Chhath Puja, also known as Surya Shashti or Chhathi, is a prominent Hindu festival celebrated in the Northern states of the country, namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The four day festival includes several traditional rituals like holy bathing, fasting and standing for hours in water making offerings to the Sun God. Chhath Puja is performed to please Sun God to ensure prosperity and happiness in future. The second day of the festival, also known as Kharna, involves devotees to observe a fast for whole day, which they break late in the evening after worshiping Mother Earth. The common delicacies offered and distributed on this occasion include Rasiao-kheer (rice delicacy), puris and fruits like bananas. Apart from kheer, which is an immensely popular dish during Chhath Puja, another important sweet dish prepared in this occasion is thekua. Read further to learn some common and widely popular dishes of kheer and thekua.
Traditional Recipes for Chhath Puja
Kheer Recipe
Ingredients
There are various types of dishes cooked on the special occasion of Chhath Puja. Here are given some of the popular recipes for Chhath Puja.
Festivals : Chhath Puja : Chhath Puja Recipes
Chhath Puja Recipes
- 500ml Milk
- 50gm Rice, soaked in water
- Sugar, according to taste
- A few Nuts like cashew, almond or raisins
Preparation
- Start by boiling the milk.
- Now add water-soaked rice in the boiling milk.
- Add sugar according to your taste.
- Heat the mixture on medium flame and slowly and continuously stir it to avoid sticking.
- The kheer will start to become thick in about 12-15 minutes.
- Now put some nuts, according to your choice.
- Heat it for another 5 minutes.
- The delicious kheer is ready to be served in bowl.
- You can garnish it further with nuts.
Thekua Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 500 gm Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 tbsp Coconut, chopped
- 300 gm Jaggery (Gur)
- 4-5 Green Cardamom, peeled and mashed
- Ghee (or Vegetable Oil)
- 1.5 cup Water
- Saancha (Vessel to make)
Preparation
- Make a watery solution by mixing jaggery, water, and green cardamom.
- Add 4 tbsp ghee to the jaggery syrup prepared above and mix it to wheat flour, along with coconut and make dough of it.
- Remember to use the exact quantity of jaggery syrup to make dough.
- Take a piece of dough, press it flat against your palm and then press it on a saancha for making thekua.
- Once the thekua has acquired the imprint from the saancha, deep fry it in ghee till it gets reddish brown.
- Filter out the ghee and put them aside.
- Allow the thekuas to cool down and serve.