Methi na Gota is a Gujarati deep fried snack of savory and spiced fritters. Basically these fritters are made with besan a.k.a gram flour, fenugreek leaves (methi), banana, spices and herbs. These tasty snack is usually served as a snack during tea time.
About Methi Na Gota
I have had Methi na Gota many times while living in Mumbai. Whenever we would buy mix vegetable pakoda platter from the Gujarati snack shops, they would also add Methi na Gota in the pakora mix.
The texture used to be so soft and spongy, unlike the Onion Pakora or Aloo Pakora that used to be there in the platter. And I would always wonder how they make such soft and fluffy pakoras.
I checked a few cook books that I have, that would give that kind of soft texture and taste in the Methi na Gota. Finally I made my own adaptations after seeing a couple of recipes.
In this Methi na Gota recipe, ripe bananas are added and they help in making the fritters having the soft and porous texture. You can skip bananas but I would not suggest it. Since they do add a lot of taste, texture, flavor and sweetness in the fritters.
The bitterness of the methi leaves also gets balanced due to the sweetness of the bananas. Also the fritters will brown quickly when frying due to the sugars in the bananas, so you will have a slight darker brown shade in the fritters.
What makes these fritters so soft, fluffy is the addition of bananas and a bit of baking soda. The baking soda helps to leaven the batter a bit making the fritters fluffy, soft and crispy.
This recipe is prepared in a slightly different way. First a thick batter is made and set aside for 30 minutes. During this time, the methi leaves release their juices and thins the batter.
Remember not to make a medium consistency batter in the first go. You will end up with a thin batter later. So do keep this point in mind.
Since this snack is deep fried, ensure to fry the fritters in moderately hot oil. Do use your preferred oil with a high smoke point for deep frying.
Frying at lower temperature will make the gota absorb more oil and frying at a very high heat will make them brown faster from the outside leaving the center undercooked.
If you like methi or fenugreek leaves in your fritters, then do check this recipe of Methi Pakora as well, which has a different ingredient combinations. Thus making it taste way different than the Methi na Gota.
Serve Methi na Gota with any green chutney or mint chutney or raw papaya chutney. I served these with tomato ketchup.
A cup of Masala Chai will add more, when you are having the Methi na Gota . Enjoy the monsoons snacking these crisp, soft and porous fritters.
Few more Gujarati snacks recipes for you!
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Methi na Gota
Ingredients
- 1 or 1.25 cups besan (gram flour)
- 1 cup methi leaves (fenugreek leaves)
- 1 banana – ripe, medium-sized
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
- 8 to 10 whole black pepper – crushed
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds – crushed
- 2 pinches of asafoetida (hing)
- 2 to 3 pinches baking soda or ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons oil – to add to the batter
- 1 to 2 tablespoons water or as needed
- 1 green chili + 1 inch ginger, crushed into a paste in a mortar and pestle
- ½ teaspoon sugar – optional
- salt as required
- oil as required for deep frying
Instructions
Making batter
- Rinse a few times in water. Drain all the water and then chop the methi leaves finely.
- Mash the banana in a bowl to a fine texture. Add the methi leaves to it.
- Add all the ingredients including the 2 teaspoons of oil.
- Add very little water, about 1 or 2 tablespoons and make a thick batter, like a thick cake batter.
- We are making a thick batter first so that later, the batter will become thin as the methi leaves will start to leave water. This also depends on how much water content the methi leaves have.
- Keep this batter covered aside for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes check the batter.
- The batter should be of medium to medium-thick and smooth, flowing consistency.
- If the batter is still thick then you can add a few teaspoons of water.
Frying methi na gota
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or deep fryer.
- When the oil is medium hot. Drop the batter from 1 tablespoon measuring spoon into the hot oil.
- Take care not to touch the spoon with the hot oil. You can also use a regular spoon.
- As soon as you drop the spoonful of batter in the oil, they will start puffing up and expand a bit and becoming brown.
- Since we have added bananas the browning happens faster. So fry on a medium hot oil.
- Fry the methi na gota till golden and crispy all over.
- Drain the fritters on paper towels to remove excess oil. This way finish up the batter by frying in batches.
- Serve Methi na Gota hot with any green chutney or tomato ketchup.
Notes
- First make a thick batter and then let it rest for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes the batter will thin down a bit due to the methi leaves releasing their juices. If the batter becomes too thin, add some gram flour. The batter has a medium-thick to medium flowing consistency.
- Ensure to fry in medium-hot oil. Frying in a very hot oil will leave the methi na gota undercooked from inside. Frying at a lower temperature will make them absorb more oil.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Methi na Gota recipe from the archives first published in July 2013 has been updated and republished on December 2022.
Hello
Just wanted to know… is there any simpler and quick version of methi pakoras
you can check this recipe – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/methi-pakora-recipe-methi-pakoda/