West Indian
Thepla (Spiced Wheat-Fenugreek Flatbread)
Thepla (Spiced Wheat-Fenugreek Flatbread) is West Indian home cooking, eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre and the carb everything else is eaten with. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup besan
- 1 cup chopped fresh fenugreek leaves
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
- 1 tsp ginger-green chili paste
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup water
How to cook it
- Wash and finely chop the fresh fenugreek leaves, then set them aside while you get the dough going.
- In a large bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, besan, chopped fenugreek, turmeric, chili powder, ajwain, ginger-green chili paste, oil, and salt.
- Add water a little at a time and knead into a soft, pliable dough, then cover and rest it for 15 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll each one out into a thin round, dusting with flour as needed.
- Cook each thepla on a hot tawa, brushing lightly with oil on both sides, until golden brown spots appear.
- Stack the warm theplas and serve with chaas or pickle, or pack them for the road.
Serve it with
A West Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Thepla (Spiced Wheat-Fenugreek Flatbread), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
-
The sharp little thing
-
Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Thepla (Spiced Wheat-Fenugreek Flatbread) carries gluten. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | Yes | Aamti (Goda-Masala Spiced Dal) |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Low
- Food groups it covers
- Grains, Pulses, and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Thepla (Spiced Wheat-Fenugreek Flatbread) takes about 40 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on wheat flour, fenugreek leaves, and besan.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from West India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.