Okay I know that at first breath it sounds weird. I mean, banana and methi in a thepla? I know 'cause that was my first reaction. But what the hell, I had two ripe bananas lying around which no one was willing to touch otherwise, so I decided to follow Ms. Tarla Dalal's recipe in toto and incorporate them into my theplas.
I prayed to God that the dish worked. Hubby was leaving for work at 8:30 p.m. and he was taking the theplas with him in his tiffin. That was all he was going to carry. So I hoped that he would like my new experiment.
This was my recipe.
Banana Methi Thepla
Ingredients,
3 cups wheat flour
1 cup besan
A handful of finely chopped fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves
2 ripe bananas
1 tsp turmeric (haldi) powder
2-3 tsp red chilli (lal mirch) powder
1-2 tsp coriander (dhania) powder
1 tsp dry mango (amchur) powder
one pinch of asafoetida (hing)
salt to taste
water and 2 tsp oil for making dough
oil for frying
Method
Wash and finely chop methi leaves. Sieve both the flours together, add methi leaves and mashed banana. I have seen that grating a banana on your regular cheese grater is a much better way of getting a good pulp. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder, amchur powder, salt and mix well. Add water as and when needed to make a soft dough. Use a little oil while kneading to make a dough.
Now divide the dough into smaller portions and roll out thin chapatis. Fry them on a griddle (tawa) with a little oil, till brown blisters appear evenly on both sides. Serve hot.
Raw Mango Chutney
1 raw mango peeled and chopped into pieces
1 tsp dry roasted methi (fenugreek) seeds
2-3 tbsp grated coconut
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
3-4 tsp jaggery (or as per taste)
salt to taste
For the tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard (rai) seeds
1/4 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
a pinch of hing
Gather all the ingredients for the chutney in a blender and blend till you get a good puree. You may leave it slightly chunky as I do.
Heat the oil, and add mustard and cumin seeds. In the end add a pinch of hing and splash this tempering onto the chutney.
Here is the picture:
I may add, that once I tasted it, the banana gave just a subtle hint of its presence. There may be those who may not like it, but my family for one didn't mind.
It goes without saying that a little effort put into presentation goes a long way, especially where kids are concerned. Saee could not wait to eat the thepla even as we were clicking the pictures. The credit for this picture goes to my husband. I have done the styling.
For those who are adventurous as I am, please try this recipe. It tastes good. Not great, but good.
Happy Cooking!
I prayed to God that the dish worked. Hubby was leaving for work at 8:30 p.m. and he was taking the theplas with him in his tiffin. That was all he was going to carry. So I hoped that he would like my new experiment.
This was my recipe.
Banana Methi Thepla
Ingredients,
3 cups wheat flour
1 cup besan
A handful of finely chopped fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves
2 ripe bananas
1 tsp turmeric (haldi) powder
2-3 tsp red chilli (lal mirch) powder
1-2 tsp coriander (dhania) powder
1 tsp dry mango (amchur) powder
one pinch of asafoetida (hing)
salt to taste
water and 2 tsp oil for making dough
oil for frying
Method
Wash and finely chop methi leaves. Sieve both the flours together, add methi leaves and mashed banana. I have seen that grating a banana on your regular cheese grater is a much better way of getting a good pulp. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder, amchur powder, salt and mix well. Add water as and when needed to make a soft dough. Use a little oil while kneading to make a dough.
Now divide the dough into smaller portions and roll out thin chapatis. Fry them on a griddle (tawa) with a little oil, till brown blisters appear evenly on both sides. Serve hot.
Raw Mango Chutney
1 raw mango peeled and chopped into pieces
1 tsp dry roasted methi (fenugreek) seeds
2-3 tbsp grated coconut
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
3-4 tsp jaggery (or as per taste)
salt to taste
For the tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard (rai) seeds
1/4 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
a pinch of hing
Gather all the ingredients for the chutney in a blender and blend till you get a good puree. You may leave it slightly chunky as I do.
Heat the oil, and add mustard and cumin seeds. In the end add a pinch of hing and splash this tempering onto the chutney.
Here is the picture:
I may add, that once I tasted it, the banana gave just a subtle hint of its presence. There may be those who may not like it, but my family for one didn't mind.
It goes without saying that a little effort put into presentation goes a long way, especially where kids are concerned. Saee could not wait to eat the thepla even as we were clicking the pictures. The credit for this picture goes to my husband. I have done the styling.
For those who are adventurous as I am, please try this recipe. It tastes good. Not great, but good.
Happy Cooking!
I had it in dinner and it was really nice. No adventures involved really if you stay light (rather right) on Banana portion. The subtle flavor was very nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Hubby!
ReplyDeleteI have 3 ripe bananas lying on the island . will try this as kids are tired of banana bread :). How do u manage to do all this cooking???
ReplyDeleteDay 2. Good going!! Btw, I got the link to this blog from Ajay Pande who posted it on FB.
ReplyDeletewith the ripe banana you can make sabji too.....if u like sweet sabji....and it does taste awesome and very easy to make...in fact i can write it here too...just add rai and jeera to oil, once the sputter add hing and red chilly powder and chopped bananas....add haldi and dhaniya jeera powder to banana along with grated jaggery (as per taste), add salt of course :)
ReplyDeletethis is a very tasty sabji...n my mom used to make it wen she made karela as i wudnt eat karela :) try it..its sweet but nice...
and of course the thepla looks yummy....and perfectly gujju look :) so guess its made perfectly and m sure its as tasty as it looks...i miss thepla!!!!
Shailja, as I said idea is to get flavor of Banana in Methi Thepla and not to finish all available ripen Bananas. So go for it as directed by master chef and I am sure your kids will ask you to use remaining one Banana the next day. Then you can maroon on that empty island with anyone you wish!
ReplyDelete@Shailja: I am currently a full time housewife... so I found something interesting to do which involves four of my fav activities cooking, photography, eating and writing!
ReplyDelete@Rhythm: Thanks for the recipe, it sounds yum! I will definitely work on that one and post it here on my blog!
@Mrinalini: Thanks for joining my blog. I hope to keep you interested with more recipes everyday :-)
Thanks again to all of you.
Love,
Gauri.
Hey Gauri, will definitely try this one, V had tried something similar the other day, which gave me some courage to use ripe bananas in a "tikhat" way, since we are so used to thinking of it as a sweet fruit.Here, I have started using it in banana bread, rather than "shikran" (which i do not like at all,though "aamchya hhyaana" awadta, but this recipe i wl nakki try.. needless to say, the styling is fantastic and photography is awesome.This Kekre team rocks!! :)
ReplyDeleteJ, there are so many sabzis involving the sweet banana! One of them is a saraswat preparation that can be used as a "Fast" food, if you know what I mean. I will definitely post that recipe when I make it.
ReplyDelete