most favourite recipes my mom used to make when I was small.

    Especially the part of using a zip lock helped me prepare a batch of thattais faster then i cud have ever imagined.

    I guess this method will be useful for couple of over other indian dishes like pillayar kolukattai.

    My husband , kid and FIL all loved it.

    Thanks.

  22. sairajini says:

    hai lakshmiama..I didn’t get what gram dal/chutney dal means..Can u please tell me which dal is supposed to be soaked and which one to be fried?? did u mean pottu kadalai or chick peas???

    1. lakshmiammal says:

      Dear SaiRajini, I meant pottu kadalai only. Some call it as dahlia as well. Hope this helps, Thanks

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