Methi thepla is a healthy and popular Gujarati flat bread made of whole wheat flour, besan and fresh methi leaves. It is a wholesome and satiating breakfast that you can also serve as snack with masala chai or ginger tea.
It is one of my most favorite Indian breads and I never miss to make thepla recipe when fresh fenugreek or methi is in season. Here is my easy thepla recipe with step by step photos and some tips to get it perfect 🙂
Today I am sharing with you all a really tasty, satiating and wholesome breakfast or snack, Gujarati methi na thepla. I love good stuff from Gujarat like dal dhokli, khandvi, khaman, muthiya, handvo and these theplas.
Made with simple pantry staple ingredients of Indian kitchens, these soft breads taste excellent and are very filling too. It is really easy to make these at home, especially with this detailed recipe and tips 🙂 Let’s go!
What Is Gujarati Thepla Made Of?
Thepla is a soft, flavorful unleavened flatbread made with wheat flour and chickpea flour or besan. Usually fresh fenugreek leaves or methi leaves are added to it and it is called methi thepla.
However you can totally make thepla recipe without any greens or add any of favorite ones. See my notes and variations for more ideas.
We love fenugreek leaves at home for its wonderful flavor and slight bitter taste and I always add it in this recipe.
To make methi thepla we will first make a soft dough with whole wheat flour, gram flour or chickpea flour, methi leaves, yogurt or curd, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, minced ginger, green chilies, salt, oil and water.
The dough is them rolled into thin circles and cooked until golden brown with oil or ghee. The finished methi theplas taste so good that you can eat the piping hot ones on their own, yes no side dish required 🙂
However you can serve these theplas with any chutney or dip, sweet or savory. I usually serve these with mango pickle, lemon pickle or plain yogurt for breakfast.
If I am serving these for dinner, I also add a nice curry like green peas masala, kadai vegetables. You can also serve these with tea as snack.
You can vary the flavor and taste of these theplas easily by varying the flours used, spices and even greens.
Read on to get the step by step thepla recipe and do try it out. These are
so good for breakfast
flavorful, tasty and filling
easy to make
vegetarian, can be made vegan
loaded with greens
How To Make Methi Thepla Recipe
Preparing Methi leaves
Any recipe that involves greens like methi or palak begins by preparing them, that is cleaning, chopping or blanching the leaves as per the recipe. So here we go on how to clean methi leaves 🙂
First of all untie the bunch of greens and pick the leaves from the stems. In greens like palak you can use the tender stems but in methi leaves, they tend to be hard and bitter, so better to use only the leaves.
Soak the leaves in a large bowl of water with a generous pinch of salt. Set aside for 10 minutes. This step will ensure that the leaves are clean before we could use them in making thepla.
After 10 minutes, remove the leaves and you will find mud and dirt settled at bottom of the water. Now rinse the leaves again twice or thrice in clear water. Place them between two kitchen towels and remove moisture as far as possible.
Chop the methi leaves very finely. I find it easier to use a food processor to mince them. If the leaves are not finely chopped, the thepla dough will tear while rolling. You will need 1.25 cup methi leaves, tightly packed.
Making The Dough
To make methi thepla dough add 1.5 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup gram flour or besan, 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 minced green chilli and 1 inch peeled and minced ginger. You can add few other spice powders as per taste but basic Gujarati thepla only with these spices.
Mix very well with a spoon and add 3 tablespoons yogurt, well whisked and fresh and 1/2 teaspoon oil. You can add vegan yogurt to make vegan thepla.
Mix well to incorporate the yogurt and oil into the flours. Now add the chopped methi leaves.
Mix very well. Start adding water slowly to make the dough. You will need very less water as methi leaves will leave out a lot of water while kneading. I added just 1/3 cup here.
Knead well and make it into a soft and smooth dough. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for 15 minutes.
Rolling The Dough Into Flatbreads
After 15 minutes, divide the dough into 12 equal sized balls or portions.
Dip a ball in some loose dry flour and tap off the gently.
Place a dough ball on a lightly floured work surface or chakla.
Now using a rolling pin (belan) roll the dough into thin circle of 5 or 6 cm diameter. Roll 3-4 dough balls at a time. Remaining you can roll while these are getting cooked.
Cooking Methi Theplas
Heat a tawa or heavy griddle or skillet over medium heat. Once it is hot place a rolled thepla dough.
Cook for 40-50 seconds or until you see very small bubbles and brown spots on the surface
Flip using a spatula and cook the other side similarly. Press the edges gently with a clean kitchen towel or the spatula itself to ensure even cooking.
Flip the thepla again and spread 1/2 teaspoon oil all over. Cook for few seconds.
Flip from both sides as required and cook until the methi thepla turns golden brown with edges well cooked. Remove to a plate. Cook all the dough balls in the same way and stack them as you cook. This will keep the thepla soft and prevent them from drying.
Serve methi thepla hot or warm. You can also pack these in lunch box. See Serving Suggestions for more ideas.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve methi thepla at any time of the day really. Traditionally thepla is served for breakfast in Gujarat with pickle and curd.
At our home we love it with green chutney, tamarind chutney, onion raita, cucumber raita and during season with aamras.
You can also pack thepla in lunch box. If made with good amount of yogurt it stays soft. You can roll the theplas individually and pack.
Sometimes I serve it with achari aloo, batata nu shaak, dal fry, Gujarati dal. Piping hot methi thepla makes for an excellent snack with adrak chai, masala chai, pudina chai too.
Pro Tips For Making Thepla
To make soft methi na thepla always make sure to add good amount of yogurt in the dough use oil generously while frying. I use about 1 teaspoon oil for 1 thepla usually. Also stack the cooked theplas and store them in insulated container to retain softness.
If you are packing for lunch or travel roll them individually and wrap in foil paper if required.
Along with whole wheat flour and besan you can also add some millet flour in this recipe. I sometimes add 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup besan, 1/4 cup bajra flour or pearl millet and 1/2 cup sorghum flour. You can also use amaranth or kuttu ki atta, buckwheat flour, jowar flour.
While kneading the thepla dough, make sure it is smooth and soft as far as possible. Soft dough yields soft methi theplas.
These theplas stay good for a day as it is made with curd. To increase the shelf life you can make these by adding water instead of curd.
You can freeze methi thepla for 2 months. If you plan to freeze them add 2 tablespoons oil to the dough and cook them with generous oil. Let cool thoroughly and then stack between alternating layers of parchment. Freeze.
To serve, directly reheat the thepla on a tawa with few drops of oil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use dried fenugreek leaves instead of fresh ones?
Yes instead of 1.25 cups fresh methi leaves you can add 4 tablespoons kasuri methi or dried methi leaves. If you use dried ones you will have to add around 3/4 cup water while kneading the dough as they will not leave out water like fresh ones.
How to make thepla vegan?
Just use vegan yogurt or water in place of yogurt.
Can we add any other greens instead of methi?
Yes you can add finely chopped amaranth, spinach, radish greens in this recipe. Herbs like coriander leaves will also taste good on this.
What is the difference between thepla and paratha?
Both are Indian flatbreads and there are very few differences between them. Usually paratha is made with only wheat flour while thepla is made with a mix of flours.
Can I make this without any greens?
Yes, just omit methi leaves and add enough water to knead the dough.
Can I sneak in any vegetables in this?
Yes vegetables with high water content like bottle gourd (lauki), cucumber, radish (mooli) can be added. Grate the vegetables and add to the flours. They will leave out more water than methi leaves, so you may not have to add any water at all to the thepla dough.
How to adjust spice level?
You can easily vary the spice level by increasing or decreasing green chillies and red chili powder. Instead of ginger you can add ginger garlic paste. To make thepla more flavorful you can also add ground spices – 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1/4 teaspoon ajwain or carom seeds and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds.
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Recipe Card
Methi Thepla Recipe
1 CUP = 250 ml
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour
- 1.25 cups methi leaves
- 4 tablespoons yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 green chili
- 1 inch ginger peeled and minced
- salt to taste
- oil as needed
Instructions
- Soak the methi leaves in a large bowl of water with a generous pinch of salt. Set aside for 10 minutes. This step will ensure that the leaves are clean before we could use them in making thepla.
- After 10 minutes, remove the leaves and you will find mud and dirt settled at bottom of the water. Now rinse the leaves again twice or thrice in clear water. Place them between two kitchen towels and remove moisture as far as possible.
- Chop the methi leaves very finely. I find it easier to use a food processor to mince them. If the leaves are not finely chopped, the thepla dough will tear while rolling. You will need 1.25 cup methi leaves, tightly packed.
- To make methi thepla dough add 1.5 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup gram flour or besan, 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 minced green chilli and 1 inch peeled and minced ginger. You can add few other spice powders as per taste but basic Gujarati thepla only with these spices.
- Mix very well with a spoon and add 3 tablespoons yogurt, well whisked and fresh and 1/2 teaspoon oil. You can add vegan yogurt to make vegan thepla.
- Mix well to incorporate the yogurt and oil into the flours. Now add the chopped methi leaves.
- Mix very well. Start adding water slowly to make the dough. You will need very less water as methi leaves will leave out a lot of water while kneading. I added just 1/3 cup here.
- Knead well and make it into a soft and smooth dough. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, divide the dough into 12 equal sized balls or portions.
- Dip a ball in some loose dry flour and tap off the gently.
- Place a dough ball on a lightly floured work surface or chakla.
- Now using a rolling pin (belan) roll the dough into thin circle of 5 or 6 cm diameter.
- Heat a tawa or heavy griddle or skillet over medium heat. Once it is hot place a rolled thepla dough.
- Cook for 40-50 seconds or until you see very small bubbles and brown spots on the surface
- Flip using a spatula and cook the other side similarly.
- Press the edges gently with a clean kitchen towel or the spatula itself to ensure even cooking. Flip the thepla again and spread 1/2 teaspoon oil all over. Cook for few seconds.
- Flip from both sides as required and cook until the methi thepla turns golden brown with edges well cooked. Remove to a plate. Cook all the dough balls in the same way and stack them as you cook. This will keep the thepla soft and prevent them from drying.
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