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India's festive season commences with Ganesh Chaturthi, proceeds with Navratri and reaches fever pitch with Diwali. And along comes the four-day festival of Chhath Puja, which is celebrated in Eastern and Central India, especially prominently in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and some areas in Madhya Pradesh.
Several traditional dishes feature in the prasad that is offered to the Sun God and his consort, Chatthi Maiyaa, before the devout digs into it. These include Kasar Laddu, Chana Ki Ghugni and Rasia Puri. However, the star dish remains Thekua, made from wheat flour, jaggery, dry fruits, cardamoms and fennel seeds. These deep-fried bite-sized morsels can be nibbled through the day for breakfast, with teatime snacks or as a sweet ending to a meal.
A week before Chhath Puja rolled along, ladies in households across the states would get started preparing the Thekua. Chennai-based Sohini Singh recalls how growing up, this would culminate as a social activity in her hometown of Gaya, where these women would gather in each other's homes.
"My grandmother would reign over the preparation of thekua, directing how the other women, including my mother, telling them how to knead the dough for the thekua correctly and fry it so that it has the right golden hue," she reminisces.
She initiated this snack-making activity in her housing complex in Korukkupet to keep the tradition alive. That is when she realized that many young people are ignorant about the conventional culinary preparations, which she termed most unfortunate.
"For example, many thought thekua was prepared during another north Indian festival called Teej. The two festivals are two months apart. However, during Teej, we usually prepare Pidakia, another deep-fried sweet dumpling made with khoya and dry fruits," she said.
Bringing Back Lost Dishes
During the Chhath Puja, people from the Eastern part of India, Bihar Jharkhand and western Uttar Pradesh, offer their gratitude to the heavenly bodies for the new crop. The design on thekua reflects this, with the intricate lines and whorls representing the wheat, sugarcane, and seasonal fruits like reddish, apple, banana, green coconut and gaaggar limes that grow in profusion across the belt.
Mumbai's Aparajita Chandra is unaware of how the thekua got introduced into the region's culinary landscape, but she states that it is the only sweet offered to Chatthi Maiyaa. "One thing important to note is that, unlike other Hindu festivals, Chatt Puja was more popular among the lesser advantaged and was not an idol worship, so possibly the offering found their way from the farmer's house," she adds.
Bindu Pandey, a homemaker in Mumbai, says that the most critical characteristic of thekua is its purity. This is reflected in the ingredients typically used in making prasad in any religious ceremony, be it ghee, jaggery or nuts.
"It symbolizes the glory, bravery and glory of Lord Surya, whom we pray to during Chhath. It also finds a place during celebratory spread during Teej, Holi, Dussehra, Makar Sankranti and Nag Panchami, as well as marriage ceremonies. We believe that it has great importance when offered to the gods and goddesses during these festivals and exchanged amongst each other," Bindu explains.
The Right Mix
The conventional, and the best, way to make thekua is to mix half the quality of jaggery as compared to the quantity of flour. Ghee is added gradually to bind the dough into a soft mixture.
Bindu Pandey, a homemaker in Mumbai, says that getting the crispiness right can be done by preparing a thick mix of wheat flour with ghee, jaggery, sugar and nuts with water. "This should be kneaded again with the help of both palms, sometimes adding semolina to give a nice crunch. After kneading it a lot, the thekua is cooked on low flame in ghee or oil; this method is considered the best way to prepare it," she claims.
Sprinkles of freshly grated coconut and ground cardamom complete the mixture, which is then shaped into small, flattened balls. A wooden spatula with a broad bottom with elaborate designs at its ends is used to place designs on these balls. Sharing her mother's cooking hack, Sohini advises keeping a bowl of water near the fire to prevent the delicate mixture from crumbling just before dipping it into the hot oil for frying.
Preserving these culinary traditions is essential, but at the same time, there is a need to innovate them to make them more contemporary and popular. Brands like Prabhuji and Snackbox present it in a box, making it easier for people to enjoy thekua and share it with their family and friends.
Others like Bake And Fry are even offering a healthier variant, which is baked instead of deep frying. By reinterpreting the humble thekua, its reach is growing manifold, coming out of the confines of northern and eastern India to capture the attention of the Instagram-fuelled stories of the next generation.
