Gatte / Besan ki Sabji Masaledar my Style

Besan Gatte ki Sabji is well known Rajasthani vegetarian curry. Most of vegetarians (and some non-vegetarians as well 😛) in India must have tasted it at one point or another. This is a one preparation that is integral to all Rajasthani Thalis.

But personally I find the Rajasthani recipe to be a bit low in spices for my taste. So, here I am not going to repeat the well covered Rajasthani Recipe. But rather would share my husband's recipe which is my favorite. Though, I must warn you about the spices he is using. If you cant handle strong Indian Garam Masala, then it's not for you.

Besan Gatte Ki Sabji

There are multiple steps and stages in this preparation. So, I will share ingredients with each step.

Prepare Besan ke Gatte:

The first task at hand is preparing gatte of besan. 

Ingredients:

1. Besan (Black Gram Flour) : 300 gms
2. Chicken Masala (Everest) : 1/2 Teaspoon
3. Red Chilli (Kashmiri Mirch) powder: 1/2 Teaspoon
4. Fresh Green Chilies: 2 (fine chopped)
5. Salt : 1/2 teaspoon (or to you taste)
6. Mustard Oil : 2 teaspoon

Follow these steps:

• Take the besan and all the ingredients above in a serving bowl and mix them well. 
• Use some water to knead it into a dough like you do for chapati. (But remember unlike wheat flour besan does not absorb water that much. So, use very little water  to start with and add more water as when needed.
• Your dough should look like this now

• Now roll them into cylindrical shapes like sausages

• Now take some water into a pot and put it to boil.
• Once the water starts boiling dip the besan rolls into it and keep boiling on medium flame for about 5 minutes.
• Soon the besan rolls would start floating. It shows that besan is ready and you can take them out of the water. 
• Keep the water aside. We can use it for gravy.
• Now chop the besan rolls into pieces as shown in pic below:

• Now take a kadhai (wok) and heat 2 teaspoonful of your favorite cooking oil (I preferand always use Mustard oil) 
• Put the besan pieces into it and stir fry it for 5 minutes or until the pieces are slightly crispy and brownish. 
• Take fried pieces out of kadhai and keep them aside

Now its time to move to the next step which is preparing curry:

Curry Time:

Ingredients:

Freshly crushed Ginger and Garic

1. Chicken Masala (Everest): 1 Teaspoon
2. Dhania(Coriander) Powder: 1/2 Teaspoon
3. Jira (Cumin) Powder: 1/2 teaspoon
4. Aamchoor (Mango Powder) : 1 teasooon
5. Red Chili (Kashmiri Mirch) powder: 1 teaspoon
6. Kali Mirch (Black Pepper) powder: 1/2 teaspoon
7. Green chili : 1 or 2 according to your taste 
8. Salt : According to your taste
9. Cooking oil: 3 tablespoon
10. Onion: 2 big (ground finely)
11. Onion : 1 medium (Finely chopped)
12. Tomatos: 3 Medium (ground finely)
13. Fresh Ginger: 2 inches (finely crushed)
14. Fresh Garlic : 10 cloves (finely crushed)
15. Fresh Coriander Leaves (Finely chopped)
16. Kasoori Methi Leaves(dried)
17. Hing (Compounded Asafoetida) : 1 teaspoon

Additionally we use a variety of spices (whole) as foran (if you don't know foran simply follow the process and you would know)

Ingredients for Foran:

1. Jira (Cumin Seeds): 1 teaspoon
2. Badi Elaichi (Black Cardamom): 1 
3. Chhoti Elaichi (Cardamom) : 3 
4. Dalchini ( Cinnamon) : 1 inch
5. Laung (Clove) : 5 
6. Kali Mirch (Black Pepper) : 10 
7. Chakra phool (Star Anise) : 1
8. Javitri (Mace) :  Half flower
9. Shah Jeera  (Black Cumins) : 1 pinch
10. Panch Foran (optional) is a mix of 5 whole spices 

Garam Masale

Cook the Curry:
We will now prepare the curry. The magic lies in frying the spices and tomato-onion base. So, have some patience.

1. Take your favorite cooking oil in a kadhai and heat it on medium flame.
2. Once heated drop the chopped green chilies in oil (you may use red chilies if you prefer)
3. Then add all the ingredients of foran. Within a few seconds you would see them turning brown and smell the aroma. 
4. Add fresh and crushed Ginger-Garlic before the foran starts burning. (Avoid using processed ginger garlic pastes. Fresh crushed ones taste a lot better)
5. Add hing.
6. When ginger-garlic starts turning brown add chopped onions. Keep turning the mix untill the onions turn brownish. 
7. Add ground onions and tomatoes.
8. Add salt to your taste.
9. Now add the spices:
1. Chicken masala 
2. Dhaniya powder
3. Jira Powder
4. Kali Mirch Powder and
5. Mango Powder
10. Stir fry the mix on medium flame for 7-10 minutes. Turn on regular and quick intervals to keep it from burning. 
11. The mix would start looking evenly brown and turn aromatic.
12. Pour water now and stir to mix the fried ingredients evenly. The water you had boiled the besan in earlier can be used here. 
13. Once the gravy starts boiling, drop fried besan gatte in it and keep cooking on medium flame for 5 minutes.
14. Adjust thickness of gravy with additional water. I recommend medium thickness if you are planning to eat with roti/chapati (bread) and a bit thinner to enjoy with rice.
15. You may turn off the flame now.
16. Sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves and kasoori methi leaves(dried) to further enhance the taste.

Enjoy Now!