Being the mother of a little baby and a frequent traveller I’m constantly on the look out for good homemade dishes with a long shelf-life. Thepla is a Gujarathi version of the methi paratha and is one such dish which can be preserved for over a week. I packed this for dinner during our train travel a couple of weeks ago. The parathas were soft and tasty. They were supposed to last for a week but we finished them off in one sitting!!

In the train I met a Gujarathi aunty who told me about a lot of other breakfast recipes that can be preserved for a long time (typically snacks and savories made out of besan and deep fried)

Try thepla for your next week-long trip. This paratha is particularly useful to mothers who dont want to give kids any outside food. Also, sometimes you dont want to break your journey for a meal and would rather eat something on the drive.

This is my entry to the roti mela organized by Srivalli. Thanks for hosting this event and giving us a forum to share our Indian Bread recipes.

Ingredients :

• 1 cup Wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon Besan
• 1 tablespoon Oil
• Pinch of Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder
• 1 teaspoon Dhania powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Jeera powder
• 5 pods of Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup of Methi leaves, fine chopped
• 1/4 cup Curds
• 1/2 teaspoon Jeera seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon Til seeds
• Pinch Hing
• Salt (to taste)
• Sugar (to taste)

Procedure :

1. Knead the above ingredients with water and make a soft dough.
2. Dust in dry flour and roll out.
3. Apply oil and cook on both sides on a hot tawa.

Please NOTE :
Spread out the theplas and allow the steam to escape before packing, else the condensed water droplets will spoil it quickly.

Usually when we have methi leaves at home we either make alu methi kadhi or methi parathas.

Methi paratha is a very common breakfast in North India. Malai (milk cream) as been added to the original recipe to make the parathas softer. Since the dough contains raw methi leaves this paratha is more nutritious than the other parathas we usually eat. One tasty way to eat our greens!

Ingredients :

• 1 cup Wheat flour
• 1/2 cup methi leaves (without stems, finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon gram flour
• Pinch of carom seeds
• Pinchof haldi powder
• Pinch of hing
• 1 tablespoon malai

Procedure :

1. Mix the above mentioned ingredients along with water to form a smooth, soft dough.
2. Roll out dough into parathas of desrired shape. Cook on tawa at medium heat. Apply oil on paratha from all sides.
3. Serve hot with tomato chutney.

Variation

You can skip adding malai and instead make a dough for pooris. Yes, methi poori eaten with mango pickle is equally delicious. Only take care to make the dough stiff.

Please NOTE :

1. Malai can be added to the dough of any paratha to make it softer.
2. Avoid cooking parathas on slow flame as they can become papads.