SpoonandtheNeedle: Thekua (khajur)

Chhath puja is round the corner and people in east India have geared up with the preparations. Though I’m a Bengali, I have grown up among people of diverse culture and have been celebrating almost all festivals with the same amount of fervour. Chaat puja holds a special place in my heart especially because of its delicious Prasad (offering to god) thekua and I eagerly wait for this time so that I can savour a lot of this sweet.

Thekua is an Indian cookie which is made up of wheat flour .It is perfect to satiate your small hunger pangs and an ideal partner for your evening tea. ...The best thing about this sweet is that it has a larger shelf life which means you can relish it for a many days and its super duper easy to cook.

INGREDIENTS:

1) Half kg wheat flour

2) 200 gm jaggery (you can also use powdered sugar)

3) fennel -1 table spoon

4) Semolina powder (also known as rawa and sooji)- 1.5cup

5) Cardamom powder- 1 table spoon

6) Clarified butter (ghee) -4 table spoon

7) Refined oil for deep frying

8) Chopped Raisins

PROCEDURE:

1. Boil one cup of water and add the jaggery to it and make some syrup.

2. Mix the wheat flour, semolina flour, half cup refined oil, and ghee and knead it. Add the jaggery syrup and start kneading it with little amount at a time. To this add the chopped raisins, fennel and cardamom powder and keep kneading it till you get the dough ( the dough should not be very tight or too loose)

3. Make small balls out of the dough.

4. Press the ball against the ‘saanch’ (you don’t have a saanch,No worries .. use the utensils which have designs on their body and will leave an imprint on the dough when pressed or simply press it against your palm)

5. Heat the oil and deep fry till they turn golden brown in colour.

6. Let it cool and serve

7. You can keep it in an air tight container and relish it for a longer period of time.