This simple yet delicious bread from Gujarat is a terrific way to get your kids to eat their greens. If you can't get hold of fresh fenugreek leaves where you live, the recipe can still be done with other grated vegetables like zucchini, milk gourd (lauki/ doodhi), carrot and even garlic. Methi Na Thepla tastes really good with Chunda (sweet-sour mango chutney). This recipe will serve 4-6 people.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups wholewheat four (Atta)
- 2 cups fenugreek leaves (remove leaves from stems before you measure) washed and dried on a kitchen towel
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp asafetida powder
- 1/2 tsp ajwain/ carom seeds
- 2 green chillies chopped very fine
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable/ sunflower/ canola cooking oil or ghee (see link below for recipe to make your own)
- Warm water
Preparation:
- Put all the ingredients (except oil/ ghee) into a large mixing bowl. Add a little warm water at a time, mixing the ingredients with your fingers to blend them together. When the ingredients have all come together, begin to knead and continue till you have a medium-soft, smooth dough. Now add 2 tbsps of cooking oil/ ghee and knead some more to blend it into the dough. Keep the finished dough aside for 20-30 minutes to rest.
- After 20-30 minutes, divide the dough into golf ball-sized portions and roll between your hands till they are smooth and without cracks.
- Very lightly flour a rolling board or clean counter surface and roll each ball into a circle of 7-8" diameter (5-6mm thick). For convenience roll out as many Theplas as you like, stacking them, ready to cook with a layer of cling film between each Thepla.
- Heat a griddle and fry the Theplas one at a time like this: Put a Thepla on the griddle. Do the first flip when you see tiny bubbles rise on the top surface of the Thepla. As soon as the first flip is done, drizzle a bit of the cooking oil/ ghee on the top and spread well over the surface of the Thepla. Flip again in 30 seconds and drizzle oil/ ghee on this surface too. The Thepla is done when both sides are crispy and golden brown.
- Serve with chilled yogurt and Chunda or your favorite pickle or chutney.
