Takke Paise

What is unique about this recipe?

A little back story on this amazing protein-enriched recipe,  Gram flour was used by people in Rajasthan back in the days due to the unavailability of fresh fruits and vegetables. As you all may know, this western state goes through severe periods of extreme drought-like conditions, hence to keep the men active and energized, the ladies of the house decided to ground several lentils,  Gram flour being one of them. Gatte ki sabzi, as it is popularly known, evolved with time, and reached the royal courts of Lucknow, and the khansamah, tweaked the recipe and presented it to the royals, who relished it thoroughly. 

The name Takke Paise literally translates to copper coins, which is exactly how they look. The gram flour, when mixed with ginger garlic paste and basic spices like red chili powder, salt, turmeric creates a beautiful copper color and when these are parboiled and fried, they replicate a copper coin. 

Ingredients:

Gram Flour (Besan) – 2 ¾ cups

Ginger-garlic puree – 2 tablespoon

Onions (sliced) – 4 Medium

Green Chillies(Slit) – 2-3

Salt – As per taste

Red Chilli powder– as per taste

Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder– 1/2 teaspoon

Dried Fenugreek (Kasoori Methi) – 2 teaspoons (hand crushed)

Water – 1/2 cup

Oil – 4 tablespoon

Method:

1. In a big bowl, take 2 ¾ cups of Gram flour, add in 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste, 1 ½ tsp salt, 1 ½ tsp red chili powder, 1/4th tsp turmeric powder, 2 tsp oil, add a splash of water and form a dough. Roll the dough to form a cylindrical shape.
2. Take a Kadai, fill it 3/4th with water, drop the cylinder-shaped dough, and let the water come to a boil. As soon as the dough comes up, remove the water and gently place the dough on a plate for it to cool down. Once cooled, cut them into coins and fry them and keep aside.
3. In the same Kadai, add 4 tbsp oil, drop in the slit green chilies, once they change color, add the onions and fry them until translucent.
4. Add 2 tbsps of ginger garlic paste, and fry until the raw smell evaporates, add in 1½ tsp salt and followed by the spices, 2 tsp red chili powder, ¼ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp coriander powder, ¼ tsp garam masala, and 2 tsp dried fenugreek. Mix and let the spices work their magic.
5. Add in ½ cup water and mix the gravy well, drop in the fried Takke Paise and cover the kadhai and let the gravy release oil from the sides. 
6. Once you see the oil, that’s it, the gravy is ready to be served with some hot chapatis.