Thepla

Fenugreek leaves and gram flour go into the dough itself, not onto the finished bread.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (yogurt).

Ingredients

• 300 g atta
• 100 g besan, or gram flour
• 150 g fresh fenugreek leaves, chopped, or 25 g dried
• 100 g plain yogurt
• 80 ml water
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• oil, for the griddle

Method

1. FENUGREEK LEAVES AND GRAM FLOUR GO INTO THE DOUGH ITSELF, NOT ONTO THE FINISHED BREAD. Its article gives the common ingredients as wheat flour, besan and methi with other spices, and that is the whole distinction from every plain flatbread here. A hundred and fifty grams of chopped fenugreek leaves kneaded into four hundred of flour makes a green-flecked, noticeably bitter dough; the gram flour makes it shorter and nuttier and stops the whole thing tasting only of wheat. These are not seasonings brushed on at the end -- they are a third of the dough by volume.
2. THE LEAVES ARE SALTED AND LEFT FOR TEN MINUTES FIRST. They release a surprising amount of water, which then counts towards the dough's liquid. Added dry and unsalted, the dough is too wet twenty minutes later.
3. DRIED FENUGREEK WORKS AND THE WEIGHT CHANGES. About a sixth of the fresh weight. The flavour is stronger and less grassy.
4. YOGURT IS MOST OF THE LIQUID. A hundred grams, with only eighty millilitres of water. It tenderises a dough that has a lot of non-wheat flour in it and would otherwise be crumbly.
5. THE SPICING IS REAL AND IT IS IN THE DOUGH. Turmeric, cumin, coriander and chilli, all of it kneaded in. Its article says other spices without listing them, so these are the ordinary Gujarati four rather than a claim about what is correct.
6. IT IS ROLLED THIN AND COOKED WITH A LITTLE OIL. Two millimetres, and a teaspoon of oil brushed on each side as it cooks -- more than a chapati, far less than a paratha.
7. IT IS COOKED LONGER AND DRIER THAN A CHAPATI. Two minutes a side over a medium heat until it is flecked dark and no longer flexible-damp. That is what makes it keep.
8. IT KEEPS FOR DAYS, WHICH IS WHY IT EXISTS. Its article has it as breakfast, as a snack and as a side dish, and it is the bread people travel with: cooked dry and stacked, it is good for three or four days without reheating.

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