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    Home » Desserts

    Published: Apr 12, 2014 · Modified: Aug 23, 2020 by Usha Rao

    Thekua from Jharkhand

    Jharkhand is one of the eastern states of India that was carved out of Bihar. It shares a border with Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and off course Bihar. Jharkhand means land of forests and 28 % of the population is tribal. Cuisine of Jharkhand is both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. This cuisine uses little oil and few spices. The food from this state is similar to that of Bihar and also consists of food prepared with different types of flowers such as flowers of drumsticks and also uses different green leaves.

    Mushrooms are available abundantly during rainy season in the forests and also in remote villages. These mushrooms are called Khukhdi or Chhatu in local language and given different names depending on where it is grown. When in season, mushrooms are dried and stored, and is used in dry form without spices or with spicy curries.

    Another ingredient common in this cuisine is Rugra. It is naturally grown and is a seasonal vegetable available only at the beginning of the monsoon season. These are small round balls with hard shell and soft inside. It is cooked into a curry with spices and lots of onion, and is considered a delicacy. Here is a link to rugra curry.

    Some of the common food from this state are Litti Chokha, variety of rice and roties, pitha, dhusk and maad jhor are a few to name. Dhuska is a just like poori, deep fried in oil but is made of rice and lentils. Rice and lentils are soaked, ground into paste and the batter is poured into the oil and deep fried. It is served with a curry. Check out the recipe here and Vaishali also has a recipe on her blog.

    Maad Jhor is prepared by cooking leafy vegetables in rice starch (the water in which rice is cooked) and is tempered with fried garlic in mustard oil. Just like in eastern and some of the north eastern states, most of the food is cooked in mustard oil.

    Thekua, Deep Fried Cookies, Bihari Food, Jharkhand Food, Blogging Marathon

    Thekua is another traditional sweet dish from Bihar and Jharkhand, and is prepared on Chhath puja as an offering to Sun God. It is prepared with whole wheat flour and sugar or jaggery. I found a few recipes that used maida or all-purpose flour. A mould called saancha is used to make an imprint on the thekua. Thekua is nothing but a deep fried Indian Cookie.

    Of all the recipes I prepared for the BM, thekua is one recipe that gave me a tough time. I prepared it 5 times, first time I messed up, the next two tries failed and finally the fourth try worked. Unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the pictures and ended up making it for the fifth time, just to take some pictures! But it so turned out that this food just loves to irritate me! At the end of the day, I did not like the pictures that took when I made them for the fifth time! 🙁 Pictures are decent enough to put up on the blog and I gave up on it! Well, you might ask how it tasted.

    Thekua, Deep Fried Cookies, Bihari Food, Jharkhand Food, Blogging Marathon

    First Try - The first time I made it, I used jaggery and used more water than required to melt the syrup. I ended up using only quarter of the syrup to make the dough and my thekuas we not sweet at all.

    Second Try - I melted the jaggery in warm milk with just the required amount of liquid required to knead the dough. The result was as soon as I put the thekua in oil, it fell apart and had a thekua crumble.

    Third Try – I melted the jaggery in water and my first two thekua turned out ok and then all hell broke loose. I again ended up with dough crumbles. By then husband came into the kitchen, tasted it and said it tastes okay, nothing great and anything with sugar tastes fine. He eat the two thekuas that held their shape and also the crumble. Since the thekua was falling apart, I stopped frying the rest. But husband wanted more of it so deep fried rest of the thekuas, which turned into thekua crumbles and he finished off all of it.

    Fourth Try – I gave up on jaggery and used powdered sugar. This time they turned out fine and tasted good too. I was not happy with the pictures and made them again. The first picture is from the fourth try and that picture looks better then the other two I took the last time made them.

    Fifth Try – Husband came home early, went into the kitchen, tasted and asked what those were? and liked them.
    I: (from the living room) don’t touch it. I have not taken my pictures yet. Why did you come home early? Had you told me you would be home early, I would have finished my photo shoot before you got home.
    He (comes into the living room with handful of thekuas): Sorry Ush, I can’t help you here. These are good and you will have to make them again for your pictures!
    I: 🙁 At the same time I was happy he liked them.
    I was just happy that he left a few for me and I could take some pictures.

    Thekua, Deep Fried Cookies, Bihari Food, Jharkhand Food, Blogging Marathon

    Total Time: 32 - 40 minutes
    Preparation Time: 20 - 25 minutes
    Cooking Time: 12 minutes
    Yields: 16 - 18

    Ingredients:

    • 150 grams or 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
    • 2 tbsp. Sooji or Cream of Wheat
    • 1 tbsp. chopped Coconut
    • 1 tbsp. Blanched Almonds chopped
    • ½ cup or 100 grams Granulated Sugar
    • ¼ - ⅓ tsp. Cardamom Seeds
    • 1 - 1 ½ tbsp. of Butter (I used a little over 1 tbsp.)
    • ⅙ - ¼ cup Milk or Water (I used milk and I used little less than ¼ cup.)

    Preparation:

    • Bring butter to room temperature. Can leave it on the counter top for couple of hours or microwave it for 20 seconds.
    • Grind sugar and cardamom seeds to a powder.
    • Chop coconut and almonds.
    • Mix together flour, sooji, sugar, coconut, almonds, butter.
    • Gradually add water or milk to form dough. My dough was not very stiff but not very soft either. It was a more towards soft side.
    • Let the dough rest of at least 10 minutes.
    • Divided the dough into 2 equal parts and make two balls.
    • Take each part and roll it out into a circle. Do not worry about the shape of the circle and also do not apply too much pressure when rolling out the dough. If necessary, apply some oil to the rolling pin to avoid the dough sticking to the pin. Cut each circle it into desired shapes using a cookie cutter or a biscuit cutter.
    • Gather all the scrapes and roll it out and cut into more shapes. OR make small balls, press each ball on the palm of the hands using fingers or press it between two palms to make circles/discs. I did latter with the left of scrapes of dough.
    • With a back of a fork, press each thekua to form a pattern. I made the patterns only on hand pressed thekuas.
    • Heat some oil in a skillet or a pan to deep frying the thekua. When the oil is hot, slowly drop thekuas into the pan and fry on medium heat. Turn them once or twice to evenly fry the thekua. Depending on how thick the thekua is and how hot the oil is, it would take 1 ½ - 3 minutes. Do remember that thekua become a shade darker after cooling. I kept changing the flame of the burner from medium to med-low and vice versa to maintain even temperature throughout the frying process.

    Note:

    • If the dough becomes too soft, add more flour. The last time I made the thekua, I added almost ¼ cup of milk and the dough was too soft. I added additional 1 ½ tbsp. of flour.

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    Reader Interactions

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    1. PJ says

      June 02, 2014 at 9:12 am

      You really have loads of patience to try out a recipe so many times! Enjoyed reading your post 🙂

      Reply
    2. Manjula Bharath says

      May 28, 2014 at 1:04 am

      omg usha you have lot of patience here i didn't have time try a single recipe you have made them twice.. thekuas have turned out very delicious , wud love to grab some !!

      Reply
    3. Suma Gandlur says

      May 08, 2014 at 4:57 pm

      Oh god, this recipe tested your patience. I would have given up by the second trial. I remember trying them for ICC and we had loved them. I had no problems with that recipe.
      Glad you got them at least at the fifth trial and your husband left some for you to click. 🙂

      Reply
    4. Pavani says

      April 27, 2014 at 3:58 pm

      Wow Usha, those thekuas sure tested ur patience. I would have given up after the second attempt 🙂 you were very persistent and good that u got your husband's seal of approval. And the conversation you had ur husband sounds exactly like our conversation at home: don't eat it until I finish clicking.

      Reply
    5. harini says

      April 21, 2014 at 3:55 pm

      Usha, I am amazed at your patience. I cannot imagine myself doing more than 2 times 🙂 Amazing results.

      Reply
    6. themadscientistskitchen says

      April 20, 2014 at 7:00 am

      Usha I enjoyed your conversation with your husband. And perseverance personified. 5 times.... I would have gone bonkers.:D They look and sound awesome.

      Reply
    7. Gayathri Kumar says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:50 am

      Wow! you made it five times. There is nothing wrong with the pictures. They look so nice...

      Reply
    8. Jayanthi says

      April 15, 2014 at 3:20 am

      I like all the pictures.. they're very nice. so much effort.. great work.

      Reply
    9. Varada says

      April 13, 2014 at 10:52 pm

      Now that is called perseverance. Five times! The pictures are pretty good and the thekua look great with the pattern and cute shapes.

      Reply
    10. Srivalli says

      April 13, 2014 at 12:29 am

      Usha, so sad you had to make these so many times..the recipe I shared for ICC worked out well..wish you had told me..anyway it's so good that you really wanted to make these right..and glad Mr. U liked it in the end..and trust me the pictures are looking good, with good lighting on top..and a nice blurred effect on the glasses on the back..You are being too hard on yourself man..

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        April 13, 2014 at 8:57 am

        Valli, I was more determined to get it to work bcz the first try they held their shape but just that it wasn't sweet eough. Once I abandoned jaggery, the sugar ones came out fine.

        Reply
    11. nalini says

      April 12, 2014 at 6:34 pm

      Five attempts!!great Usha,you have lots of patience to do so many attempts..BTW thekua looks so tempting and clicks are also awesome...

      Reply
    12. Priya says

      April 12, 2014 at 5:53 am

      Husbands are seriously wonderful critics,they can make us fly or put us down just with their honest thoughts, even i couldnt stop munching myself these beauties when i prepared them earlier for ICC.

      Reply
    13. pumpkinfarmfood says

      April 12, 2014 at 4:19 am

      Lol Usha...you had the patience if you were so gentle with your hubby (pun intended)...hats off..nice outcome in the end

      Reply
    14. Sowmya says

      April 12, 2014 at 4:15 am

      appreciate your patience!!! and it looks tempting and no wonder it disappeared..

      Reply
    15. Amarendra Mulye says

      April 12, 2014 at 3:19 am

      Thanks for posting this recipe. I was searching for such a detailed recipe. Awesome. Loved it.

      Reply
    16. Vaishali Sabnani says

      April 12, 2014 at 12:47 am

      Ha ha ha...Usha loved reading the post. Hats off for trying out sooo many times. It sure is delicious and if they disappear so quickly you should be proud of yourself.

      Reply

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