Shravan is the holy festive month.There is a huge list of festivals which come during this month like Nag Panchami,Rakhi,Teejri,Thadri,Varalakshmi vrat etc.Sindhis celebrate Nandhi and Vaddi thadri in Shravan.While Nandhi thadri(Choti thadri) comes after Nag panchami, Vaddi Thadri /Badi thadri/ 'Badi Satain' comes on 7th day after Rakshabandhan. Some people also call it as saatam aatham or basoda.We celebrate this festival just before Janamashtami and worship Goddess Jogmaya/Sitla mata.We observe 'Thado'.It means we consume cold food that day.Food is cooked a day ahead.We especially prepare Sindhi flatbreads (Lolo,Chauthe & Besani).
What is Thadri and who do we pray to?
We pray to Goddess Sheetla Mata.She is regarded as the incarnation of 'Chandi mata'.Mothers generally sing the folk song 'Thaar maata Thaar Mujhe bacchiyan he thaar' as a prayer to Sheetla Mata.
This is a prayer to save the children from life threatening diseases like smallpox and measles.
Sindhi Thadri recipes are easy to cook.
Mitho Lolo or Lola is a traditional Sindhi sweet 'roti'.
Apart from lolo we make other breads like besani, koki, dal ja parantha.
We also make matho or dahi boondi, satpuras etc are prepared a day before.
We also eat Dahi bade and other milk based sweets like peda etc.
Mitho lolo and Chauthe are power packed with ghee and jaggery so is a good source of Iron and calcium.
Besani is power packed with chickpea flour or besan so great for having proteins.
All the 3 flatbreads are great during travel.You can have them with some spicy mango pickle.Great for long train and bus journey.
Why does my chauthe break during frying?
If there is a lot of ghee in the dough,then chauthe will break.
Step by Step pictures of the recipe
1.Mix all ingredients and knead into a semi hard dough
2.keep the dough aside for 30 mins
3.roll into a thick flatbread,cut into 4 pieces,make few incisions
4.Fry them on low heat under golden brown
Read the Sindhi flatbread-Chauthe recipe
Chauthe
Ingredients
- 2 cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup jaggery
- ½ cup water
- 2-3 tbsp oil/ghee for the dough
- 4-5 cardamom crushed
- 2 cup oil/ghee for frying
Instructions
- Take water at room temperature in a bowl.Add jaggery,Keep it aside for 2-3 hours/overnight.
- Mix wheat flour and desi ghee in a bowl with pinch of salt and cardamom.
- Pour the jaggery syrup little by little and knead a semi hard dough.
- Take a handful size dough and with a rolling pin roll it to a thick paratha.
- With the help of knife cut it into triangle shape.
- Prick on both the sides so that it gets fried properly inside.
- Heat oil in a frying pan and fry it on both the sides till golden brown on a low flame
- Let these cool and later store it in airtight container.
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Neha says
I have a question .. ultimately we are making both lolo n chauthe of same stuff why do they deep fry one and shallow fry other ? Is there a reason behind this tradition?
bhavana bhatia says
Hi Neha
Thanks for the query.We do not cook or heat any food item on Thadri day.All items are cooked a day early.If both of them are equally deep fried then they will become too hard to be eaten together.
Also,if both are hard,it will become difficult to digest n chewing also becomes an issue for children as well as aged.The items are made in such a way that they compliment cold thandai,chaas, mattho ,lassi very well and can be gulped down easily
Deepa Ajwani says
While preparing chautha why they become soft from outside.what is to be done so it looks crispy.
bhavana bhatia says
hi Deepa
You need to have the appropriate moin/fat/ghee in the flour.
Also, while frying,you need to fry them at the lowest flame, the moment your ghee/oil is at a high temperature, the outer crust tends to cook faster and becomes soft.
Thanks