I love highlighting the amazing array of vegetarian dishes that are available in Indian cuisine. Most of them are gluten free too.

“Dhokli’ is a small pasta made from chick pea flour. I have added a little bit of whole wheat flour, but this can easily be replaced by millet or other gluten free flour.

I am quite new to this dish which comes from the far western state of Gujrat. Traditionally  this is done with cluster beans, I have replaced it with french beans. Also the pastas are usually shaped as small discs. I had my malloreddu maker from my Rome visit, which I thought of putting to good use.

This can be an excellent side dish, either with roti or rice. With a beautiful balance between sweet, sour and salty this dish has a great flavour. The fiery red colour comes from the paprika and not red chillies.

Recipe: Serves 6 as a side dish.

Ingredients

Beans, cut in 1 inch pieces                               3 cups

Tomatoes                                                         3, pureed

Canola oil                                                         3. tbsp

Asafoetida                                                       1/2 tsp

Garllic cloves                                                    4-5

Ajwain ( carrom seeds )                                     1/2 tsp

Curry leaves                                                      6-7

Ghee                                                                   1 Tbsp

Jaggery                                                               1 tsp

Sev to garnish                                                      1 Tbsp

For the dhokli;

Chick pea flour              1 cup

Whole wheat flour                   1 tbsp

Turmeric powder                      1/4 tsp

Heeng ( asafoetida )                 1/4 tsp

Red chliiy powder                      1/2 tsp

Salt                                             1/2 tsp or to taste

Kasuri methi                                1/2 tbsp

Baking soda                                  1 pinch

Lemon juice                                   1 tsp

Oil                                                   1/2 tsp

Warm water                                       as needed

Jaggery powder                             1/2 tsp

Method:

Mix all the ingredients under Dhokli together to form a dough. brush with a bit of oil. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.

I have used frozen beans, Take a pan of hot water, bring it to boil on high heat. Throw the beans in it, cook for about 7-8 minutes. Take the beans out of the water and soak them in ice cold water.

Take the above dough, make small pieces about 1 tsp full of dough and make them into disc. I gave this fancy shape, just because.

Take a deep bottomed pan, add the oil, when it heats up, throw in heeng, stir for a few seconds till a nutty aroma comes out, add the curry leaves, ajwain, turmeric powder, paprika crushed garlic, cumin and coriander powder. Keep stirring for about 5-6 minutes over medium flame, if needed sprinkle some water. Add 2 cups of hot water and the dhoklis. Add the salt, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes. Add the tomato puree, jaggery powder.  Cook for another 3-4 minutes.Put the gas off. Add the ghee.

Garnish with sev ( available in Indian grocery store, Walmart, Superstore).

Enjoy with rotis or rice.