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Methi Thepla – High protein Savory flatbread with chickpea flour, quinoa flour, coconut flour, sesame seeds. Vegan Soy-free yeast-free. Can be made gluten-free.
These multigrain flatbreads have chickpea flour, quinoa flour, coconut flour to add to the protein. plus a good load of sesame seeds. Spiced liberally with Indian spices and dried fenugreek, these can be served as is with chutney or as a side.
Use flours that you have, use the spices that you have and make this fabulous flatbread. Add a scoop of unflavored protein powder to amp up the protein even more.
You can make them gluten-free by substituting the wheat flour with chickpea flour. The gluten-free breads will be more delicate when you roll them out, so keep them a bit thicker. The traditional Methi thepla has more wheat flour, some chickpea flour and other flours such as sorghum or millet, and fresh or dried fenugreek. These are my modified version with quinoa flour and coconut flour to add more protein. to make traditional thepla, use 1 cup wheat flour, 1 cup chickpea flour and 1/4 cup flours like millet or sorghum. For variation, roast the chickpea flour for 3-4 minutes before using to make a dough for a nuttier flavor profile.
More flatbreads from the blog
- Spinach Paratha flatbread – Yeast free
- Vegan Pita Bread Recipe
- Vegan Yeast free Flatbread and Pita bread
- Injera – 100% teff Ethiopian flatbread
Serve these with favorite Dals, sauces, curries or chutneys and Indian pickles.
Steps:
Knead the ingredients into a somewhat smooth dough that is not too sticky or too stiff. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Then divide the dough into 1.5 inch balls and roll into flatbreads.
Use flour or parchment to help roll. The shape and some cracks on the side don’t matter 🙂
Cook on a skillet. Spray oil on both sides and cook until golden brown spots.
Methi Thepla - High Protein Savory Herbed Flatbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour, use Indian wheat flour (atta) for best results
- 1 cup chickpea flour , or besan
- 1/4 cup quinoa flour, or sorghum or millet or a mix of either of quinoa, oat, sorghum, wheat , chickpea flour
- 2 tbsp flax seeds or flax seed meal or chia seeds or hemp seeds , optional
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds, or a mix of sesame and hemp seeds
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp asafetida- hing, optional
- 3/4 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp red chili flakes , or to taste
- 3 to 4 Tbsp dried fenugreek leaves,, kasoori methi or 1/2 cup packed finely chopped fresh fenugreek leaves
- 1/4 cup packed finely chopped cilantro, optional
Wet
- 2 Tbsp oil, plus more for cooking
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup non dairy yogurt
- 1/4 cup water, or more as needed
- 1 inch ginger, grated
- 1 hot green chili grated
Instructions
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.
- In a blender, blend the yogurt, water, ginger and chili. Or grate ginger and chili and add to the dry bowl. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until a dough is formed. Add teaspoons of water at a time if too dry, or add a tbsp more wheat flour if too soft and sticky. Mix initially with a spoon and as soon as the mix starts to stick together a bit with some dry flour patches, get in there with oiled hands and bring the dough together. This dough doesn’t need too much kneading. Just bring it together until somewhat smooth.
- brush a few drops oil on the dough, Cover with a kitchen towel and let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Oil your hands and knead for a minute to smooth out the dough. Depending on your flours and water content, you might need to add a bit of flour if too sticky.
- Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Cover the balls with a towel while you roll.
- Take each ball and using wheat flour or chickpea flour, roll it out into 7 inch rounds. Do not worry about the shape. Just roll the flatbread so it is generally even thickness. Roll out the rest and keep covered with towel.
- Preheat a skillet over medium high heat. Once hot, place the rolled out flatbread on the skillet. Cook for 30 seconds, or until small bubbles start to appear, then flip. Cook for 30 seconds. Brush or spread a little oil on the flatbread using a spoon and flip. Cook for another 15 seconds, brush oil on the current side, flip and cook again for a few seconds until golden brown spots. Remove from the skillet and place on a kitchen towel. Cook all of the flatbreads. Store on the counter for upto 2 days, in the fridge for a week and freeze for months. Reheat in the microwave or skillet
Notes
To make traditional thepla, use 1 cup wheat flour, 1 cup chickpea flour and 1/4 cup flours like millet or sorghum. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Tried for the first ever because I eat gluten free. My husband LOVED them and requested I make them often. I used your suggestion of garbanzo flour to substitute for wheat. The spices are amazing! My college roommate introduced me to the delicious cuisine and I’ve decided to teach myself through great recipes like yours. Thank you.
Awesome !
Whoops – it looks like I posted on this last year and completely forgot…haha. Well, I do really love this recipe… 😉
This flatbread is absolutely delicious and very satisfying. I had never heard of thepla before making this recipe, but I decided to give it a shot and I’m SO glad I did! Now it is in my permanent recipe files and I have made it a few times since.
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I couldn’t for the life of me find fenugreek anywhere in my city so I substituted for 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder (first ingredient fenugreek). It went perfectly with Chickpeas in Turmeric Peanut Butter Curry. Yum!