Beetroot Thepla

When I was informed that Feedspot have selected my blog – Give Me Some Spice as one of the Top 100 Indian Food Blogs on the web my friend Daksha was the first one to congratulate me and I couldn’t resist asking her to share one of her vegan recipes with Give Me Some Spice. Daksha and I have been friends since childhood. My siblings and I used to spend a lot of our holiday times at their house where we would share stories, gossip and sing Bollywood songs using home made instruments. Daksha and her brother are both very good singers. Daksha is very creative and artistic and has a great eye for detail. She and her husband are keen photographers and took photographs at my wedding years ago when Digital cameras weren’t invented. I always look forward to seeing her photographs of her allotment treasures, her food and my favourite are the photographs she takes at the Chelsea Flower Show every year. One of her hidden talents is gardening. She has an allotment and grows lots of fruits and vegetables and the beetroot used in this recipe was also grown by her. Daksha cooks a lot of vegan food and here she shares one such recipe:

Now over to Daksha:

As my mum was a keen gardener she had small backyard garden in Mombasa, which had a cashew fruit tree, mango and lemon tree and some tropical flower shrubs. Her favourites were the lavender and Yasminni (Jasmine) ornamental, which bears fragrant white and pink flowers. In one corner of the garden were her favourite herbs and vegetables where she used to plant coriander, ajma, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions and more. And that is where I became interested in gardening, from learning how to plant vegetables. I planted Beetroot-Cylindra in March and harvested them today. They have a long, cylindrical shape and are sweeter and creamier than the more common round beetroot we are used to seeing and eating. And so I would love to share with you one of my favourite recipes, Beetroot Thepla.

Ingredients:

400g wheat flour
3 beetroot cylindra, grated
3 tbsp sunflower oil
3 tbsp water
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp grated fresh ginger (or add more to taste if you prefer)
2 finely chopped fresh green chillies (or add more to taste if you prefer)
4 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander and cumin (dhana jeera)
1.5 tsp salt

Method:

Measure out the flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the oil.

2. Add in the grated beetroot, sesame seed, ginger, chili, garlic, turmeric, coriander and cumin and salt.

3. Finally, gradually add in the water whilst gently beginning to incorporate the ingredients in with the flour. The water should be added gradually to ensure the mixture does not become too wet or sticky.

4. Continue to mix the ingredients together and knead into a firm dough. The dough should not stick to your hands. If you find it too wet/sticky, add in a small amount of flour and continue to knead until firm.

5. Heat up a frying pan to a medium temperature.

6. Whist waiting for the pan to reach the desired temperature, divide the dough ball into smaller balls ready for rolling out and cooking. The desired size is that of a ping pong ball.

7. Scatter a light dusting of flour to your surface and then gently shape your thepla using a rolling pin. You may need to continue to lightly dust the thepla as you roll them out to ensure they do not stick to the surface or the rolling pin.