Chhath Puja Offering · Fried Wheat-Jaggery Cookie

Thekua

Photo: Rohit iitr / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Some food historians trace its recipe back roughly 3,700 years to 'apupa,' a fried cake named in the ancient Rigveda — making this cookie one of the oldest-named sweets still sold from Terai street stalls.

Thekua is a dense cookie of wheat flour, jaggery or sugar, and ghee, pressed into decorative wooden molds and deep-fried until reddish-brown and firm enough to keep for days without spoiling. It's sold from sweet-shop counters and festival stalls across Nepal's Madhesh, Lumbini and Koshi provinces, especially in the run-up to Chhath Puja.

Why it's made this way: As a sacred offering during Chhath Puja, thekua is traditionally prepared in a purified kitchen space, tying its production directly to one of the Terai's most important religious festivals.