Monday, October 20, 2008

Wheat and chickpea crackers (Baked Muthia)

Are you one of those people that believe fresh vegetables are more nutritive than frozen vegetables...I have to admit, I believed this for a long time... until I came across a couple of articles on nutrition that say frozen vegetables have the same level of nutrition as fresh ones...whew I was relieved to know that...now if I occassionally buy frozen vegetables I do not have to feel guilty that I am compromising on health for convenience.

On a related note, did you also know when you buy frozen vegetables in plastic bags,you need to check that the vegetables in them are free flowing, as clumping indicates that the item has been thawed and refrozen, meaning loss of nutrition. This was news to me and I am sure I have never checked for clumping when I bought frozen vegetables on the rare occasions I have bought them.So do keep this in mind the next time you are at the grocery :-)

Now to today's recipe,this cracker is actually a spin on the Indian muthia. Muthia,pronounced as Moo-thi-ya, is a dish that originates from Gujarat, a region in the western part of India. It has a steamed version and a deep fried one. My recipe for the steamed version is here, I have never tried the deep fried version and was intrigued when I saw a baked version of this muthia here in Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen.

I thought it would be very interesting to try this. I made some changes to the proportion of ingredients and added baking powder and olive oil making these crackers light and crunchy. The dried fenugreek leaves add a slightly bitter note,but not overwhelmingly so and with the spices used, this cracker turned out to be a very interesting and tasty experiment.



Ingredients and method to make the wheat and chick pea flour crackers (Baked Muthia)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 cup chick pea flour (besan)
1 1/2 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (Kasoori Methi)
1/2 tsp chilli powder (or according to taste)
salt to taste (I used about 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp olive oil
a little water to knead the dough

a little flour for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

Line one or two cookie sheets with foil and keep aside

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add the olive oil,mix well, slowly add a little water and keep kneading until you get a smooth dough that is not sticky.

Divide into three to four equal parts.

With the help of a little flour roll out the dough into a thin circle (as thin as possible)

Place this circle on the lined cookie sheet and use a cookie cutter to score a shape on the circle (or use a pizza cutter to score lines horizontally and vertically)

Bake in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes (Baking times will vary depending on the thickness of the rolled out dough)

Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Here is another view of the crackers...


These crunchy crackers are on their way to the Bookmarked Recipes event being hosted by Ruth.


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46 comments :

Cham said...

The muthia is pretty and healthy!

Bharti said...

Delightful! It looks really crunchy.

anudivya said...

Love the use of cookie cutter to make the cookies look prettier. And it is very healthy...
Yeah, frozen veggies are just a blessing... I use them all the time.

Unknown said...

wow.. looks really tempting ... nice entry...

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

nice tip on frozen vegetables. those muthias look cute and i love the shape. i also have muthias in my "to try" list but i haven't set up my oven yet.. rather i don't know how to use it.. hehe

Gita Jaishankar said...

I too used to get frozen veggies. Sometimes they are clumped together. never knew that they were thawed and reforzen again. Thanks for the information :)
These crackers looks delicious and healthy too with wheat and chickpea flour.

Unknown said...

a beautiful recipe again..love the shape..

Suganya said...

Muthia looks so cute. Perfect shapes. Nice recipe. YUM!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Have to say that your version of these crackers look very good and crisp. Great that they turned out so well.
When I make them next I shall certainly think of baking powder and the oil.

Lisa Turner said...

Yet another tasty cracker! Will try.

Jaishree Iyer said...

Cookies look prettier and it is very healthy...love the shape..yummmy.

karuna said...

loved the baked version. atleast this gives a no guilt snacking option. nice

Uma said...

these look so cute and delicious.

Andhra Flavors said...

muthia looks perfect.

VG said...

You've outdone yourself again, Usha!Great cookies.

ST said...

Muthia is very preety and healthy..

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Muthias are looking great and wonderful piece of info abt frozen veggie...

Finla said...

They looks so beautiful

Vijitha said...

Hi usha
Thanks a million for the award. Sorry had been crazily busy for the past few weeks...

Lovely post..looks yummy! quite different too... i guess that I am back to the routine...

Laavanya said...

These look so pretty in addition to being healthy.

Pam said...

I love the flower shaped crackers. They look cute and tasty.

Alexa said...

Lovely shape on those crackers, Usha. I might try to make those with sorghum flour instead of the wheat. I love the spices in them and I have them all in my pantry. :-)

CurryLeaf said...

Lovely shape of crackers,I haven't baked muthias yet,will surely try yours.They look very crisp

Vidhya said...

that looks delicious Usha and most of all not deep frying. will try this soon.

Deeba PAB said...

The lavash crackers look delicious Usha. You made a great adaptation to the muthia!

Beyond Curries said...

I read that frozen spinach is better than fresh spinach itself, because the spinach is frozen immediately after harvesting it, so it does not loose many vital nutrients. Whereas the fresh spinach has to transport a lot before reaching the grocery store and sits there for a while before we buy it and we cook it after sometime. By this time it loses so much of the nutrients. So I always prefer using frozen spinach.

The muthiyas are so tempting that I want to make them immediately. I have made a similar type of crackers from Sunita's blog but it uses all purpose flour. But your version is so healthy with whole wheat flour and besan. Now I have bookmarked it.

Adlak's tiny world said...

perfect and lovely shapes and so yummy Muthia.

aTxVegn said...

I would enjoy these crackers. I haven't tried making my own lately. It's so hard to roll them thin enough. Yours look beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Oh neat! Great recipe and LOVE the shape!

+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse

Yasmeen said...

Usha,Baked crackers look so scrumptious with easily available ingredients :)

Zue Murphy said...

I never taste this but your muthia look delicious and I probably will like it. Do you know that frozen kale is still good even after you thaw it.

raaji said...

They look absolutely gorgeous....so thin....having sucha good flower shape...

Unknown said...

Thats great info abt frozen veggies..And the baked beauties look too good.

VG said...

Hi Usha

Back again. Pls collect your Diwali card from my blog. happy Diwali, dear.

Anonymous said...

Great recipe with beautiful shape...looks crunchy! Name 'Muthia' sounds different & great. Wil try n let u know...

Unknown said...

That was good tip for using frozen vegetables. Now I don't need to feel guilty about using frozen vegetables.

Muthia's look cute.

Deepa Kuber said...

they make a good eve snack. nice one

Pavani said...

usha, iloved u chick pea crackers very much and thanks for ur lovely comments on my blog

PG said...

thanky ou for your comment ! The muttias look lovely. I will be making them soon. Like your recipe a lot.

Swati said...

Hi Usha, seeing you in a long time... the muthias look very pretty...nice shape..
Happy Diwali..

anudivya said...

Hey Usha, I don't know what happened. :( Do you get my updates now? Lemme know.

Priya Suresh said...

WOWowww no words to say...amazing!!!

Nidhi said...

My mom makes it in same way. Love the shape you have given with the cookie cutter. Loooking very nice.

Anonymous said...

I am forever looking for salted cracker recipes since I haven't got one right yet. This one seems so perfect.

Archy said...

Wow, this is so nice and simple recipe !! Loved it !!

Myvegfare said...

wow, that's an interesting piece of news for me, i keep thinking that frozen are not really good, thanks for sharing.., this baked muthias are absolutely goood, my BM are becoming so large i should start trying each of them soon

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