Wednesday, December 11, 2013

GATTE KI SABJI, (Chick pea dumpling curry)

GATTE KI SABJI, (Chick pea dumpling curry)
NO..No..No..I haven't gone mad. So what if 5 vege dishes got posted one after another? As I always say, I am a hard core Non-vege, so vege dishes are always delicacies for me.
This recipe comes from, Monica Gupta, one of the finest cooks on the net and I have learnt quite a few dishes from her blog and FB postings. Her recipes carry excellent clarity on quantity of ingredients and the method.
Nowadays I am in a great cooking mood and concentrating mainly on shortcut recipes for the working people with cooking responsibility at home, students who need bit of fast cooking. While doing some research on shortcut recipe I came across this awesome recipe on the FB. I have made some minor changes without affecting the flavour and aroma of the original recipe.

THE RECIPE;
Gatta is dumplings made from chick pea flour with characteristic spicing system. The dumplings are then cooked in a curry and served. The gatta itself is so tasty; it can be served as a snack with some tangy hot sauce.  In fact I finished half the gatta before the rest could find their way into the gravy. The recipe is originally from Rajasthan and in this dish I will be using onion and garlic which I haven’t cooked before with gatta..

INGREDIENTS
(all spoon measures are level spoon  unless otherwise mentioned)  

For the Gatta
Besan 1 cup
Freshly ground fennel powder 3/4th tsp
Coriander powder 3/4th tsp
Chili powder ½ to 1 tsp ( you decide)
Black pepper   freshly coarsely ground ,   ½ tsp
Ajwin 3/4th tsp
Ghee or groundnut oil or any oil 2tbsp ( I always use ghee)
Curd 1/4th cup (approx.)
Salt to taste

For the gravy
Onion 11/2 inch chopped fine
Garlic fat 4-5 cloves chopped fine
Ginger 1 tsp chopped fine
Green chilli 1 tsp or more chopped fine.
Dry red chili 2
Cumin and caraway seed equal part   3/4th tsp
1 tbsp ghee for tempering and 2 tsp raw for garnishing
1 tsp Haldi powder
½ to 1 tsp chili powder ( your choice)
3/4th tsp Dhania powder
75 gm curd ( little more than ½ cup)
Coriander leave to garnish and to use in cooking ( I did not)
Salt to taste
½ tsp sugar (this is sugar to taste and not to sweeten, don’t add more, even if you are tempted to add)
2 tsp besan/ rice flour roasted (this is to disperse the curdle dahi to fine particles , don’t add more, else you will land into Gatta dahi Kadi )
Hing ( 1/4th tsp if using MDH or 1/3rd Tsp if using LG.

(Don’t use so called pure hing, unbranded, there is nothing called pure hing in the market . Yes if you have a Hing plant and extracting the latex and drying it , that is different story. Normally you cant use dry pure hing, too hard to break and process.)

THE PROCESS

Making of Gatta
Mix all dry ingredients (except ghee and curd) thoroughly and then mix in the ghee uniformly.
Add Curd spoon by spoon and mix to get a firm and smooth dough. Don’t be tempted to add curd a lot at a time .


Divide the dough in equal parts and roll out cylindrical shape (pipe) out of it. I rolled 10 mm diameter, but you can go as high as 20 to 25 mm, to give a commercial look, big gatta)
Take a deep pan and boil sufficient water in it. Once the water starts boiling add the gatta , which will sink to the bottom.

Small print, (ignore what I write now if you dont read small print and regret later,) Take a smoking break or the latest branded juice break ( the brand is “ Juice de la Olden monken am Rheine)

Keep boiling. After some times, the gattas, when drunk, will float up like all  drunkards. 

Remove and keep aside for cooling.
When the rolls are cooled cut them to desired size , I cut  10 mm to increase the bulk. If I invite guests I will make gatta of 20-25 mm diameter,  1.5 inch long.
WARNING !! The gattas as such are so tasty , don’t eat it with tangy, hot coriander-mint sauce and finish them. But if you do finish , think what you will do with the condiment ready for use in the gravy.


Finishing with gravy
Roast 2 tsp besan and immediately transfer to a metal plate for faster cooling.
When besan is cooled , add 3 tbsp water and mix smooth. Whip the curd and mix in the besan in water and mix smooth. ( don’t add roasted besan to dahi directly, makes it difficult to smoothen , You can use the mixi, but you have to clean it too)
Mix haldi, chili and coriander powder add water to make a thick paste, soak for 30 min at least  
Take a deep pan (kadhai) , heat ghee, add Hing, the cumin and red chili follow and  the chopped ginger and green chili. Fry for 2 min
Add chopped onion, when it becomes translucent add the chopped garlic and fry till the onion is light brown.
Add the spice paste, and fry on low heat till the oil / ghee come out. Here you can add chopped coriander leaves ( I didn’t)
Take the pan out of burner, mix in the curd mix, add sugar and salt 

Return to burner under low heat. Continuously stir to disperse the coagulating curd into fine particles.

Keep heating till the oil /ghee comes out.
Add water slowly till you reach the desired consistency. (I had added 1 cup water) 

Bring the gravy to full boil and add the gattas , continue boiling for 3-5 minutes . Adjust salt.

Garnish with fresh coriander (I did not) and the hot ghee for garnishing.

Eat with hot rice, roti, paratha , puri
NOTE : I have made minor adjustment to the quantity of spices. For actual quantity used by Monica, refer to the link.
Curd if heated will definitely curdle to become lumps,. So add atta, rice flour or besan to disperse the coagulated curd particles evenly. Refer to my recipe “ The Rezala festival, Veg-non-veg 
Excess addition of besan will give a KaDi structure, unsuitable for this dish.

Thank you Monica Gupta for this awesome gatta recipe.



Monica Gupta's original recipe click

9 comments:

monica gupta said...

Looks awsome. A wonderful cooking to my simple recipe.
Wonderful writing as well.
Bon apetite

monica gupta said...

This looks awsome. Wonderful cooking to my simple recipe.
Beautiful writing as well.
Bon apetite

Soma said...

I have to cook this. The jhal that they make in my inlaws is too jhaal and too rich for my taste and I judged gatte by that and never got around making it. The ginger and the hing is calling my name here. Thanks for sharing!

Ushnish Ghosh said...

dear Soma
as i always say , chilis dont add much to the aroma in presence of strong spice like saunf and Ajwain and the other strong spices. It is a mouth irritant which people love. just dont add or add a dash of it to color the floating oil. The red die in the chili is oil soluble , so you get that red color in the floating oil and the gravy remains yellow, unless water soluble red color from tomato is used

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Sabzi looks too good to resist. Monica surely has a number of veg recipes in her kitty. Excellent preparation.
Deepa

Unknown said...

Gatte ki sabzi looks gorgeous and tempting. Love the process.

Sanoli Ghosh said...

Lipsmacking good gatte ki subzi. Who can resist by seeing this tempting Rajasthani delicacy?

monica gupta said...

Lot of veg recipes in my blog. You can check that.

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this, I didn't think that we can use it for dumpling. Can't wait to try this as home. private chef in austin texas