Thattai / Nipattu

Diwali around the corner,after this pooja functions the process of making sweets and savories would gear up everywhere.There are lot of savories that capture the diwali season and one among them is thattai or nippatu.Nippatu is the name called around karnataka and also even around dharmapuri region,which belongs to Tamilnadu.But apart these places it's called as thattai within Tamilnadu.Thattai ,a  mild spicy savory is made with gram dal,rice and roasted dal.There are lots of varieties in making this.This is the one of the most tasty and honestly perfect savory.Its one of my favorite.During each diwali season my mother had never missed to make this wonderful savory.Its a little bit time consuming effort,by the result will be absolutely delicious.

This is my basic version which we usually make at home.For variations you could add broken peanuts also for even more crispness and also til seeds also.Make this healthy homemade snack at home and enjoy your festival.Am giving a small portion amount which yields about 12 to 18 thattai.You could double the quantity as per your need.

Ingredients

Yields - 12 to 18

Idli Rice - 1 Cup (Soaked for 2 hour)
Roatsed gram dal (powdered finely) - 3/4Cup (it may require more or less depending upon water in the batter)
Channa dal- 1 Tbsp (Soaked in water for 1 hour)
Red Chilly - 2 no's
Curry Leaves - few
Coconut slices - 1 Tbsp
Hing / Asafoetedia - 1/4 tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - for frying

Method

• Soak the idli rice and channa dal in water for 2 hours and 1 hour respectively.After 2hours drain the rice from water and grind them along with red chillies and salt.Add little water and grind.Do not add water all at once.And keep aside the ground batter.

• Transfer the rice batter to a bowl.Add the soaked and drained channa dal.Add the sliced coconut bits,hing and curry leaves.Mix well And the add half the portion of gram dal powder and see that you get a soft dough.If needed you could even more dal powder.

• The dough consistency should be neither too hard nor to loose.Keep the dough ready.Take a polythene sheet.Keep some oil nearby.Apply oil to the polythene sheet.

• Heat oil in a pan aside.Take a small pinch from the dough ,make it a ball and keep it on the polythene sheet ,apply your fingers with little oil and make small disc shaped thattai out of it.Dip your fingers with oil and mildly tap it around to get the shape.You can 4 to 5 such small thattai in a single sheet.And once the oil is hot enough.(To check the oil temperature put a small dough it should pop up immediately after adding it to the oil) gently flip the thattai one by one and fry them.

• Turn the other side of the thattai once the one side is well cooked.Keep the flame in medium high.Once done transfer the thattai to a bowl and store them in an airtight container when its cooled down.

Notes

• You could use mixer or grinder for making the rice batter.Grinder would be a better option.

• In the middle of grinding process,check to the spiciness of the chilli in the batter.If you need more spicy add 1 or 2 chillies to the grinding batter.Salt is added for this purpose to find the correct spiciness.Without salt you could not judge the correct amount of spiciness.

• To make the roasted dal powder take the required amount of dal and grind in mixer.The dal should be finely done.Then sift the dal and keep aside.

• Once the dough is ready check to the salt and spiciness.These both should be little more extra in final dough,because the frying process will minimize the salt and spice.

• This stays good for more than 2 weeks.