Beetroot Chutney

I have made chutneys with veggies like ridge gourd, eggplant, onions and tomatoes in the past, but tried beetroot chutney for the first time. I came across this recipe on Tarla Dalal's website and tried it out with a few changes. The ingredients used in this chutney are similar to our traditional coconut chutney with the addition of grated beetroot which makes this chutney very healthy. The beetroot also gives it a beautiful dark red color. This chutney tasted awesome with the Nachni/ Ragi Dosa I made for dinner last sunday. (Nachni Dosa recipe to follow).

Ingredients -
1 cup shredded beetroot
1 small sliced onion
1 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1 big garlic clove
1 tbsp chopped ginger
3-4 dried red chillies
5 curry leaves
4 tbsps fresh grated coconut
2 tbsps crushed peanuts
2-3 tbsps chopped cilantro

For the Tempering/ Tadka -
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1 pinch hing/ asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves

Method -
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and urad dal and fry for sometime.
2. Add curry leaves, dried red chillies, garlic and ginger and saute for sometime.
3. To this add sliced onions and cook them for some time. Then add grated beetroot and cook for some more time. Add fresh grated coconut and crushed peanuts and cook for couple of mins.
4. Allow this cooked beetroot to cool completely. Grind it into a fine paste in your blender. Take it out in a bowl and add some chopped cilantro.
5. Heat some oil in another pan. Add mustard seeds into the hot oil. When they splutter, add urad dal, asafoetida/ hing and curry leaves.
6. Pour this tempering on the chutney.

This goes to Priya's 'Healing Foods - Beetroot' event, originally started by Siri.

Doodhi Methi Muthiya/ Bottle Gourd Fenugreek Dumplings

I have been away from the blog world for over a month now. I was in India for a few weeks for my brother's wedding. The wedding went really well and we had a blast. Also enjoyed wearing my beautiful sarees and jewellery for all the wedding ceremonies. The only sad part is I did not get to spend enough time with my bro and my lovely SIL :-(. Well, will do that when I go back to India next year.

Since I got back from India, there has not been much activity in my kitchen. This Doodhi Methi Muthia has been in my archives for a while and so I finally decided to post this today.

Muthiya is a very popular Gujarati dish which can be served as a snack or as a meal by itself. It's named after the way it's made with the "gripping" action of the fist ("muthi" in gujarati). This dish can be served either steamed or fried after steaming. Of course, my preference is the latter version. My mom would make these very often at home. She mostly made doodhi muthiya, but these can be made with methi, cabbage, zucchini or also a combination of veggies of your choice. She typically made these by adding a mixture of handva flour (flour of different lentils) and chickpea flour. However, the other day when I made these doodhi methi muthiya, I added some sooji/ semolina in addition to the handva and besan flour and they really came out very light and yummy. The handva flour is optional and can either be left out or substituted with some whole wheat flour. I served these with some yogurt but they can also be served with some cilantro chutney.

I usually make a big batch of these and store the steamed muthias in an airtight container in the freezer. When ready to serve, just thaw the muthias and flavor it with nice aromatic vaghar/ tadka. They stay fresh in the freezer for up to 2-3 weeks.

Ingredients -
For the muthias -
4 cups grated bottle gourd (doodhi / lauki)
½ cup chopped methi/ fenugreek leaves
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 medium size onion, grated
1 cup handva flour/ wheat flour (You may need to add more)
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 -1  cup gram flour/ besan
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp red chilli powder
2 tbsps cumin -coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsps fennel seeds
3-4  tbsps ginger-green chilli paste
1-2 tbsps finely minced garlic
3- 4 tbsps lime/ lemon juice  
6 tbsps oil
1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
1/2 tsp hing/ asafoetida
2 -3 tbsps sugar
salt to taste

For the Tempering and Garnish -
4-5 tbsps oil
2 cloves
3-4 small pieces cinnamon
3 dried red chillies
7-8 curry leaves
2 tsps mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsps sesame seeds
1/2 tsp hing/ asafoetida
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut

Method -
Muthias -
1. Squeeze all the water out of the grated bottle gourd and keep it aside to knead the dough if required.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the muthia and form a soft dough adding the water squeezed out of the grated bottle gourd if required.
3. Form long cylindrical muthias of the dough. Grease your palms with some oil to avoid the dough from sticking to your palms.
4. Steam the muthias for 15- 20 mins. Insert a toothpick in the center of the muthias to check if they are done. If it comes out clean, the muthias are cooked.
5. Let the muthias cool and then cut them into thick slices.

Tempering/ Tadka -
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the cumin seeds.
2. Add the cloves, cinnamon, dried red chillies, curry leaves and fry for sometime.
3. Then add hing/ asafoetida and sesame seeds
2. Add the sliced muthias and fry for 10- 15 minutes till they are slightly brown in color and crisp.
3. Garnish with coriander and coconut.
4. Serve hot with yogurt or cilantro chutney.

I'm sending this to Nayna's 'Flavors Of Gujarat' event.