Dahi Thara

 દહીં તણા દહીં થારા, ઘી તણા ઢેબરા 

કઢિયેલ દૂધ તે કોણ પીશે ...

Famous Gujarati poet, Narsinh Mehta mentions Dahi Thara in his very popular Prabhatiya. Prabhatiya is a wake up song sung by Mother Yashoda for her lovable son Lord Shri Krishna. Narsinh Mehta in his poem describes how a mother would lovingly and cuddlingly wake up her child and also describing various delicacies she has made for him.

Here is a youtube video of this famous Gujarati Prabhatiya. This is one of my favorite Gujarati songs too.

Dahi Thara is a sweet delicacy. A deep fried puffed puri rolled into powdered sugar and garnished with nuts. The flavor of cardamom is prominent in this crisp, flaky, melt in the mouth sweetmeat. This is a special sweet for Lord Krishna, and is a must for Diwali Annakut or special festive days. I remember our family priest from Gokul, a small village where Shri Krishna spent his childhood, would bring us a big box of these delicious Dahi Tharas. He then taught my mom this famous Mathura Dahi Thara recipe. Dahi means yogurt. Since this recipe requires the dough made using yogurt, the sweet gets its name as DAHI THARA!

This recipe will make around 30 Dahi Tharas.

Take 2 cups of All-purpose flour or maida. 

Add 8 tbsp. of regular room temperature ghee. Use you palms and mix ghee well into the flour. 

Plain yogurt to make the dough. This recipe does not need water to make the dough. Use a spoonful at a time to make the dough. You might need less than 1/2 cup of yogurt to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough well. Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Grind 2 cups of regular sugar with a tbsp. of cardamom seeds to form a fine powder. Keep it aside. Use 1 cup at a time.

Sliver some nuts for garnishing.

When the dough has rested well, knead it a bit.

Divide into 30 equal parts. Roll to form a flat 4 inch disc. Sprinkle some dry flour and fold in the sides like a kachori to trap in the air. Roll in again to form a 4 inch disc. Prick few holes using a knife. 

Heat ghee for deep frying. The temperature of melted ghee should not be very hot.

Gently drop one rolled disc at a time into medium hot ghee. Press the sides of the disc lightly for it to puff up. Fry of low to medium heat till it forms a crisp puffed puri and turns golden brown.

Immediately place fried dahi thara into a bowl of powdered sugar. Roll in well. Remove and garnish with slivered nuts.