Gujaratis are well known for their snacks and they have all kinds – deep fried, steamed, baked, fermented, roasted. It’s pretty amazing that one single region of India has encompassed so many diverse techniques as part of their daily cooking.
Theplas are Indian flatbreads made with whole grain flour mixed with seasonal vegetables and some commonly used spices such as green chilies, cumin-coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste. All combined into a dough using yogurt. Since there is hardly any water used in making the dough, these theplas last for couple of days, making them a perfect healthy snack for picnics or long journeys. The dough also contains some jaggery or sugar, which is signature of any Gujarati dish, trust me it actually makes it yummy! Serve it hot with pickle or chundo and yogurt.
Bajra flour has a very earthy flavor and it combines well with the mild flavor of dudhi. There is a good balance of different tastes of whole wheat, bajra, dudhi and ginger-garlic and jaggery.
Ingredients:
- Millet flour – 1 cup
- Wheat flour – 1 cup
- Bottle gourd – 1 cup (grated)
- Curd – 1/3 cup
- Oil – ½ cup (to add in flour and roast theplas)
- Green coriander – 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
- Green chilly – 1-2 (finely chopped)
- Ginger paste – 1 tsp
- Asafoetida – 1 pinch
- Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
- Red chilly powder – ¼ tsp
- Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
- Sesame seeds – 1 tsp (optional)
- Salt – more then ½ tsp (as per taste)
Method:
- Take out flour in any big utensil. Mix wheat flour in same bowl. Also add bottle gourd, ginger, green chilly, green coriander, asafoetida, cumin seeds, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, sesame seeds, salt, 1 tbsp oil and curd. Add 1-2 tbsp water or as per requirement and knead soft dough. Keep aside the dough for 10-15 minutes so that it gets set.
- Grease your hand with some oil and knead the dough again. Preheat tawa. Take little amount of dough (lemon size) and make a round ball. With this much quantity of dough you can make 8 balls. Take one ball, dust it with dry flour. Place it on rolling plate and roll into 6-7 inch diameter thepla.
- Place the rolled thepla on preheated tawa and when color of thepla turns darker from surface then flip the side. Spread 1 tsp oil on the upper surface. Flip the side and spread some oil on this side as well. Roast the thepla on medium flame from until it gets brown spots on both sides. Take off the roasted thepla on a bowl kept above a plate. Like wise prepare all theplas.
- Mouth drooling and lip smacking bajra lauki theplas are ready. Serve bajra lauki theplas with curd, chutney, pickle or with any sabzi of your choice.