Kambu | Bajra Thattai
A delicious savory cracker made with the humble pearl millet with the flavor of carom seeds.
Servings: 4
Calories: 316kcal
Ingredients
- ½ cup Pearl Millet Flour
- ½ tbsp Urad Dal Flour
- ½ tbsp Roasted Gram Flour
- ½ tbsp Rice Flour
- 5 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 2 cups Oil for frying
- ¾ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp White Sesame Seeds
- ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
- ¼ tsp Carom Seeds
- ¼ tsp Hing
- ¼ cup Water
Other things required:
- Two Ziploc bags and a small vessel with a flat surface like davara.
Instructions
Prep-Work:
- Dry roast about 2 tbsp of urad dal flour without adding any oil and grind it into a smooth powder. Set aside ½ tbsp
- Grind roasted gram dal into a fine powder and set aside ½ tbsp.
- Make the homemade pearl millet flour as mentioned in this post, or you can use store-bought one as well. You can dry the store-bought for a couple of minutes, but that is optional.
Steps:
- In a mixing bowl, add the pearl millet flour, rice flour, urad dal flour, roasted gram flour, salt, hing, white sesame seeds, cumin seeds, and carom seeds.
- First, add 1 tbsp of coconut oil and mix it thoroughly.
- Then add water little by little and make a soft and smooth dough. The dough should not be too watery and too stiff and dry too. Also, the dough, should not stick to the bowl.
- Now spread a little coconut oil on both the Ziploc bags and in your palm.
- Then pinch a small gooseberry sized ball and shape it into a nice round without any crack. Press it slightly.
- Place this on one Ziploc and cover it with the other Ziploc with the oil coated side and using the davara press it as shown in the video.
- Then adjust the edges and using a fork prick the thattai so that it doesn't puff up. Place the thattai in another Ziploc coated with oil or a plate greased with oil.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil for frying and when the oil is hot, fry the thattai until the bubble sound ceases. Usually, millet flour thattai takes a long time when compared to the rice flour thattai.
- Drain it in a tissue paper. Press and fry the thattai similarly with the remaining dough. Check the notes for pressing and frying.
- Allow the thattai to cool before storing it in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
Pressing and Frying:
- Don't press all the thattai at once. Press two to three and fry them. As millet flour thattai takes a longer time to cook, you can press the thattai during the frying process.
- Also, cover the pressed thattai with tissue or cloth. Using a butter knife or flat spoon, take the thattai from the plate. If it breaks while lifting it from the plate, you can press it again.
- I would recommend keeping the thatti in another Ziploc bag. For video purpose, I went with a plate (so that I can show the pricked thattai nicely), but you can keep the pressed thattai in the Ziploc bag greased with oil as it is easy to remove and fry.
- You can use any millet flour instead of pearl millet flour.
- I did not include any red chili powder, but you can add up to ⅓ to ½ tsp.
- Adjust the salt and carom seeds according to your preference.
- Depending upon the quality of the flour, the water amount will differ. So adjust accordingly.
Nutrition
Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 437mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.2mg