Kakadiche Thalipeeth

काकडीचे थालीपीठ

Thalipeeth is something that we Maharashtrians love to eat. I remember as a kid, completing all the chores in time to impress Mummy so she makes something special. And most of the time that special used to be thalipeeth. Thalipeeth also has a cousin named dhapatha (another word for hitting on the back as punishment). I usually get bhajaNi, flour made out of roasted grains, from India. But there were times when I ran out and then had to look for it in local stores. Eventually I did find bhajaNi made by a company called KPra here but it was at least a year old and thus smelly. So I decided to make my own bhajaNi. I mixed all the flours I had and then roasted it in kadhai on stove top and made thalipeeth Later I used oven to roast these and then managed to note down the temperatures and timing etc. So here is this tasty treat for you -


Kaakadiche Thalipeeth

1 cup Wheat flour
0.5 cup Rice flour
0.5 cup Chickpea flour
0.5 cup Jowar (sorghum) flour
1 medium cucumber grated
1-2 green chilies
small piece of ginger (approx 0.5" cube)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
couple of garlic cloves
small piece of jaggery (about 1 tbsp)
salt per taste
1/2 tsp turmeric
chopped cilantro
Oil and water as required


Preparation -

Mix all the flours in a baking dish (I used 9x9 baking pan). Heat the oven at 350F and keep the baking dish on lower rack of the oven while its preheating. You will need to run a spoon through the flour mix. Turn off the oven when preheated. Leave the baking dish in oven for 5 more minutes. Meanwhile grind green chilies, ginger, garlic and add it to grated cucumber. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, jaggery, chopped cilantro, turmeric powder to the mixture and mix it well. Take out the flour mixture out of oven. Mix the flours and cucumber mix together and set it aside for 5-7 minutes. Cucumber naturally has enough water to make the dough but you can use little more water if needed. Thalipeeth dough is little softer than chapati dough. Make 6 equal size balls and keep them aside.
Heat tava on medium heat. Pat the dough on a wet cloth spread. Make 4-5 holes to slip oil while roasting thalipeeth. You will use the cloth to slide thalipeeth on tava by turning it upside down. Gently remove the cloth and add drop of oil in every hole that you have made. Turn the thalipeeth when one side is fully roasted and cook the other side. Make remaining thalipeeths. Serve hot with any koshimbeer or any kind of chutney/pickle.

Tips -

1. You can use onion instead of cucumber.
   
2. You can just use red chili powder and ginger instead of ginger-garlic-chilies.
3. Make small bangle sized thalipeeths as appetizer.