Chhath Puja special: How to make thekuas

Thekuas are traditional Bihari sweets made of flour, sugar/jaggery and ghee. (Source: thekua.in)

It’s not an overeaction when we say that Chhath Puja is incomplete without thekuas. A traditional Bihari sweet made of flour, sugar/jaggery and ghee, it is offered as prasad on the fourth day of the puja after devotees gather around a water body to offer ‘Usha arghya’ (morning offerings) to the rising sun.

On this special day, we bring you a special recipe. Be a sport, try it out at home!

Ingredients
250 gm wheat flour
2 tbsps chopped dry coconut
50 gm sugar
1 tbsp fennel seed
3-4 whole green cardamom
½ cup water
Ghee to fry (set aside 1 tbsp for the flour mixture)
Dry fruits (optional)

Method
*Mix wheat flour, dry coconut, fennel seeds, dry fruits, crushed cardamom and 1 tbsp of ghee in a pan.

*Now, make a sugar syrup by bringing water and sugar to a boil. Boil until sugar is dissolved.

*Add this syrup to the mixture and knead well. Be careful not to make the dough watery. The mixture should be a little wet, enough to make balls out of them.

*Grease your palms with ghee and take a spoonful of the mixture. Make a ball and flatten it by giving it the shape of a small disc. Form such disks out of the entire mixture and set aside.

*Now, heat ghee in a pan and fry the discs one by one until they are a shade darker than golden brown.

Note: While thekuas remain fresh up to two weeks, it also tastes awesome when hot. You can use moulds to give the thekuas a better shape and design. If you want to avoid using sugar syrup, go for lukewarm water to prepare the mixture. You can also opt for dry sugar or jaggery for the garnishing.

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