Thalipeeth.. wholesome multi-grain flat breads with spices
Aai (mum) being from a farmers family, have recipes that are quick, no fuss, not many ingredients, no preparations needed…Obviously she learnt it from my aaji (grandma).. who used to cook for a crowd of 15-20 men and 5 children all alone, every single day. Apart from grand-dad rest were all working strong men in that bunch of 20. Aaji used to have set menu of poli (roti), aamti( wet curry), dry sabji on 5 days; one day used to be mutton curry with roti and there come the day which everyone looked forward to…Sunday when the labour men who were live in workers, were served a special meal.. Thalipeeth, homemade loni (butter),fresh curd, loncha (pickle), usal (sprouts curry) and kheer (porridge). This was their feast for the whole weeks hard work. And they all thoroughly enjoyed every morsel. This is my earliest memory of Thalipeeth. Mum continued the legacy but only difference was she cooked just for our family of five, the taste, the accompaniments remained same. thankfully I’m also able to continue the tradition as my children even though growing on foreign land, enjoy the thalipeeeths.
What is thalipeeth?
Thalipeeth is a multigrain roti ..flat-bread from Maharashtra which is further enhanced with addition of spices, fresh coriander , onion, ginger , garlic and chillies.
How it is traditionally made?
As I said earlier my recipe is instant and hardly needs any preparation. But the most common way to make thalipeeth accross Maharashtra is by making ‘bhajani’. The dry roasting of grains and pulses which are further ground to a fine powder to make a mix called Bhajani.. literal word meaning roasted mix. We can nowadays find pre -packed bhajani at superstores in India. But my recipe calls for mixing the flours and gives exactly taste like bhajani. I had bhajani thalipeeths at friends houses or the lunch tiffins but to be frank never find them any better than what my mum makes… No biased opinion here.
If you have time and patience, this is how bhajani is made..
- 1 cup Jawar
- 1 cup Bajara
- 1/2 cup Wheat
- 1/2 cup Rice
- 1/4 cup Chana dal
- 1/4 cup Moong dal
- 1/4 cup Urad dal
- 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 tbsp Cumin seeds
- 2 Tbsp Coriander seeds
Dry roast all of the above ingredients separately on low- medium heat without any oil. Raost till aromatic or till turn light brown.
When everything comes to room temperature, mix together and grind it to fine flour. Store in airtight container.Stays fresh for upto 2 months.
This is how my recipe works..
I like to add same proportion of ready flours along with other spices. If you like you can even add cooked lentil (dal) to make it tastier, healthier and wholesome. One can even dry roast the flours to give it ‘bhajani’ flavour and taste. But seriously, I never do it and don’t think it is worth the effort.
to watch video click here:
- Make coarse paste of coriander, ginger , garlic and green chillies without adding any water.
Steps to make:
2.Next mix the flours. Add sesame , carom and cumin seeds along with spices. Next goes prepared paste , oil and salt.Use little by little water to make smooth dough.
3. Take a small portion, roll into ball. Lay a thin cotton cloth on rolling board and wet with some water.Flatten the dough ball into a disc and later spread into a roti with help of some water. Make some holes for even cooking.
4. Heat a tava, sprinkle some oil, transfer the thalipeeth carefully by holding two ends of the cloth.
5. Sprinkle some oil and cover with lid. Flip after a minute or so when it turns light brown from bottom. Flip and cook from other side as well. Serve hot with curd, butter, sprouts curry , pickle etc.
: Recipe Card :
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Passive Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
pieces
|
- 1 cup jowar flour (Sorghum flour)
- 1 cup Bajra flour (pearl millet)
- 1/2 cup ata (wholewheat flour)
- 1/2 cup besan (chickpea flour)
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
- 4-5 green chillies (to taste)
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder (dhania)
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp cumin powder (jeera)
- 1 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds (til)
- 2 small onion finely chopped.
- 2 Tbsp oil
- to taste salt
- as needed oil/ ghee for roasting.
Ingredients
For paste:
Spices:
other:
|
|
- Make coarse paste of green chillies, coriander, garlic and ginger without adding any water.
- Mix all flours, spices , 2 Tbsp oil, chopped onion a, coriander and the prepared paste.Mix well and add little by little water to make a soft dough. Dough is not as sticky as chapati dough but it is smooth and can be rolled into a ball easily.
- Spread a thin cotton or muslin cloth over rolling board. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of water and spread nicely to make the cloth wet.
- Take small piece of dough and shape into a ball using palms. Flatten the ball on the wet cloth using fingers and spread in all directions forming a circle. Use little water to spread the dough.
- With help of finger, make 4-5 small holes randomly in the thalipeeth which prevents thalipeeth catching steam from bottom and helps in cooking evenly.
- The Thalipeeth should be 1/2 cm thick. If it is thicker , it takes little longer to cook.
- Spinkle little oil on heated griddle or tava. Lift the thalipeeth along with cloth from two ends. Gently put the thalipeeth face down over hot tava. Quickly but gently take the cloth away pulling from all sides. The water sprinkled over the cloth initially helps to take the cloth off without any effort.
- Sprinkle little oil on thalipeeth and cover with a lid.
- After a minute or so, the top of thalipeeth changes colour to darker shade. Flip it . The other side must have become light brown. Cook for 2 minutes till the second side also turns light brown. Follow same procedure to make rest of the thalipeeths.
- Serve hot with butter or curd, sprouts curry, pickle , garlic chutney or simply with a cup of tea.
- Butter paper or greaseproof paper can be used instead of muslin cloth..Just take care as it might catch fire while transferring it to tava.
- Addition of half a cup of cooked dal makes the thalipeeth even tastier, healthier and softer. But this is completely optional.
- one can even add green leafy vegetables like methi (fenugreek), spinach, dill or grated vegtables like bottle gourd, carrot etc to make thalipeeth a wholesome meal.
You might also like:
Subscribe
to get latest recipe updates!
