Zucchini Muthiya: Gujarati Indian Steamed Snack

Raise your hand if like me you cant eat roti subji every day! With less visits to supermarkets and due to lock down I am constantly thinking about variations and ideas that I can imply and make new dishes at home without using too many ingredients. So with the same prospective in mind Zucchini Muthiya happened one Friday.

To think about it, Muthiya uses same ingredients that you would do in any normal indian meal-aata, massale and subji. Okay, so those of you dont know, Muthia is a Gujarati snack or farsaan (as we say in Gujarati) and is steamed dumpling that is made with whole wheat flour, a bit of besan (chickpeas flour), vegetables and basic masale (spices).

The most popular variety of Muthia is made from lauki or doodhi (bottle gourd) but people use leftover rice, carrots, cabbage, tinda, methi, palak or any juicy vegetable to make muthiya. But hey, don't you think zucchini is like bottle gourd (luaki) in taste and texture? I do, and that is why this version of Zucchini Muthiya happened. In Hindi zucchini is called as taroi, tori, turai or galka and if you are thinking about a modification on how to use those zucchini in the fridge, then this recipe is for you.

You can check my recipe for Spinach Muthia here, where in I have used makki ka atta (corn maize flour) and suji (semolina), yougurt (dahi) too in the recipe, however today’s recipe for Zucchini Muthiya is very simple using very basic ingredients that you should have in your kitchen even during this isolation time.

Ingredients:

For Dough

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1 medium sized zucchini

5 tablespoons chickpea flour (besan)

Salt to taste

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)

¼ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)

½ teaspoon lemon juice (nimbo ka ras)

½ teaspoon red chilli powder (lal mirchi)

½ teaspoon sugar (shakkar/chini)

4 tablespoons oil

For Tempering

2 tablespoon oil

½ teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)

½ teaspoon white sesame seeds (til)

10-12 curry leaves (kadi patta)

5-6 green chillies slitted (hari mirchi)

Handful of coriander leaves chopped (dhaniya patta)

Method:

Prepare the steamer. Add about 5 cups of water and bring to boil. Then apply some oil on steamer tray and grease it well.

Grate the zuchini and leave it aside for 2-3 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients in dough section (expect zucchini).

Squeeze out all the water from the zucchini really well and throw the zucchini in the dough. The dough should be medium hard. Use extra water only if needed.

Apply some oil on your palms and divide the dough in to four equal portions. Shape each portion in to cylindrical log. Arrange on grease tray and steam it for 25-30 minutes.

You can check if Muthia is cooked by inserting a toothpick or a knife in the centre of the log and it should come out clean.

Let it cool down for 5 minutes then cut into half inch slices.

Heat the oil in a pan for tempering.

Once hot add mustard seeds and sesame seeds, curry leaves, green chillies. Let them splutter. Then add sliced muthia.

Mix gently so muthia do not break and cook it till you get little brown and crispy muthia. Turn off the heat. Serve hot!

Notes:

Any other grated vegetables like cabbage, bottle gourd/lauki, onions, methi leaves, spring onions, beetroot, carrots can also be added instead of spinach. Or you can make mixed vegetable muthiya.

If do not like tampering then even plain steamed muthiya tastes good.

This will be a sweet and sour snack (khata meetha) like most Gujarati snacks, so feel free to ditch sugar if you do not prefer sweet snacks.

x

Spinach Muthiya- Gujarati Snack, Steamed Dumplings

As you all know that Mr. Husband loves Guajarati food a lot because of his Ahmedabad connection. Gujarati cuisine is very wide and has many options in snacks. Whenever I hear the word snack I generally picture the crunchy, deep fried and high calorie munches, which are of course not very good for our health.

Snacking is very popular in Indian families. We snack in the morning, before our lunch, supper and also before dinner. Why not?? After all our mothers, grandmothers make wide range of snacks from savoury to sweet. But things have changed a bit now, we have become health conscious and do not like deep fried snacks. One such healthy snack is Muthiya- a Guajarati dish of steam cooked dumplings with a goodness of vegetables.

It is a simple snack which is made with any grated vegetables mixed in some gram flour, selomina and spices to form the dough. Later the dough is steamed to perfection. There is no particular rule that one needs to follow to make Muthiyas. I made it with corn meal and spinach.

Ingredients: For Dough

Whole wheat flour – ¼ cup

Besan /chickpea flour/gram flour – ½  cup

Semolina/Suji/ Rawa – ½  cup

Corn meal/Makki ka atta-1 cup

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Spinach/palak- 2 cups washed and chopped

Asafoetida – ¼ tsp

Baking soda – ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Fennel seeds – ½ tsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Ginger paste – 1 tsp

Garlic paste- 1tbsp

Yogurt/curd/dahi-1 tbsp

Green chillies – 4, chopped finely

Coriander leaves/dhaniya – 10 sprigs, chopped finely

Lemon juice – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Oil – 1 tsp

For Tempering:

Oil – 3 tsp

Mustard seeds/rai/sarson – ½ tsp

Sesame seeds/til – 2 tsp

Method:

In a bowl mix wheat flour, besan, semolina, corn meal, turmeric powder, asafoetida, baking soda, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, salt and sugar.

Then add ginger paste, green chillies, chopped coriander, lemon juice and oil.

Squeeze out as much possible water from spinach.

Add spinach and curd to the bowl, mix well and knead it into soft dough. Use water only if needed.

Prepare steamer. Add about 5 cups of water and bring to boil. Then apply some oil on steamer tray and grease it well.

Apply some oil on your palms and divide the dough in to four equal portions. Shape each portion in to cylindrical log. Arrange on grease tray and steam it for 20-22 minutes.

You can check if Muthia is cooked by inserting a toothpick in it and it should come out clean.

Let it cool for 5 minutes then cut into half inch slices

Heat the oil in a pan for tempering.

Once hot add mustard seeds and sesame seeds. Let them splutter. Then add sliced muthia.

Mix gently so muthia do not break and cook it till you get little brown and crispy muthia. Turn off the heat. Serve hot!

Notes:

Any other grated vegetables like cabbage, bottle gourd /lauki, onions, methi leaves, spring onions, beetroot, carrots can also be added instead of spinach. Or you can make mixed vegetable muthiya.

If do not like tampering then even plain steamed muthiya tastes good.

I used corn meal/makki ka atta but that can be opted out. Use more besan instead of that.

Serving ideas:

It is a great tiffin and picnic snack.

Serve hot with chutney, curd or pickle.

Taste:

Spicy, soft and healthy.

Linking this for Recipe Contest - Cooking Healthy In Hurry