Gatte Ki Subzi

Gatte ki Subzi

This is an authentic Rajasthani dish which has spicy balls made of chickpea flour in a yogurt and tomato based gravy. This is my favorite Rajasthani dish after Daal Baatti. So why Rajasthani all of a sudden? Well, we are here in Phoenix, US where we do not have access to good Indian restaurants and especially those serving Indian Thalis (Platters). So one fine day me and my friends decided to make one ourselves!! It was such great fun and it turned out to be a great hit! When we all gathered together with the dishes and prepared the Thaali, we just couldn't believe this is all homemade; as it all looked and tasted so authentic and professional. Glad to have such wonderful foodie friends who keep innovating and creating new things every time. Enjoy making it yourself and let me know how you like it :)

And the awesome Thaali that I was talking about:

Rajasthani Thali with Daal Baatti , Gatte ki Subzi , Laal Maas , Sev tamatar Shaak, Dahi wale aloo, Pulav , Mohanthal, Kachori, Papad, Raita, Chaas.

Ingredients:

For Gattas [Spicy chick pea flour balls]:

Besan [Chick pea flour] - 2 cups
Sooji [Semolina] - 1/4 cup
Clarified Butter/Oil - 5 tb sp
Garlic paste - 2 tb sp
Cumin seeds - 1 tb sp
Whole Coriander seeds - 1 tb sp
Red chili powder - 1 tb sp or to taste
Salt - to taste
Water - as required to make a stiff dough

For the yogurt gravy:

Yogurt beaten - 1 cup
Pureed Tomatoes - 2 large
Finely chopped red Onions - 1 large
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Clarified Butter/Oil - 4 tb sp
Garlic paste - 2 tb sp
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tbsp (suit your taste)
Kasuri methi powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - to tatse
Cumin seeds - 1 tb sp
Finely chopped green chillies - 2-3 (optional)
Coriander leaves - for garnish.

Method:

For Gattas:

- Boil 3-4 cups of water in a broad deep dish
- Mix together all the ingredients except water and 1 tb Clarified butter.
- Add water little by little to form a stiff dough.
- Now, divide the dough into 4 - 6 equal sized balls and start rolling them using your palms; to form long cylindrical rolls.
- Drops these rolla carefully in the boiling water and cover it.
- Cook for 6 - 8  minutes, until they rise and start floating. You can also do the knife test.
- If the knife comes out clean, drain all the water (do not discard the water) and place the gattas on a dry surface and allow them to cool.
- Once cooled, cut them into bite sized pieces.
- Now, heat the 1 tb sp clarified butter in a frying pan and toss the gattas in them and saute lightly till they get little darker color.

For yogurt gravy:

- Heat the ghee in a saucepan and add cumin seeds.
- Once they splutter add asafoetida and turmeric powder
- Now add the onions and saute till they are cooked
- Add the garlic paste and saute till the raw smell is gone
- Add tomatoes and the red chili powder, kasoori methi powder, finely chopped green chilies and cover and cook till the tomatoes are nicely done and oil starts oozing out at the corners
- Now lower the heat and add the beaten yogurt. Stir continuously. Add the water drained out of the gattas (not all is required) and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously.
- Now add the gattas and let the gravy cook further for 4-5 minutes.
- Finally, garnish with some coriander leaves and server hot with rotis or rice.

Tips:

- I like adding a tsp of sugar in my main dishes especially the ones with yogurt, to balance out all the flavors
- While preparing gattas, it is going to get very tacky and sticky. Apply oil to your palms to help through the process.
- The gattas are so good and tempting to eat as is! You can just prepare those and temper with some mustard seeds, curry leaves, garnish with coriander leaves and eat it as a snack.
- When you add the yogurt, the heat should not be too high and you have to keep stirring the mix to avoid curdling.
- Clarified butter/ Ghee is a key ingredient and gives that authentic taste to this recipe.

Healthy twist:

- You can substitute the oil/ clarified butter with olive oil.
- You can reduce the amount of oil to half throughout the recipe and it will still taste great. Rest of it is all really healthy and nutritious.