Methi Thepla, pack for an outstation trip or train journey

Visiting places and traveling by train have been a part of my husband and my life for long now. In fact, we enjoy traveling by train and being the foodies we are, we look forward to eating food we carry from home and from different stations. If you have travelled a few times by the Rajdhani, Duronto or Shatabdi trains, you are sure to tire of the food and then you look forward to carrying your own food. It doesn't matter whether the food's packed from a restaurant near the station or from home, you still enjoy it with child like pleasure on a picnic. Our menu now includes methi thepla, sandwiches (we carry the makings not prepared ones), masala rice, paratha, fruits and snacks. When we stayed in Mumbai we frequented this store that stocked fresh methi theplas and puran polis. So any journey meant asking him to keep a couple of packs of methi thepla and puran poli aside for us. On a trip to a hill station recently, we carried methi theplas that I made after checking recipes online and narrowed on this one. I wasn't sure if the theplas would last the 3 days of our trip so I held off posting the recipe till we returned. We are back from our trip and I am glad to say the methi theplas did last us through the 3 days although it did turn a little dry on the third day.

Theplas are an integral part of the Gujarati cuisine and is normally had with achar or chhunda. It can be had for breakfast or as a snack but is known more as a food that remains unspoiled for a few days and hence apt for a train journey or on a trip. Theplas are commonly made with either methi or dudhi/lauki or bajra and sometimes with just masala. The best thing about thepla is the convenience in handling it when traveling. Roll a couple of thepla in aluminum foil for each person and hand it over with individual mini tubs of ready yogurt or pickles and you save the effort of carrying and serving in plates. It is also good to take along when on the move, like on a hiking trip or when in a theme park, pack achar applied thepla and keep packs of chhaas to sip and you can hit the road with least down time :)

Here I have given the recipe of the methi thepla I made last week.
Ingredients
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Gram flour - 2 tbsp
Dry fenugreek leaves / dry Kasuri Methi - 3 tbsp
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Garlic - 4 cloves
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Asafoetida pwd - a couple of pinches
Cumin pwd - 1 tsp
Coriander pwd - 1 tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Soak the dry kasuri methi in water. Finely chop the garlic and keep aside. Sift the wheat flour and gram flour together and then add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, sesame seeds, asafoetida powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and mix. Drain the soaked kasuri methi and add it to the flours along with the garlic. Add water little by little and knead it into a ball of dough. Add 2 tbsp oil and knead again into a ball. Take a spoon of oil and apply all over the ball of dough and keep covered.

When ready to roll out the theplas knead once again and divide into small balls of dough and keep aside. Roll each ball into a thin chapati. I rolled out each thepla into circles of about 4 inch diameter size. Heat a tawa and roast the thepla on it. Turn the thepla over every few seconds and then apply oil on both sides and cook till done.

The methi thepla has to be cooled completely before packing, only then will it last for a few days. If packed when hot the steam will make the thepla soggy and it will spoil. Once cooled, pack it in aluminum foil, along with some achar or chhunda and put it in your bag for your journey.
Bon Voyage! Bon Appétit!