Name: Gram flour dumplings in a tomato sauce
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 5 ml/1 tsp cumin seeds; 5 ml/1 tsp fennel seeds; 2.5 cm/1 in piece of cinnamon stick; Indian bread, to serve; sunflower oil, for deep-frying; 2.5 ml/½ tsp garam masala; 30 ml/2 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped, to garnish; 2.5-5 ml/l/2-1 tsp chilli powder; 250 g/9 oz canned chopped tomatoes, with their juice; 1 large onion, finely sliced; 10 ml/2 tsp ground coriander; 45-60 ml/3-4 tbsp sunflower oil or light olive oil; 150 g/5 oz/generous ½ cup full-fat (whole) natural (plain) yogurt; 2.5 ml/½ tsp ground turmeric; 300 g/10½ oz/generous 2½ cups gram flour (besan), sifted; 5 ml/1 tsp salt, or to taste; 30 ml/2 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped; 5 ml/1 tsp dried red chilli flakes; 2.5 cm/1 in piece of fresh root ginger, grated; 4 cloves; 2.5 ml/½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook

By Mridula Baljekar

Published 2017

About

This protein-rich dish, Ghoomni, is from the state of Bihar, where vegetarian food is prevalent. Gram flour is mixed with chillies and spices and made into a dough, which is poached until set and cut into slices known as gatte. These are then fried and simmered in a spicy sauce. Asafoetida is added to the sauce for its curative quality as gram flour is sometimes difficult to digest.