Bethica Das's Moringa Leaf Thepla makes an ideal lunch box meal for kids or something to pack up and take while travelling. Relish it with chutney, pickle, yoghurt and green chillies.
Moringa, or the leaves of the drumstick tree, are a great source of vitamins, minerals, calcium, protein and iron and are apparently known to boost the immune system and fight inflammation as well.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Bethica Das
Moringa Leaf Thepla
Serves:
Ingredients
- 1 cup aata or wheat flour
- ¼ cup besan or gram flour
- ½ tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- ½ tsp red chilly powder
- 1 tbsp ginger-green chilly paste
- ¼ tsp hing or asafoetida
- 3 tbsp yoghurt
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, for kneading
- 1 cup moringa or drumstick leaves, chopped
- 1 tbsp grated fresh coconut, optional
- 1 tsp roasted dhania or coriander powder
- ½ tsp roasted jeera or cumin powder
- Oil for frying
- Salt to taste
- Water
Method
- In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together, except the oil and water.
Add a little water and knead into a stiff dough.
Keep aside for 30 minutes.
Knead again for 1-2 minutes and divide the dough into equal portions.
Roll out each portion into thin circles.
- Heat a little oil on a tava and fry the theplas, one at a time, flipping to cook on both sides.
Drizzle a tiny bit more oil over the theplas and around the edges and fry a litte bit more.
Take off heat and serve with garlic or mint chutney, pickle, especially chundo, the Gujarati sweet mango pickle and/or yoghurt.
Note: For gluten-free theplas opt to replace the wheat flour with oat flour.
For vegan theplas, in the dough use vegan yoghurt, now made in India by a few brands.
To reduce the calories, opt to dry fry the theplas like chapattis and add a tiny bit of oil at the last stage.
To make a sweet mango chutney from scratch, you could try Maharaj Jodharam Choudhary's Kacche Aam Ki Launji.
Bethica Das is a Sharjah-based food blogger.