Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated all over India with great pomp and show. Both north India and south India celebrate the birth of lord Shri Krishna by offering him with various milk products, sweets and savouries. Many stories of his birth, friendship, his intelligence, his incarnations have been passed to us by our forefathers. In the same way sweets and savories have also been beautifully passed down. In the northern part of India panjiri, panchamruth,etc are prepared and offered to the lord. Whereas in south India aval meaning parched rice in sweet and thatai , thengoyal, murukku, cheddai, etc are made and offered to the lord. His friendship with sudhama says that a friend will always be a friend be it poor or rich, ugly or beautiful and nothing in this world is as pious as friendship. Many stories of intelligence, wisdom, tactical moves, love, friendship is what lord Krishna is all about. It is said that even a small tulsi leaf offered to the lord is accepted and our wishes would be fulfilled. I still fondly remember my childhood days when my mom used to fill up many steel dabbas (steel boxes) with sweets and savories. After offering the prayers to the lord we used to distribute these sweets and savories to our friends and family. In this generation of baked, air fried, no oil, no sugar we must not forget the traditions and scientific health properties hidden behind every Delicacy made on these auspicious days. So try out this savory recipe of thatai and celebrate the birth of lord Shri Krishna.

Ingredients

Rice flour – 1 cup

Roasted gram powder – 1/4 cup

Chana dal – 1 tbsp

Curry leaves – 1 tbsp

Salt – as required

Hing – 1/4 tsp

Red chilly powder – 1 tsp

Oil – as required for frying

Water – as required

Butter – 1 tsp

Method

1. Soak the Chana dal in water for half an hour.

2. Powder roasted gram in a blender and set aside.

3. In a pan add the rice flour and the roasted gram powder and mix well. Do not burn. We just need to make these powders little hot. Set aside and allow it to cool.

4. Now to this powder add salt, hing, red chilly powder, curry leaves and soaked bengal gram. Mix well with hands. Now add butter and mix. Slowly add water and make it to a soft dough.

5. Take a small portion of dough and press it with oil greased palms to make a flat puri like structure. Then prick it with a fork so that it does not fluff up when we fry them.

6. Now heat the oil and fry one by one till crisp. Store it in an air tight container.