Chakki Ki Sabzi | Madhya Pradesh style Wholewheat flour dumplings in sauce

This Chakki Ki Sabzi, made from whole wheat dumplings in a tangy sauce is a meal by itself.  Apart from being a meal, this spicy and tangy sabzi also goes well with rice.

This month, us bloggers from  Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge traveled to the land known as the “heart of India” also known as Madhya Pradesh.

Here are some of the famous things to see in Madhya Pradesh

  1. Sculptures of Khajuraho
  2. Wildlife at Bandhavgarh
  3. Kanha National park
  4. Temples at Ujjain
  5. The historical city of Gwalior
  6. Buddhist stupas at Sanchi

Apart from the historical sites and national parks, Madhya Pradesh is also known for vegetarian food such as poha, bhutta ka khees, palak pooris, malpua and mawa bati.

This month my partner Shobaji from Shobasfoodmazaa gave me two very simple ingredients to use and make a dish representing Madhya Pradesh. She gave me whole wheat flour and cumin seeds. The obvious thing for me to make was Chakki Ki Sabzi.

A few things to know about this recipe:

  1. The chakki / whole wheat flour dough used in this recipe is first steamed, then fried and then in gravy.
  2. Make nice and small pieces of the dough ( once it is steamed it does become big).

3. It is time time consuming to make this sabzi, but it is absolutely delicious.

4. Don’t go overboard with the spices, subtle flavours make this sabzi delicious.

This recipe is similar to Gatte ki Sabzi which is a popular recipe from Rajasthan. Here whole wheat flour is used instead of gram flour (besan). The main difference is seen in the way that the Gatte and chakki are cooked. Gatte are cooked like a pasta in boiling water whereas chakki cubes are steamed, fried and then added to gravy.

Some of the other recipes using whole wheat flour / atta ingredients are:

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In a bowl, mix the ingredients of the dough and knead well. (the dough should be sticky and soft).
  2. After kneading, let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes.
  3. After 15 minutes, knead for some more time till the dough does not stick to your hands and becomes soft
  4. Now form small dollops of the dough and steam them in a pressure cooker ( on an oiled plate.)
  5. Once the dough dollops are steamed, set aside and let them cool
  6. Once cooled, fry them in hot oil and drain on tissue paper.
  7. In a kadhai / wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add the cumin seeds and ginger garlic paste.
  8. Saute till the paste is cooked on a low flame.
  9. Add the onion paste and cook for some time
  10. Add the masala powders and mix well
  11. Increase the flame, add curd and cook the curd on high flame (high flame ensures that the curd does not split)
  12. Once the curd is cooked, add the tomato paste and cook well.
  13. Now add the fried dough dollops and cook them for a couple of minutes at a very low flame.
  14. Garnish with coriander leaves and cook for another couple of minutes
  15. Srve hot with some jeera rice or have it as is in a bowl