Methi Thepla
Soft, thin, speckled green flatbreads that stay tender for two days in a dabba. Slightly bitter from fresh methi, warm with ajwain, eaten with thick curd and chai.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1½ cups (180 g) whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup (30 g) besan (gram flour)
- 1½ cups fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves, tightly packed, chopped fine
- 4 tbsp Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil, for the dough
- 4 tbsp Cold Pressed Groundnut Oil, for roasting
- 3 tbsp thick curd
- 1 tbsp ginger and green chilli paste
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Stone Ground Red Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- ¼ tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar, optional
- 2 tbsp water, only if needed
Quantities are scaled up. Taste as you go and adjust the salt and spice.
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The night before a train journey, a Gujarati kitchen turns out fourteen theplas and stacks them hot in a cloth-lined box so they steam each other soft. A small jar of chundo goes in beside them. Two days later, somewhere between Surat and Delhi, that box comes out and the theplas are still soft. At home they are breakfast, rolled up with thick curd and a cup of chai, and nothing has ever replaced them.
The oil is what keeps a thepla soft. Wooden cold pressed groundnut oil goes into the dough as moyan and onto the tawa, and it is right in both places. Pressed slowly in a wooden ghaani, it keeps a light nutty sweetness that sits well against the faint bitterness of fresh methi leaves, where a heavy oil would just make the bread greasy. Our Stone Ground Red Chilli Powder gives warmth and a good colour through the dough.
The one thing that decides thepla is water, or rather how little you use. Methi leaves let out plenty of their own once the salt hits them, and the curd adds more. Mix, wait two minutes, and knead with almost no extra water, adding it a teaspoon at a time only if the dough refuses to come together. A wet dough gives you theplas that have gone soggy by evening.
How to make it
- Pick the methi leaves off the stems, wash them in plenty of water, and drain well. Chop fine. Stems make theplas bitter, so leave them out.
- Put the wheat flour, besan, methi, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander, cumin, sesame, ajwain, salt and sugar in a wide bowl. Rub everything together with your fingers for a minute so the methi is coated.
- Add the ginger-chilli paste, curd and 4 tbsp groundnut oil. Bring it together into a dough. Do not add water yet. Wait two minutes and let the methi release its moisture.
- Knead for 5 minutes into a firm but pliable dough, adding water only a teaspoon at a time if it will not come together. Cover and rest for 15 minutes.
- Divide into 14 balls. Roll one out to about 15 cm, dusting with dry flour. Roll thin. A thepla should be noticeably thinner than a chapati.
- Heat a tawa on medium. Put the thepla on. When small bubbles rise, after about 30 seconds, flip it.
- Spread ½ tsp oil on top, flip again, and press the edges down with a folded cloth or spatula. Spread oil on the second side too. Cook another 30 to 40 seconds till both sides have golden brown spots.
- Stack the hot theplas in a cloth-lined casserole so they steam each other soft. Serve with thick curd, chundo, and a pot of chai.
Tips
- For travel: leave the curd out and use 5 tbsp oil in the dough instead. Curd shortens the shelf life. Cool the theplas fully on a rack before packing, or trapped steam will turn them limp.
- Storage: 3 to 4 days at room temperature in an airtight box with a sheet of paper between the layers, or a week in the fridge.
- Substitution: no fresh methi? Use 3 tbsp kasuri methi, crushed between your palms, and add 3 tbsp water to the dough to make up for the missing moisture.
- If your theplas turn out hard, the dough was too tight or the tawa was too hot. Keep the dough soft, keep the flame on medium, and never skip the oil on both sides.
