683. Moong and Spinach Muthia

MEGA BLOGGING MARATHON -SEPT 2017

#80TH BLOGGING MARATHON

THEME: PROTEIN RICH DISHES

DAY:3

   The whole world jokes about how Gujaratis need to carry their food wherever they travel  in the world. Some joke that one would probably find theplas, dokhlas, muthias, fafda, patra, etc even on the moon if a Gujju lived there. Well, okay I don’t carry these things with me when I travel but I do take the handvo flour to Canada or Bangalore. This time round I forgot to carry some handvo flour  to Montreal. Soaking the rice and lentils overnight and then making handvo is easy. But coming to muthia, I required just a small amount and I really didn’t want to go through the whole process of soaking the rice and dal, drying it and then grinding it. And also all I could think of is how to make muthias protein rich. Obviously the big bag of green mung or moong kept of beckoning me.

When I soaked the whole moong beans in warm water, I seriously had no idea how its going to get transformed into muthias. I usually make muthias with ready ground flours. Next morning, the bright sunshine, a good healthy yogurt parfait and my brains were ticking. I proceeded to grind the moong with spinach and yogurt, put it for steaming still was  not sure of the outcome. While the steaming was going on I had all my fingers crossed that the dish turns out good. It had to because that was our brunch!

Pretending to be interested in Grey’s Anatomy, fingers crossed I thought ok if these muthias  don’t turn out then what can I make for brunch? No other idea was popping up! As soon as my phone buzzed indicating that the 20 minutes are over, I ran to remove the plates of steamed muthia. So far so good. Now it was all down to the taste and whether on cooling I would get nice cut muthias or a crumbled mess.

When hubby, my dad and my son had the first mouthful, they loved it. Ok my dad is a man of few words when it comes to praising. The indication that he liked them was when he took a second helping.

So you may think what’s new in this recipe? Well, I know that moong idlis, moong dokhras etc are being made but they all still have rice in them. Mine was just moong and I used chickpea flour or besan to help bind the whole batter.

By the way, what happened in that episode of Grey’s Anatomy… I have no idea, the episode was running but my mind was somewhere else!

Do try out this protein rich healthy snack, am sure you’ll love it.
Protein sources in this recipe: Moong beans, spinach, yogurt, chickpea flour, sesame seeds

By no means am I claiming or supporting any sort of fad diet that are the latest craze in the fitness world. I’m just trying to include non meat non fish dishes from which you can get your protein source. 

MOONG AND SPINACH MUTHIA
Serves 6

1. Soak the moong in warm water for 6 hours.
2. Drain out the water and wash the moong.
3. Add the moong, spinach, yogurt and water into a blender jug.
4. Process the mixture till its coarse but not too coarse.
5. Remove the batter from the jug into a mixing bowl.
6. Add ginger, garlic and chilli pastes, salt, lemon juice, flour and sugar.
7. Mix the batter well.
8. Heat water in a pan or your steamer. I used my steamer which has a stand with 3 plates.
9. Lightly apply oil to the plates.
10. When the water begins to boil, add soda bicarbonate to the batter and give it a good stir.
11. Divide the batter between the 3 plates.
12. Sprinkle chilli flakes over the batter.
13. Steam for 20 minutes or till the muthia are done. The top should not appear wet and when you insert a knife into the steamed muthia it should come out clean.
14. Remove the plates from the steamer, remove them from the stand and let the muthia cool down completely.
15. Cut the muthia into squares.
16. Heat oil in a wide pan over medium heat.
17. When it is hot add mustard, carom and sesame seeds.
18. Add asafoetida and immediately add the muthia squares.
19. Mix and let the muthia become hot.
20. Serve with lemon wedges as a snack with masala tea or as a light meal.

• Make sure that the batter is not thin or liquidy.
• Most people make muthias by rolling the dough into cylindrical shapes before steaming. I prefer to add a bit more yogurt or water and steam them like dokhras. This way they turn out much softer and less oil is used.
• Add fresh amaranth leaves instead of spinach if you like.
• Make sure the steamed muthias cool down completely before you cut them into pieces.
• If you don’t want to temper the muthia, warm them up in a micro and serve with some olive oil drizzled over it.

Check out what other Mega Blogging Marathoners have made for Day 3:

Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 80