Serves: 4
Cooking Time : 30 minutes
Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients for Muthias

• 1/2 cup of chopped fenugreek leaves
• 3/4 cup gram flour/besan
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon green chilli-ginger paste
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 3 tablespoons oil
• Salt to taste

• 3 cups of  walor papdi, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup of eggplant, cut in cubes
• 1 teaspoon carom seeds/ajwain
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon green chilli-ginger paste
• 1/2 cup of freshly pureed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• Salt to taste

Method for making the Muthias
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into a soft dough, adding little water only if required.

Divide the above mixture into 15-20 oval portions. Now we need to fry the muthia's.
Heat oil in a small frying pan, so it takes in just enough oil to fry the muthia. We can either shallow fry them or deep fry them. Once the oil is hot,add the muthias and fry them on medium heat until browned and cooked. Keep side.

Now Wash and string the walor papdi. Sometimes we need to half the papdi to check for worms if any. So take cake to clean them well. As some organic varieties may contain worms.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the carom seeds, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds crackle, add the green chilli-ginger paste, tomatoes, turmeric powder, coriander-cumin seed powder, chilli powder, sugar and salt. Add the papdi, eggplant and simmer covered until the walor and eggplant is almost cooked.

Gently add in one muthia at a time. Cover and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are fully cooked.

Serve hot with phulka's and Gujarati Khadi.

Note if you find this recipe too dry for your taste, you could add a little water or extra tomato puree. I would prefer water to not make it too sour in taste.