Dhebra

A Gujarati pearl-millet bread fried until small brown spots appear, which keeps for days.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 250 g bajra flour, which is pearl millet
• 100 g whole wheat flour
• 100 g fenugreek leaves, chopped fine
• 2 teaspoons ginger paste
• 2 green chillies, chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons oil, into the dough
• about 200 ml water
• 4 tablespoons oil, for frying

Method

1. IT COMES OFF THE TAVA WHEN SMALL BROWN SPOTS APPEAR, which is the one piece of timing its article gives and the only one needed. Both sides of the dhebra are LIGHTLY FRIED WITH VEGETABLE OIL ON A TAVA, UNTIL SMALL BROWN SPOTS APPEAR. Not browned all over, not pale: spotted. Past that the millet goes dry and the bread loses the reason it keeps.
2. TWO FLOURS, AND THE WHEAT IS THERE TO HOLD IT TOGETHER. Its article asks for millet flour AND WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR with water and salt. Pearl millet has no gluten; a hundred grams of wheat in three hundred and fifty is enough to let the dough be rolled instead of patted.
3. FENUGREEK MAKES IT METHI DHEBRA, WHICH IS THE VERSION WORTH MAKING. The article separates them: plain dhebra is the simplest and so the commonest, and methi dhebra has methi -- fenugreek leaves -- ADDED AS FLAVOUR. Chop the leaves fine and salt them for ten minutes first, then squeeze; wet leaves make a dough that cannot be rolled.
4. THE OIL IN THE DOUGH IS WHY IT KEEPS. Its article says that DUE TO THE OIL IN THE RECIPE, DHEBRAS HAVE A GOOD SHELF LIFE, and that they are served hot or cold with pickle, curd or tea. Two tablespoons worked into the flour before the water is what that means. It is also why they travel.
5. GINGER, CHILLI, TURMERIC AND CUMIN GO IN WITH THE FLOURS. The article's flavour list gives fenugreek, garlic, cumin and bottle gourd among others; this takes the first and third and adds the ginger and chilli a Gujarati dough of this kind is built on.
6. ROLL THEM ON A CHAKLA WITH A BELAN, THICKER THAN A CHAPATI. Its article names both tools. Make them the size of a saucer and about four millimetres -- the article notes methi dhebra can be rotli sized or smaller and thicker, puri sized, and the thicker one stays soft longer.
7. FRY THEM ONE AT A TIME ON A MEDIUM TAVA, OILING BOTH FACES. A tablespoon between two breads. Press the edges down with the back of a spoon so the middle does not cook first.
8. STACK THEM UNDER A CLOTH AND EAT THEM WHENEVER. Hot with curd, cold from a tin two days later with pickle. A bread made to keep should be allowed to.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes