Cabbage Muthia Recipe

Mutthi in Hindi language means 'fist'.  Muthia comes from that word because to make the log shaped steamed 'dumplings' you tightly press the grated vegetable and spice mixture into your fist.  Muthia can be made with various vegetables, such as bottle gourd (lauki), radish (mooli), cabbage (pattagobhi), and so on.

The basic concept is to grate the vegetable, squeeze the water out completely, mix some flours, spices, oil, etc, press the mixture in your fist and steam them.  Later, you cut the muthia pieces and sauté in very little oil with some tempering.  Makes a great, flavorful snack.  I'm sharing cabbage muthia in this post.

Cabbage Muthia Recipe

Adapted from Maayeka

Serves 4-6

For muthia:

2 cups grated cabbage, packed

¼ cup chickpea flour (besan)

¼ cup whole wheat flour (aata)

¼ cup semolina flour (sooji)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

¼ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

1 tsp red chili powder or ½ tsp green chili paste <adjust to taste>

1 tsp grated ginger or ½ tsp ginger paste

2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

1 tsp dry fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)

1 Tbsp yogurt

1 Tbsp lemon juice

½ Tbsp oil

For tempering:

1 tsp oil

½–1 tsp mustard seeds (rai)

½–1 tsp sesame seeds (til)

1–2 green chilies, slit

Few curry leaves, cut with scissors

Pinch asafetida (hing)

Lemon juice to taste

Finely chopped cilantro for garnish

1.  Mix a pinch of salt with the grated cabbage and leave for 5-10 minutes.  Cabbage releases water when in contact with salt.  Take portions of cabbage between your palms and squeeze out as much water as you can.  This step is essential because if extra water remains then you will have to add extra flour until you can bring the mixture together.

2.  In a bowl mix all the ingredients listed for muthia.  There is no order you need to follow.  Mix and rub well.  You should be able to press a portion in your fist tightly without it breaking or being too sticky/watery.  In case your mixture does not come together well, add one more Tbsp of each flour.

3.  Fill up your pressure cooker with water (just about 1 inch high) and heat on medium.  Meanwhile, once you prepare all your muthia, place them on the steamer rack you have and put the rack in pressure cooker.  I do not have a steamer rack so I used my idli stand, hence shaped the muthia to fit into each crevice.  Remove whistle from the pressure cooker’s lid and steam the muthia on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes.  Let them cool for a bit.  You can choose to cool half of them completely and place in Ziploc to use the next day, or freeze properly to use later.  For the remaining muthia, cut them into as big or small pieces as you want.

4.  Prepare your tempering.  In a pan heat oil on medium heat, when hot add mustard seeds, let pop, add sesame seeds + green chilies + curry leaves + asafetida.  Let sesame seeds turn light brown and green chilies cook and impart their flavor.  Add your cut muthia pieces and toss gently so the tempering coats all the muthia well.  Cook for just about a minute (or longer if you like them a little brown or crispy layer outside).  Switch off heat, mix lemon juice + cilantro.  Serve hot.

Muthia is so flavorful that it needs no chutney accompaniment.  Muthia can be eaten on their own or served with hot Indian Chai.  With the minimal oil this snack needs for steaming and sautéing, it really couldn’t get any better.  I am thinking of taking cabbage muthia for the next potluck I go to, considering its bite-size portion and ease of making.

While muthia tastes better when it is hot, muthia can be eaten at room temperature too.  For example, I sautéed some of the cabbage muthia in the afternoon to eat some, and kept the remaining for Alok to eat as a snack after he came home from work that evening without heating them up again.

Enjoy.

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