Indian Cooking Challenge: Thekua/Khajur

A sweet preparation with long shelf life,Thekua keeps well for fifteen to twenty days when stored in an airtight container.

THEKUA/KHAJUR

Hailing from the Bihar and Jharkhand regions of India,the Indian version of cookie is humble,yet delightful.An eggless preparation of flour,it is flavored with coconut and green cardamoms,then fried(Yes!Fried,not baked!) to make morsels of deliciousness.I dedicate this recipe to Srivalli,and the Indian Cooking Challenge.Whether you enjoy Thekua/Khajur as a sweet snack,or as a dessert is entirely upto you,although it works particularly well at the end of a glorious,rich banquet when all you want is a sweet full stop,rather than some heavy,mithai preparation.
I am also sending this recipe to Vardhini's Sinful Delights event.

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 minutes
Servings : Makes 1/2 dozen

INGREDIENTS
1 cup wheat flour
2 and 1/2 tablespoon semolina
4 tablespoons superfine sugar/jaggery - grated
2 teaspoons dried coconut - cut into slivers/dessicated coconut
Generous pinch of green cardamom powder
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds(Optional)
4 teaspoons ghee
Milk for kneading
Ghee for frying

METHOD
If you are using jaggery,melt it in a microwave.Alternately,you may do it in a small pan over the gas range.Keep aside.
Take all the dry ingredients in a bowl except for sugar and add the ghee.Mix lightly,but well,preferably with your fingers until the contents begin to resemble coarse crumbs.Tip in the superfine sugar/molten jaggery next and continue combining,rubbing the mixture.Now,begin sprinkling milk,turning the mixture into a dense,stiff dough.Use minimal quantity of the liquid,as we need a rather hard,not soft dough.
Once done,roll out this dough using a rolling pin,not too thick or it will remain uncooked from inside when fried later.Cut with a cookie cutter,into any shape your choice.Gather the scraps together into a ball and repeat to make more thekuas.Deep fry the thekuas in hot ghee on low flame,till evenly browned on both sides and smelling divine.Let them to cool down to room temperature and serve.

NOTE
1. For a finer texture,wheat flour can be substitued with refined flour.You may also like to use honey as a sweetner instead of sugar or jaggery,for an interesting flavor.
2. Superfine sugar has been used in this recipe since granulated sugar may caramelize or burn during frying.
3. Traditionally,thekua is made by taking a portion of dough in hand,and pressing it against a saancha or mould.This creates a pattern over thekua.However,since everyone may not have a suitable mould,over here the dough has been rolled out and cut using cookie cutter instead(Also,I made criss cross lines on my thekua,using a skewer,for similar effect) .This also makes the process much easier.

In this very versatile recipe,wheat flour can be substituted with refined flour,and sugar can be substituted with jaggery or honey.

This work by Fahad Khan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Love to hear what you think!

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