Pitthal ~ Gram/Chickpea Flour Curry

Pitthal-Bhakri is a combo dish which is very famous in Maharashtra.  Pitthal means gram flour curry and bhakri is a type of bread. This is also a rural food of Maharashtra.

Pitthal is very easy to make.This is the perfect option If you don't have veggies in your fridge. You can make this in haste with very few ingredients.
Various types of pitthal are made in Maharashtra. I will post all recipes one by one.

Ingredients:

• Gram flour (Besan) - ½ cup
• Green chilies - 4
• Onion, finely chopped- 2 tbsp (optional)
• Garlic cloves - 6
• Ginger - ½ inch
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Oil- 3 to 4 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Asafetida (Hing)- ¼ tsp
• Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Fresh coriander, finely chopped- a handful

Method:

• Crush or coarsely grind chilies, garlic, ginger and cumin seeds together. (If you don't want to make too spicy, then don't crush chilies, just use cut chili hence you can remove easily.)
• Heat oil in a kadhai or a pan. Add muster seeds and let them crackle.
• Add chopped onion and saute it till it turns pink.
• Add turmeric powder, hing and crushed chili-garlic-ginger-cumin. Saute for a while.
• Add 1 to 2 cups of water, chopped coriander and salt in the pan. Mix well and bring to boil. (According to your choice of consistency adjust the proportion of water.)
• Meanwhile, add some water in gram flour gradually. Mix well and remove all lumps.
• Reduce the heat to low. Add this besan paste in the pan and mix well. Stir continuously.
• Within 1-2 minutes, it starts to boil. Switch off the gas, pitthal is ready to serve.
• Serve hot with bhakri, thecha/chutney, buttermilk and onion.

Pithla tastes good with hot plane rice also. If you are serving Pitthl with rice then the consistency of pithla should be thin.