Variety, Variety, Variety...Yummies from Blogosphere

The endless variety that one finds in Indian food never fails to amaze me...as a child growing up in India, our family lived in different parts of the country, made friends among people of different communities and of course, had the good fortune to taste and relish food from various states in India...yet even to this day, when I am blog-hopping, I visit a blog which presents a new dish which I have not yet tasted or tried to make(sometimes, have not even heard of it!)

"Muthias" belong to that "not yet tasted or tried to make' category for me...it is a savory dish from the western Indian state of Gujarat. It is a steamed dumpling(sometimes, fried too) that is vegan...extremely healthy since it requires very little fat and is made by combining some nutritious grains and lentils.

When I found recipes of this dish on the net...of course, the first stumbling block that I faced is that...there was way too much variety when it came to the recipes...each recipe called for a different mixture of grains/lentils...some required chickpea flour, while others required a combination of wheat flour, semolina and chickpea flour, some others required millet flour...the list goes on...that I essentially think, is what boggles the mind of the beginner when it comes to Indian cooking...the endless variety...BUT, variety can be a good thing...I find that the best way to  ease the confusion, is to go with recipes that call for familiar ingredients and that is what I did...of course, the recipe of one of our wonderful blogger friends came to the rescue!!!

Here, I have used a recipe for Muthias that came from the wonderful blog Simply.Food...authored by Nayna, who has a variety of wonderful and simple Gujarati recipes alongwith other cuisines in her space.

The verdict from my family was that this savory and tangy dish is a definite keeper plus it reminded us all of our own Southern Indian idlis(pancakes). Thanks, Nayna for this wonderful recipe that has appealed to me and my family in a big way...

Links: Original Recipe for Muthias as posted on Simply Indian Food

Notes/Variations: I have used bajra(millet flour) as called for in the original recipe but one could substitute that with fine semolina in the recipe...I saw quite a few recipes that used semolina...also, for the veggies, I used a mixture of fenugreek leaves and spinach leaves in place of the bottlegourd in the original recipe. Also, for the seasonings, I added some caro seeds(ajwain), some fresh cilantro leaves and lemon juice apart from the mustard, sesame seeds and dried red chillies.

I served this dish with a tangy, chutney filled with herbs and nuts, though it would taste good with any chutney/dipping sauce

Recipe for Muthias(as posted on Simply.Food by Nayna)

Serves: 3 - 4 people(I got 12 pieces)

Prep/cook time: 30 - 40 mins.

Ingredients:

8 oz wheat flour

2 oz besan flour(chickpea flour)

2 oz bajra flour(millet flour)

2 oz fresh chopped methi leaves(fenugreek leaves)

2 medium courgettes grated with skin on(bottlegourd)

1 teaspoon ginger puree

4 green chillies finely chopped

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon eno salts

1 tablespoon oil

For tadka/seasoning:

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 dry red chillies

Method:

1. Add wheat flour,besan and bajra flour to grated courgettes.

2.Add the ginger, chillies,salt,turmeric and chilli powder oil and eno salts.

3.Make a dough using 1-2 tablespoons water.

4. Form small 2 inch sausage shapes (muthia shapes) and place in steamer .

5.Steam for 25-30 minutes and allow to cool

6.When cool slice the muthia into 1 cm rounds.

7. Heat the oil for tadka in a wok, when hot add the mustard seeds, red chilli and the sesame seeds.

8. Add the sliced muthia and stir fry till slightly crispy and takes colours.

9. Transfer to serving dish