Can I make thekua with jaggery powder?

Yes, and it is the easier way. Jaggery powder dissolves in warm water in under a minute and leaves no grit in the dough. Use ¾ cup (about 150 g) for 2 cups of atta.

Why did my thekua turn hard?

Usually the jaggery water was still hot when it met the atta, or the dough was kneaded like roti dough. Cool the syrup fully, bring the dough together without kneading, and fry on a low flame.

How much gur do I need for thekua for Chhath?

About 150 g of gur for every 250 g of atta, which makes 18 to 20 thekua. For a kilo of atta, keep 600 g of gur, a little over one 500 g pack.

How long does thekua keep?

Eight to ten days in a dry airtight jar at room temperature, as long as they were completely cold when they went in.

Thekua, the Chhath prasad made with atta and gur

ठेकुआ

The wheat-and-jaggery biscuit that Chhath is built around. A stiff dough, a low flame and enough patience to fry them properly.

A plate of deep golden thekua with their pressed pattern, beside a small bowl of jaggery powder — Representative image of the dish.

Chhath Puja · Prep 20 min · Cook 35 min · Total 1 hr 15 min · Makes About 18 to 20 thekua · Bihari snack

Thekua is the reason a Bihari kitchen smells of ghee and gur for three days every November. It is prasad for Chhath, offered at the ghat and then carried home in a cloth bag, and it is also the sturdiest sweet in the Indian repertoire: no milk, no khoya, nothing that spoils.

There are only three things in it that matter. Atta, jaggery and ghee. Everything else, the saunf, the coconut, the elaichi, is a family preference, and every family will tell you theirs is the correct one.

What makes or breaks it

A stiff dough and a low flame. Thekua dough is not roti dough; it should crumble when you press it and only just hold together when you shape it. And the fat must stay gentle, because jaggery browns fast and a hot kadhai gives you a thekua that is dark outside and raw in the middle.

Ingredients

2 cups (about 250 g) Whole wheat flour (atta)
¾ cup (about 150 g) ShuddhGaon jaggery powder
½ cup Water
4 tbsp Ghee, for the moyan
1 tsp, lightly crushed Fennel seeds (saunf)
4, powdered Green cardamom
2 tbsp Dry coconut (khopra), grated
About 2 cups Ghee or oil, for frying

Method

Melt the jaggery Warm the water in a small pan, take it off the heat and stir in the jaggery powder until it dissolves. Leave it to cool to room temperature. Hot syrup poured into atta cooks the flour and gives a hard thekua, so do not rush this.
Rub in the ghee Put the atta in a wide bowl, add the 4 tbsp of ghee and rub it through with your fingers for a couple of minutes. When a fistful holds its shape and then crumbles cleanly, the moyan is right.
Add the flavourings Mix in the crushed saunf, the cardamom powder and the grated coconut if you are using it.
Bring the dough together Pour the cooled jaggery water in a little at a time and gather the dough with your hand. Stop as soon as it comes together. It should be stiff and slightly crumbly, nothing like a soft roti dough. Do not knead it.
Rest it Cover and leave the dough for 10 minutes so the atta takes up the liquid evenly.
Shape them Take a lemon-sized piece, roll it smooth, flatten it into a thick oval about half a centimetre deep, then press it onto a thekua mould or mark it with the back of a fork. Keep them on a plate in a single layer.
Fry on a low flame Heat the ghee in a kadhai on low. Drop in a pinch of dough: it should rise slowly, not sizzle hard. Slide in four or five thekua at a time and fry for 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until they are a deep reddish brown all over.
Drain and cool Lift them onto a rack or a plate lined with paper. They are soft when they come out and firm up as they cool, so leave them completely cold before you judge the texture, and completely cold before you store them.

With our jaggery

Our jaggery powder dissolves into the warm water in under a minute and leaves no grit in the dough, which is the whole reason to use powder here. If you are using our cubes, break them with the back of a spoon first and give them two or three minutes in the warm water. Because the jaggery is unrefined and unbleached, one batch of thekua may come out a shade darker than the last. That is the cane, not the frying.

Tips from our kitchen

Test one first Fry a single thekua before the rest. If it cracks open, the dough needs a spoon more jaggery water. If it drinks up ghee, the moyan was short.
Keep the flame low throughout It is tempting to raise it after the first batch. Do not. Low and slow is what makes the inside cook through.
Store them properly Completely cold, in a dry airtight jar, they keep for 8 to 10 days at room temperature. Any warmth trapped in the jar makes them go soft.

Questions people ask

Can I make thekua with jaggery powder?: Yes, and it is the easier way. Jaggery powder dissolves in warm water in under a minute and leaves no grit in the dough. Use ¾ cup (about 150 g) for 2 cups of atta.
Why did my thekua turn hard?: Usually the jaggery water was still hot when it met the atta, or the dough was kneaded like roti dough. Cool the syrup fully, bring the dough together without kneading, and fry on a low flame.
How much gur do I need for thekua for Chhath?: About 150 g of gur for every 250 g of atta, which makes 18 to 20 thekua. For a kilo of atta, keep 600 g of gur, a little over one 500 g pack.
How long does thekua keep?: Eight to ten days in a dry airtight jar at room temperature, as long as they were completely cold when they went in.

Worth reading alongside this

The jaggery this recipe is made with

ShuddhGaon Jaggery Powder Pouch — The same fine gud powder in resealable 500 g and 1 kg zip pouches
ShuddhGaon Jaggery Powder — Fine gur shakkar that melts into tea, coffee and milk
ShuddhGaon Jaggery Combo — Cubes for the cup, powder for the kitchen

More recipes with gur

All jaggery recipes