Spinach/Palak Thepla (Spinach thin Indian flat bread)

Its breakfast time again 🙂 and I present another healthy Indian flat bread made with Spinach. This flat bread is called “thepla” (in the local dialect of the Western Indiuan state of Gujarat) and is a very healthy option for all times – breakfast, lunch or dinner. Thepla originates from the state of Gujarat, and can be termed similar to Paranthas. The main difference is that thepla is thin, with its dough kneaded with spices and yogurt while Parantha is comparatively thicker and its dough is kneaded with water without any spices.

Winter is around the corner and I generally favour Paranthas for dinner. On these lines, I wanted to use the leftover Spinach but was reluctant to prepare Spinach Parantha as I had them just a while back. That gave me the idea to attempt Spinach (Palak in Hindi) Thepla for the first time. The Thepla’s were very quick, healthy and tasty – even my 2.5 year angel liked it. I had also made Peppers chutney (Capsicum / Bell Pepper) along with these Spinach Thepla and the combo was just awesome !!
I will soon share the recipe of Pepper Chutney (Capsicum/Bell Pepper) in the next post so let’s make Spinach Thepla first !

The ingredients for making Spinach Thepla are :
1. Whole Wheat Flour : 2 cup
2. Spinach : 1 cup
3. Carom seeds (Ajwain) : 1/2 tsp
4. Cumin seeds (Jeera) : 1 tsp
5. Green Chilli : 2 (finely chopped)
6. Ginger : 1/4 tsp
7. Yogurt : 3 Tbsp
8. Dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasuri methi) : 1 tsp
9. Red Chilli Powder : 1/2 tsp
10. Salt : to taste
11. Oil : 1 Tbsp + for cooking

Method :

Take a big bowl and add all the ingredients. Mix well to knead a soft dough; use some water if needed. Cover the dough and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Make 10-12 lemon sized balls out of the dough.

Take one ball; dust the ball with dry flour and then roll out the ball into the form of a thin chapati (6″-7″ diameter).

Heat a skillet (tawa) on medium flame; put the above-prepared raw Thepla on it. Flip it over when you see tiny little bubbles or change in the colour of the Thepla.

Apply some oil on the surface of the Thepla and flip it again. Apply the oil on the another side of Thepla also and cook till it you get some light brown spots on each side.

Remove the Thepla from the skillet. The Spinach Thepla is ready ! Use the remaining dough to prepare more Theplas in the same manner.

Serve these warm Thepla’s with Pepper (Capsicum/ Bell Pepper chutney), yogurt and/or pickle. Note that these Theplas can be stored for 2-3 days.

Insider Tips / Finer Points :

• You may add Chickpea flour (Besan) in addition to the whole wheat flour.

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