thattai – what is it?

thattai is a deep-fried crisp cracker made with rice flour, lentil flours, spices and herbs. a basic recipe of thattai has a dough made with mixing rice flour, roasted and ground urad dal flour, soaked chana dal, grated or sliced fresh coconut (optional), curry leaves, asafoetida (hing), either ground green chillies or red chilli powder, salt and butter or ghee.

while in tamil nadu, these crispy crackers are called as thattai. in karnataka these are known as nippattu and in andhra pradesh known as chekkalu. there are some variations in the method of preparation in these regions, but the basic ingredients remain the same. thattai is also known as thattai murukku and thattu vadai.

one of our readers had shared thattai recipe some years back. the recipe was lying in my email and i never got to making thattai. so one fine day i thought of trying the recipe and made it. the thattai was crispy, crunchy and so good. it was definitely better than the store brought ones as that typical smell of overused oil was not there. it was not too spicy for us as store brought ones are usually too spicy.

after making the thattai, i felt the thattai recipe definitely needs to be shared on the blog. i have made a few changes to the recipe which have made it only better. these thattai stay crisp. so you do not need to worry about them getting soft after some days. the recipe makes for 25 thattai and can be easily scaled up by increasing the proportion of ingredients. so let us see the detailed method of making thattai with step by step pictures.

how to make thattai recipe

preparation

1. firstly rinse and then soak 1 tablespoon chana dal in hot water for 30 minutes.

2. heat a heavy kadai or pan. keep the flame to low or medium-low. add 1 tablespoon urad dal (husked and whole or split black gram).

3. lightly roast urad dal for 1 to 2 minutes. you don’t need to brown the dal. remove and keep aside. instead of using urad dal, you can also use urad dal flour. just add 1 tablespoon urad dal flour in the dough mixture.

4. in the same kadai or pan, add 1 cup rice flour (160 grams). i have here used packaged rice flour but homemade rice flour can also be used.

5. on a low to medium-low flame stirring often, roast the rice flour.

6. roast rice flour till it becomes warm to touch.

7. remove and keep aside in a mixing bowl.

8. in a small grinder, take the roasted urad dal. also add 1 tablespoon roasted chana dal. you can even skip roasted chana dal. roasted chana dal helps in making the thattai light and crispy.

9. grind to a fine powder.

making thattai dough

10. to the bowl containing the rice flour add the ground lentil flours.

11. add 1 tablespoon chopped curry leaves or 10 to 12 curry leaves (chopped), ¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder (hing), ½ teaspoon red chilli powder or add as required, 1 teaspoon white sesame seeds, ½ teaspoon salt or add as per taste. you can even add 2 tablespoons fresh grated coconut or thinly sliced coconut (optional).

12. mix the salt, spices and herbs with the flours.

13. now sprinkle 2 tablespoons water and add 1 tablespoon butter in the flour mixture. you can add 1 tablespoon ghee instead of butter. you can use both salted or unsalted butter.

14. with your fingertips mix the butter with the flour. mix very well.

15. add 3 tablespoons water.

16. gently mix and start bringing the mixture together.

17. drain all the water and then add the soaked chana dal.

18. mix and then knead to a smooth semi-soft dough or a slightly stiff dough. add 3 to 4 tablespoons water or as required while kneading the dough. i used about a total of 9.5 tablespoons water. addition of water will depend on the texture and quality of rice flour. so add in parts. do not make 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 required. cover and keep aside. dough should not be sticky or pasty.

tip 1: if dough becomes sticky, then add some rice flour and knead.
tip 2: if the dough is dry and hard, sprinkle some water. mix and knead.

shaping thattai

19. 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. also keep oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan. keep the flame to medium or medium-high. if using a cotton cloth or napkin, then no need to grease it.

20. make small balls from the dough.

21. place a dough ball on the greased parchment paper.

22. 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.

23. make 5 to 6 thattai on the parchment paper. make thattai as you go on frying them. thus make one batch and add in the oil. when this first batch is getting fried, make the second batch. but do keep an eye on the batch that is getting fried.

24. 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.

25. lift the thattai gently from the paper. while lifting the thattai, lift the paper slightly too as this helps too easily pull the thattai from the paper.

frying thatta

26. gently place thattai rounds in the hot oil.

27. begin to fry. keep flame to medium or medium-high while frying.

28. when one side is crisp, then flip over each thattai.

29. fry the second side till crisp. you can flip a couple of times for that even golden color and crispness.

30. fry thattai till crispy and crunchy. when the oils stops bubbling and sizzling, this means the thattai is fried and done. remove with a slotted spoon or spider spoon.

31. place fried thattai on kitchen paper towels.

32. as soon as the thattai cools at room temperature, place them in a steel box or jar. make all thattai this way.

33. serve thattai to the deities if making for festivals. if making as an evening snack, then serve with masala chai or filter coffee.

tips to make thattai

• amount of asafoetida (hing) can be reduced if you want.
• check the taste of dough and add more salt if required.
• roasted chana dal can be skipped. though it helps in making the thattai lighter and crispy.
• homemade rice flour can be used. parboiled rice flour can also be used.
• amount of water to be added will depend on the texture of flour. so add in parts and knead.
• you need to get a semi-soft dough. do not make dough soft as then it becomes difficult to shape and lift. do not make dough too hard as then thattai will not be crisp. it will become hard and dense.
• fry thattai in oil till it stops bubbling. fry on medium flame. turn over when one side is crisp. fry till crisp and crunchy.
• use parchment or butter paper or a ziplock bag. spread some oil on the parchment paper. press thattai dough balls with your fingertips. do not make very thin as then you cannot lift it up.
• for a gluten free version of thattai recipe, skip asafoetida.
• to make a vegan recipe of thattai, add oil instead of butter or ghee. you can use vegan butter too.