Swara's Nursery

Methi na Dhebra

Growing up in India, my neighbours were a Gujurati family. I was very close to them and developed a strong liking for Gujju food. Basically, I'm a big fan of rich oily food …that explains why I like Gujju food. Last week I bought a fresh bunch of methi (fenugreek leaves) from Patel Bros. Initially, I was planning to make some methi theplas for dinner. However, I changed my mind and instead made "Methi na dhebra". This is a spicy methi puri made from bajra flour. Gujjus mainly have these for breakfast with hot tea or serve these with Chunda (grated mango pickle). I served this for dinner with some yoghurt based potato bhaji also called batatyache bhareet in Marathi.

Makes 22-24 dhebras
Ingredients -
2 cups millet/bajra flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp semolina/rava
2 tbsp besan (gram flour)
Green paste (1 inch piece ginger, 2-3 cloves garlic, 4-5 green chillies -- to be blended into a fine paste)
1 cup finely chopped fenugreek/ methi leaves
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 pinch turmeric
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup yogurt

Method -
1. Take all the ingredients except yogurt and the ground paste in a bowl and mix well.
2. Add the green chili-ginger-garlic paste and mix well.
3. Make a dough using yogurt and add some water if needed. Make a firm but semi-soft dough like puri dough and leave it aside for an hour.
4. Heat some oil for deep frying in a kadhai. Make medium sized balls (like you would make for puris).
5. Place the dough ball on a greased sheet of plastic or cut open ziploc bag and start patting the ball with the help of your hand and fingers. Rolling pin can also be used. Some wheat flour can be used to dunk the balls which will make rolling easier.
6. Gently slip them into the kadhai for frying. Fry the vadas on both sides. When the vadas puff up and turn brown remove them and let them drain on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Once cool, these can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in the microwave before eating.
7. Serve with any accompaniment of your choice.