Mootia
A fancy Nancy name for a simple age-old dish that is packed with flavor, nutrition, all the goodness of veggies and yes, it is “Gluten-Free & Vegan”.
The Gujarati community never ever wastes anything and that is one of the reasons this community make good businesspeople and excellent mathematicians. The Gujarati woman practices the same in her kitchen “nothing goes to waste”, (this is a “Mantra” that we live by) every leftover is transformed into a yummy new dish the next day – my recipe is about left-over rice that is used to create these delicious dumplings or as we call it “mootia”.
With the weather + the current lockdown regulations in South Africa and all of us “hopefully”, spending more time at home – we all need a repertoire of quick, easy, healthy snacks – and we surely want to use up all the leftovers, so this is recipe ticks all the boxes
There is no hard & fast rule or recipe for making this dish, you just go along and add as much or as little of the vegetables that you have at home. Besides being easy, delicious, and budget-friendly, it is very nutritious -gluten-free and vegan. It can be served with some yogurt or chili sauce as a snack at teatime or just stir fry in some oil with sesame and mustard seeds for a starter.
This recipe is a newer version of the one I featured here:- https://www.healthyvegetarianfoods.co.za/philips-homecooker-experiments
Mootia-Steamed Vegetable Dumplings
250ml cooked basmati rice
50ml chopped coriander leaves
125ml chopped fenugreek herbs or watercress
50ml finely chopped cabbage
50ml grated carrots
100ml chickpea flour
50ml lentil flour (I used green lentil flour-you could also use soy flour)
50ml flax meal
10ml ground chilies
10ml salt
10ml crushed cumin
10ml crushed coriander
5ml crushed fennel seeds
10ml grated ginger
25ml oil
20ml lemon juice
Method
- Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly – add some rice flour if the batter is too runny
- Shape into little balls or croquet’s – carry on till all the mixture is done and place them on a plate in a double boiler or steamer and steam for about 25-30min minutes
- Remove from steamer and enjoy while hot and fresh with yogurt and some chili sauce
- For added flavor, texture and indulgence heat a little oil in a non-stick pan and sprinkle a generous amount of sesame seeds, some mustard seeds and then toss in the steamed dumplings and allow to cook on medium heat and serve with lemon wedges