Theplas - Perfect when 'on the go'

I decided to write about this phase of my life however disgusted N is about it. I studied in a prominent Engineering college in Gujarat and lived the true life of an Engineering student. I fear N may edit the post if I elaborate more than that. However, one of the perks of living in Gujarat was eating its simple food. Outside. Outside the college hostel mess. Our mess served disgusting food and any legitimate chance to go out and eat was always welcomed. So was going home. The train journey from Gujarat to Madras was long and we mostly travelled unreserved. And we NEVER bought food or packed food for the train. We arrived early on the train for 2 reasons. One, to grab seats and two, to grab seats near old Auntyjis/huge families. It is well-known that Gujaratis love their food and carry lots of food while traveling. Typically in large metal tiffin carriers. Its got a variety of snacks. and invariably one namkeen :D A lot of their food is travel safe. This was just what we wanted. Next step was to make a sad, starved, poor boy face. We looked SO depressed that the families offered food. This trick never failed :D This was the routine.

1. Board the train and seat yourself next to a family.

2. Look out for the big metal suitcase (baksaa in Hindi :D). Offer to get water for books/magazines rom the platform every single time the train stops.

3.Don't talk about girls in front of the families.

4. Look sad and homesick always.

Voila! At exactly dinner time or any time (in case of some families which carried snacks also!), we'd have the aunties call us and offer us Theplas with or without sabzi. Doesn't matter. Nothing matters when you have a couple of free Theplas in hand. Home-made, served with achaar or pickle and given with love. Nothing came between us and the Theplas. N gets disgusted at what she calls 'cheapness' every time I reminisce about such events during my college life. However, she did good. She took this as a hint to shut me up and made Theplas for dinner one day. I haven't narrated this story after that day :) Here is the recipe. We adapted it from Manisha's recipe. N loves besan and so, she added more besan than the recipe asked for. Reproducing Manisha's recipe with due credit to her with a couple of changes, in N's words.

Ingredients:

1/2 (or a little more) cup besan or chickpea flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup Methi (fenugreek) leaves- chopped finely
2 tbsp jeera or cumin seeds
1/4 cup onion chopped finely (optional)
1/4 cup cilantro chopped finely
4-5 green chillies, chopped finely
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp chilli powder or cayenne pepper
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp ghee
4 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

1. Mix both the flours and salt and keep aside. Make a depression in the middle of the flour mound.

2. Add the greens - cilantro and Methi or Fenugreek leaves to the flours into the depression.

3. Fry cumin seeds/jeera and green chillies in ghee and add on top of the leaves. I didn't hear it sizzle like Manisha did :( though I love the sound and was waiting for it.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients except the yogurt and mix well

5. Use the yogurt to bind the dough. Make sure not to add too much yogurt and make the dough too soggy. It will be tough to roll out later.

6. Heat the tawa to screaming hot.

7. Roll out theplas as thin as possible. Mine weren't as thin but well, I cannot have everything: Good Theplas and A to stop talking about the same incident over and over again ;)

8. Fry on the tawa with little oil or ghee. Serve with a dollop of butter on them. Nothing tastes like good butter. But then, well, some of us have other concerns. So, I ate them with yogurt and Mango pickle leaving the buttered ones for someone else. Sigh. Buttering him up, literally!

The theplas were gorgeous and I loved the extra besan in them :D I felt I should have followed the original recipe thoroughly though. So, next time, I plan to do just that. I love Theplas and this is a regular in our home now :) Sending this to Lakshmi's Meals on Wheels event. This is literally like that for A!

Anything to stop A from talking about how 'efficient and smart' he and his friends were! Really.