Soft dumplings made with gram flour and spinach, with the tinge of garlic and ginger, slight heat of green chilies, a nice bite of spinach, tempered with mustard seeds, is palak muthia. Muthia is a very popular snack from the state of Gujarat. It has a crumbly texture. The tempering of mustard seeds and sesame seeds give a lovely crunch to the dish. Palak muthia can be served for breakfast with tomato ketchup or chutney of your choice.
Spinach (palak): Palak muthia is a great way to add spinach to the diet. Around 2-3 cups of spinach are used for this recipe which serves 2 persons. When I prepared this recipe I was in doubt as the quantity of spinach was too much as compared to the number of flours used. I thought spinach might dominate the dish but it tasted absolutely delicious. Do not cut down its quantity.
Flours: Muthia is all about the correct proportion of flours and veggies. In this recipe, I have mainly used gram flour with little whole wheat flour and semolina. These gave a nice texture to the dish.
Flavorings: Sugar is indispensable for the Gujarati cuisine. It doesn’t add any sweetness to the dishes instead balances the flavors and cuts the sharpness of other ingredients. A fresh paste is prepared using garlic, ginger and green chili. This adds in a lot of flavors to the muthias.
Tempering: Generally muthia are tempered with curry leaves, sesame seeds, etc. But my daughter doesn’t like these at all; therefore I have kept the tempering simple and used mustard seeds only.
Muthia is super healthy, made using all the healthy ingredients and mode of cooking. These can easily be packed for kids’ tiffin. In fact, my daughter loves to take muthia in the lunch box at least once a week. And therefore we have few muthia recipes on the blog which are doodhi muthia, methi muthia, and cabbage muthia.
Pack palak muthia with tomato ketchup for kids’ tiffin.
1.This recipe serves 2 persons.
2.Coarsely grind together 4 garlic cloves, ½ inch piece of ginger and 1 chopped green chili. Keep aside.
3.Sprinkle salt on 2 cups of chopped spinach. Leave it for 5 minutes.
4.Squeeze out the water. Keep aside.
5.In a mixing bowl add ½ cup gram flour (besan), 2 tbsp whole wheat flour (aata), 2 tbsp semolina (sooji), salt to taste, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp cumin seeds, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp oil, 1/8 tsp fruit salt (I have used eno), and juice of ½ lemon.
6.Mix everything well.
7.Add in the spinach.
8.Also add the coarse paste of ginger, garlic and chili. This has to be added at step 5, I missed adding it there.
9.Mix everything well. Knead into a dough as the dough for chapati.
10.And shape into logs.
11.Put on a greased plate. Put in a steamer and let it steam for 10-12 minutes.
12.After 10 minutes check by inserting a toothpick or knife.
13.Once done, take them out. And let them cool down a little.
14.Cut into ½ - 1 inch roundels.
15.Heat 1 tbsp oil and add 1 tsp mustard seeds (raie).
16.Once the seeds crackle, add in the muthias. Cook for 2 minutes.
17.Serve hot or at room temperature. Bon appétit!
PREP TIME 10 minutes
COOK TIME 10-12 minutes
TOTAL TIME 20-25 minutes
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