11 recipes that use ajwain, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Tum tum, takes 40 minutes. It is most often cooked with asafoetida, gram flour and sugar.
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Mathia are thin, crisp, slightly sweet and peppery wafers made from mathia flour, a mix of ground husked moong and urad dal. They are a classic Gujarati Diwali snack. The dough is pounded until pale, rolled very thin between plastic sheets and fried one at a time. They are fragile, so store them gently. To make mathia flour, finely grind 4 parts husked green gram lentils with 1 part husked black gram lentils.
Fafadia gathia are pale, airy strands of gram flour dough rubbed through a gathia jara straight into hot oil. Beating the salt and kharo water until white and frothy, then kneading the dough hard, makes them light and melt-in-the-mouth. Serve with fried green chillies, papaya sambharo or jalebi. For fuli (puffed) gathia, use coarsely ground black pepper instead of white pepper and press the dough through a fuli jara.
Tum tum are thick, chunky gram flour sticks pressed through a 1 cm disc, spiced with chilli, cumin-coriander, black pepper and ajwain, and balanced with lemon and sugar. They are hot, tangy and crunchy, perfect with tea, and one of the components of bhusu.
Patta gathia are flat, ribbon-like strips of gram flour dough, rolled paper-thin under the palm on a wooden board and fried until crisp. Black pepper and ajwain give them their flavour. They are a classic Gujarati tea-time snack and are great with fried chillies and papaya sambharo.
Papdi atta (papdi no lot) is a soft, steamed rice-flour dough cooked in water seasoned with cumin, ajwain, sesame, cinnamon and cloves, then shaped into little rounds and steamed until tender. It's a much-loved Gujarati snack, eaten hot with a drizzle of raw oil and khichi sambhar masala.
A family-style vegetarian take on enchiladas: crisp fried maize tortillas dipped in a home-made tomato and red chilli sauce, stacked with a paneer, onion and capsicum filling, topped with cheese and baked until bubbling. Serve hot with chilli sauce. You can use 2 cups ready-made grated paneer instead of home-made.
A Gujarati favourite: tender valore (Indian flat beans) cooked in a sweet, sour and spicy tomato masala with ajwain, then mixed with crisp fried methi muthia, little dumplings of wheat and gram flour full of fresh fenugreek. The muthia soak up the gravy beautifully. Serve hot with chapaties.
The great Gujarati winter feast: papdi, fresh pigeon peas, baby potatoes, suran, sweet potato, small brinjals and ripe bananas, slit and stuffed with a green masala of fresh green garlic, coriander and coconut, slow-cooked with fried fenugreek muthia. It's cooked gently under a plate of water so the vegetables steam in their own juices. This makes a big pot for 20; serve hot with chapaties or puri.
Gujarati pudla are savoury pancakes made from a runny gram flour batter with ajwain, chilli, turmeric and coriander, spread thin on a hot griddle and cooked until golden-speckled. They're quick, filling and naturally egg-free. Serve hot with dry potato curry, green chilli chutney and tea or yogurt.
Rotlas are hearty Gujarati flatbreads made with millet (bajra) flour. These are packed with fresh fenugreek and coriander, sesame seeds, ajwain and chilli, bound with yogurt and shallow fried. Serve with green chutney and fresh yogurt.
Puda are thick, rustic savoury pancakes made from millet and rice flour with sprouted green gram, onion, chilli, garlic, ginger and ajwain, bound with yogurt. Cooked on a griddle until brown-speckled, they're filling and naturally gluten free. Serve hot with masala yogurt.
