Put the crumbled jaggery and about 1/8 cup water in a pan. Stir, on medium heat’ till the jaggery dissolves completely. Strain out impurities, if any, and let it cool.

Put all the remaining ingredients, except the oil for deep frying, in a large bowl. Using your fingers, mix everything till it comes together resembling breadcrumbs. When you press the mixture tightly in your fist, it should be firm and solid, not crumbly.

Slowly add the cooled liquid jaggery to this mixture and knead to a firm stiff-ish dough. Cover with a muslin cloth or tea towel and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Pinch off roughly walnut sized pieces of dough and roll into balls. Press each ball flat on a thekua mould. The shaped dough round will have cracked uneven edges and should be about the 1/8 to 1/4 th inch thick. If you don’t have a mould, flatten the balls and decorate by pressing the dough rounds with the tines of a fork a fork. Do not flatten the rounds any thinner.

Heat the oi for deep frying then turn down the heat to medium. Fry the dough rounds in small batches, on both sides low to medium heat, but not on high heat. The Thekuas need to be slow fried so they’re cooked well through and area reddish brown in colour.

They will still be a little soft when done but turn crisp on cooling down. Let them cool completely before storing them in airtight containers.