guar dhokli ki subzi | cluster beans cooked with chickpea flour dumplings in a yogurt based curry

Guar phali or cluster beans would be undoubtedly one of my favourite vegetables. I know what you are thinking, how guar can be someone's favourite but it has a texture and a hint of bitterness that I love. This is one of those vegetables I have experimented with a lot too, reason being I see guar or cluster beans being used in various cuisines across the country and want to try them all. The simplest bhujia that I make with guar phali is with just garlic and green chillies and pair it with kadhi to make a comfort meal for ourselves.

I would admit it is me who loves guar phali more and keeps buying it by the bagfuls. But a stir fry style salad with guar phali and peanuts converted even the husband and he started enjoying the vegetable. There is a recipe of guar and dried shrimp in the drafts to be shared but I have not been getting time to share recipes here, although I intend to share at least one recipe a week. I cook every single day and keep experimenting a lot, keep cooking old recipes a lot too and there is a lot to share.

I know I am not being good with the blogs. I must get back to sharing recipes asap.

I love gatte in subzi, the curry made with chickpeas flour (besan) dumplings so popular in Rajasthan and known as dhokli in Gujrat. I have shared one guar dhokli ki subzi that uses the same besan dumplings but is very different from this version. Since I like gatte ki subzi so much I started making it with different vegetables and one of those is bottle gourd.

So technically this guar dhokli is also guar gatte ki subzi as much I understand. Although purists may differ. I would wait to hear from them if they are interested in sharing more about gatte ki subzi and dhokli ki subzi nomenclature.

Since I have already shared how to make the gatte for gatte ki subzi, I will skip the steps to make gatte. Once the gatte (the dumplings) are ready this curry gets ready in about 20 minutes.

ingredients...
(2 large servings)

guar phali chopped 200 gm or 1 cup
cooked and chopped gatte 3/4 cup
finely diced onions 1 tbsp (optional)
ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
everyday curry powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
sour yogurt 1 cup
salt to taste
mustard oil 1 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp

procedure 

Heat half the oil in the kadhai (I use iron kadhai), smear the oil all over the kadhai surface with the spatula. Tip in the cut gatte and toss to cook them lightly again. Searing them lightly and briefly so they soak up more flavours. Remove from the kadhai and keep aside.

Now tip in the fenugreek seeds, the chopped vegetables (including onions if using). the ginger garlic paste and the powdered spices all together and toss till it all gets mixed up and lightly aromatic. Since we are suing a little amount of oil we need to do this on low flame. This step takes about 5 minutes.

Now whisk the yogurt, dilute with 2 cups of water and pour slowly into the kadhai. Let it simer for about 10 minutes or till you get desired consistency. The gatte or dhokli will soak up water and become bigger, the guar cooks really fast so that will be taken care of automatically.

Garnish with coriander if you wish but it is not required.

You need tender guar for this curry, mature guar will taste awful any which way.

This curry tastes great with any Indian breads and even plain boiled rice. It makes a complete meal with just a little rice, I suggest you eat more of this curry and less of rice or roti and enjoy the meal better. Some green salad or just a few slices of onion suit this meal well but this is one of those frugal meal kind of curry.

The sourness of the yogurt balances the slight bitterness of guar really well and soaks up into the gatte to make them soft and melting.

If you are cooking the curry with lauki or bottle gourd as above, just fry the gatte, add the spices and toss till aromatic. Pour whisked yogurt and simmer. Add precooked lauki in the curry and let it simmer a little to get the flavours integrated.

Gatte or dhokli can be cooked with almost all vegetables but some of the combinations will definitely be your favourite. I like the gatte ki subzi with roughly chopped spinach too.

The boiled and lightly fried gatte keep well in the fridge for about a week and they freeze well for almost 6 months. So make gatte when you have time and cook the curries with whatever vegetables you like. Try gatte with guar once and I am sure it will become a favourite in your home too.

gatte ki subzi, one of my favourite besan preparations

I so love gatte ki subzi and had not shared it as yet. Gatte is a chickpea flour dumpling, cooked in a spicy yogurt based curry, sometimes in a tomato based curry too but the hot and sour flavors with robust spicing is unmistakable.

More common in Rajasthan homes, gatte ki subzi is made in many versions by people outside Rajasthan. I remember we used to make a dry stir fry with a lot of onions and garam masala added, more like a finger food than a curry. I am tempted to make that version soon.

I have been cooking gatte ki subzi with different vegetables a lot as I feel it is a convenient meal for me most of the times but the traditional gatte was made rarely. I would always be tempted to add some vegetable and make it more value for my time :-)

This gatte ki subzi is also made with spinach from my garden so it is special. But this time I actually cooked the gatte ki subzi without any vegetables added for dinner one day and then added spinach to the leftover the next day. Could not resist you know. Here is the plain gatte ki subzi which is seen with a mutton liver curry on the side.

I make a version of gatte ki subzi without onion and garlic in the recipe too, but when someone posted a recipe on a facebook foodies group and then a friend Ushnish Ghosh tried the recipe, I wanted to have it just then. And I cooked it for dinner.

The cooking of the gatta dumplings took about 30 minutes form scratch. The besan was kneaded, rolled out in sausages and then boiled in water like we boil pasta. The cooked rolls were cut in one inch pieces and were curried in a yogurt based gravy.

ingredients and method for the gatte 

2 cups of besan
1/2 cup of yogurt
chilly powder to taste
1 tsp fennel powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp mustard oil
salt to taste

Knead everything together and make a stiff dough. Roll out sausages with greased palms.

Boil them all in a pot full of water. The sausages would float up once cooked.

Drain the water and cut the gatte in one inch pieces or as you like. This recipe will be a lot of gatte so you can enjoy some of them as it is or with a green chutney.

ingredients and method for the gravy

3/4 cup chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of everyday curry powder
red chillies to taste
1 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp ginger powder or 2 tsp fresh ginger paste
a pinch of hing
3/4 cup yogurt
salt to taste
mustard oil 2 tbsp

Make a paste of everything put together, along with the yogurt.
Heat oil in a pan and tip in this paste.
Bhuno till the oil separates and the masala blend becomes aromatic.
Add the chopped gatte to the cooked masala, add about 2 cups of water and simmer till the oil separates again.
Add chopped spinach if required at the last moment, cover and let it rest till the spinach wilts. Serve hot with roti or rice or as it is. I like the spinach version as a one pot meal.

Green coriander leaves tastes really nice with the plain gatte ki subzi.

I keep making the gatte with bottle gourds, sponge gourds and even with some green peas thrown in. This is such a convenient one pot meal sometimes when I want spicy warm food.

The gatte ki subzi is a part of an elaborate thali normally, served along with many greens, curries and many types of rotis and khichdi etc. For the lesser mortals, gatte ki subzi makes a meal.