Theplas based Roll

I woke up, reluctantly, at 6 am today, spent time pressing Gau's uniform, waking him up and still managed to get him out of the house at 6.50 am with a roti in his belly and complete, packed nutritious meal :)  DH mocked me when I announced this at home.  But seriously about 40 minutes to make and pack lunch is awesome no?

Theplas are a kind of Gujarathi roti (flat bread).  The dough is prepared exactly like roti, except for the addition of yogurt, chili powder, turmeric powder, hing and sometimes vegetables and/or greens.

These Theplas have amazing staying power, and travel well.

Paraphrasing they stay fresh for a long while, so good to take when you are travelling.

I had made the dough for Methi Theplas yesterday, and I had also soaked chana (chickpeas) plannning on Roti, Chana for lunch.  But at 6.15 I decided I lacked the time to chop lots of onions, tomatoes and garlic and still get the chickpeas cooked and ready.  I made a paneer hummus instead.  I also made a peanut sauce dipping. 

 
Lunch Menu:Paneer Hummus rolled in Methi Theplas with a Peanut Sauce on the side.
Tomato Garlic Rasam
Beetroot Poriyal
Uppu Paruppu.

Paneer Hummus

1/4 cup curds

1 cup milk boiled (I was going to make coffee, just regular aavin milk)

1/3 cup chana, soaked overnight and pressure cooked

3 spring onions, green parts only

1/2 tsp mint masala

1 tsp chili powder

Salt Taste.

Lemon Juice Optional

1. First make paneer: Pour freshly boiled milk over the curds in a sauce pan and stir.
2. Place on the gas with flame at low.
3. Stir and continue cooking until all the solids separate out and the whey appears clear.
4. Drain the paneer over a collander.  You coud save the whey to cook rice/daal.
5. Add the chana to the paneer and mash well.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Note:
You could use fresh mint finely chopped instead of the mint masala, my kids don't like biting on mint leaves
You could add a garlic, smashed and finely minced to the hummus.
You could add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to perk up the flavours.

Peanut Sauce

3 sprigs spring onion chopped, white and green parts

1 onion chopped

1 green chilli chopped

1/2 " ginger

2 tbspoon peanut butter

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp soy sauce

Tadka

1 tsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard

1/2 tsp jeera

1/2 tsp urad

1/2 tsp chana

1 tbspoon black sesame

1. Heat oil, add mustard and jeera.
2. When the mustard pops add the daals
3. WHen the daals turn reddish add the black sesame, onions, chili, ginger.
4. Stir fry until softened
5. Add the rest of the ingredients, 1/2 cup water and grind to a smooth paste.
6. Pour into a serving bowl.

Methi Thepla

1 cup methi leaves, leaves along picked out and thoroughly washed.

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup yogurt

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp jeera

1 tsp ajwain

1/2 tsp hing

1 tsp sugar

1/2  tsp oil

Salt to taste

Water as needed

1. Chop the methi leaves.  Coarse is fine :)
2. Mix all the ingredients except oil and form into a firm dough, adding water as needed.
3. Apply oil on yout hands and knead the dough until hands are clean and dough is elastic.
4. Rest for 30 minutes.
5. Roll into thin rotis dusting with maida/atta/rice flour as needed.
6. Cook on medium high, turning over a couple of times, until brown spots appear on both sides.  Apply a few drops of oil to the thepla in the last turn.
7. Stack theplas so that they retain moisture and remain soft.
8.  Makes about 10 theplas.

Serving Frankie Rolls:
Place a generous helping of the hummus in the middle of the thepla and roll tightly.
Serve with peanut sauce for dipping.

This is the kind of lunch my son likes, light, easy to grab and eat, giving him time to chat and play in his 25 minutes lunch break.

This is the kind of lunch I like to make:  Healthy, covering all options, carbs, protien (chickpeas, paneer, peanuts),  greens of the bitterish variety.  And good fats, no butter, 1.5 tsp of peanut oil (Organic, Cold pressed) including the side dish.  This is my spin on the frankie rolls (Mr. Tibbs) my son loves.  He doesn't accept it as such.  But I insist :)

This is my submission to the Mad Scientist, Archana Potdar's , fast food not fat food.  Though just 22 kgs at 10 years, my son needs fast food and fat food! This even was lauched by Priya initially

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We cook a large variety of chickpeas: white, brown, green, split, roasted... Yet hummus has never been a part of our repertoire.

Ditto for peanuts.  We make peanut chutneys, we boil peanuts in their shell, we roast it, we dip it in a batter and fry it, we make ladoos with it, we make brittles, but Peanut Sauce in the Thai Style has never been part of out repertoire.

I was introduced to these items first in the US (mid-nineties).    But, none of my recipes are authentic.  They are made with ingredients I have on hand.