One of my most favorite Gujarati meal/snack. I call it Gujarati Manchurian. It is an anytime meal for me. I make it for dinner and eat it steamed. Then save the left over muthia and temper it the next morning for breakfast. This is a great tea time snack too.

It is tasty, healthy, and packs in all the health benefits of whole wheat flour, millet (bajra) flour, fenugreek (methi), and bottle gourd (dudhi/lauki). All these ingredients make this a perfect diet snack/meal. Though muthias are tempered after steaming, you can either use less oil for tempering or simply eat them without tempering. They taste equally good.

I prefer to temper them with less oil. It makes the muthia soft and fluffy inside and crispy on the outside.

This is a family recipe again. As any other Gujarati dish, traditionally this too has sugar in it. But my mother in law make this without sugar and I love this version.

I enjoy it with garlic chutney, oil, onions, and some curd. Couple of points to keep in mind while making muthia:

Lauki has high water content so be careful while adding water. Add water only if you find the dough too dry to bind.

You can use left over rice instead of poha. I add poha as it makes the muthia softer compared to rice.

Ingredients

• 1 cup millet(bajra) flour
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup gram flour (besan)
•  ½ cup beaten rice (poha)
• 1 cup fenugreek (methi) leaves chopped
• 1 cup bottlegourd (lauki/dudhi) grated
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 inch piece of ginger
• 6-7 pods of garlic
• 3 green chillies
• ¼ tsp soda
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 3 tsp coriander powder
• Little water
• Salt to taste

Tempering

• 3 dry red chillies
• ¼ tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp ginger, garlic, and green chilli paste
• 10-15 curry leaves (kadi patta)
• 2 tbsp sesame (til) seeds
• 3 tbsp oil

Recipe

Make a coarse paste of ginger, garlic and green chillies. Take a wide bowl/dish combine rest of the things except water. Add very little water at a time and make a dough soft enough to just bind the ingredients together. Do not knead it a lot.

Apply little oil to your palms. Take some dough in your palm and fold your hand to make a fist. This is how you shape muthias (guess this is how it was named since you close it in a mutthi(fist) to make). Make similar rolls with rest of the dough.

Arrange the rolls on a greased sieve and steam them in a steamer for 25-30 mins on a low flame.

Remove and cool slightly. Cut each roll into 2-3 pieces.

Heat oil in a thick and deep pan (kadhai). Add mustard seeds and let them pop. Add curry leaves and dry red chillies. Add ginger, garlic, and green chilli paste and sauté for a minute. Add sesame seeds and sauté for few seconds. Add muthia pieces and mix well. Sauté for 2-3 mins till they start getting little crisp or brown.

Serve with garlic chutney, curd, and onions.

You can eat the muthia without tempering too.  Just dip them in garlic chutney mixed in some yogurt or oil.