Nachni Palak Muthiya/ Red Millet flour and Spinach steamed dumplings...Go West , part II

Soooooooo while the Methi Muthiya was steaming, I realized I could do the same with leftover Spinach…but the same thing...naaah…trolled the net and found Tarla Dalal had one with Spinach, Fenugreek and Ragi/Red Millet flour…did a few changes and made Nachni Palak Muthiya…well now you know and hopefully understand why I didn’t have the patience to the garnishing bit !!! ;-)

The taste was quite different from Methi Muthiya  and the texture was softer...but I remain undecided about which one I liked more

Note to self: need to make both a few more times to pick a winner.

Nachni Palak Muthiya ( Steamed Spinach Dumplings with Red Millet flour and Whole Wheat Flour)

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• Palak/Spinach, washed and finely chopped, 1 cup
• Ragi/Nachni / Red millet flour, ¼ cup
• Atta/Whole Wheat flour, ¼ cup
• Besan /Gram flour/Chickpea flour, 1 tbsp
• Garlic, paste, 1 tsp
• Ginger, paste, 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder, a pinch
• Dahi/Plain Yogurt, 2-3 tbsp
• Salt, to taste
• Baking soda/ Eno salt, a pinch
• Coriander powder, ½ tsp
• Cumin powder, ½ tsp
• Red chili powder, ½ tsp

For tempering:

• Oil, 2 tbsp oil
• Mustard seeds, 1 tsp
• Curry leaves, 7-8
• Til/White sesame seeds, 1 heaped tbsp
• Hing/ Asafoetida, ¼ tsp pinch
• Green chilies, chopped, 2-3 (seeds removed if you want)

Instructions:

To prepare dough, mix all ingredients and knead into a soft dough.(must use yogurt in this one)  

Put the steamer on.

Grease your palms with a little oil and make barrel shaped long rolls – about 1 ½” to 2” in diameter. 

Place the rolls on a greased container a couple of inches apart as they will swell up on steaming. 

Steam for about 15-18 minutes. Insert a toothpick to check if they are done. 
Don’t over steam – as they will go hard. 

Let them cool down slightly and cut each roll diagonally into ½” thick slices. These slices are called “muthiyas” (we munched on a few right after steaming !! )

There are 2-3 ways to add tempering:  

• You can either add the tempering mix straight on the steamed “muthiyas”. (This is also the healthiest way of eating them)

OR 

• add “muthiyas” to the tempering in the pan and let them fry for about 2-3 minutes 

OR 

• do what I did – since I was making these for the first time I wasn't too sure whether I would be able to handle them without breaking them.Heat a non stick pan and lightly fry the “muthiyas” crisp on both sides using about ½ tsp of oil. Lay them on a serving platter.

For the tempering, heat  oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering add in the rest of the ingredients, mix for about 10-15 seconds and switch of the gas. Pour the tempering on the muthiyas and done!

Garnish: (optional) coriander leaves