Pithla- A chick pea flour curry

This is the simplest version of pithla. A pudding like curry made with chickpea flour seasoned with garlic. It is perfect for a quick dinner. And it is the ultimate comfort food when paired with white rice and ghee. This is the version that I like which has a pudding like soft texture and is a little fluid and can be easily mixed with rice. 

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil

1/8 mustard seeds/rai

1/8 cumin seeds/ jeera

Pinch of asafetida powder

1/4 tsp of turmeric powder 

1 cup chick pea flour 

4 cups water 

4 large garlic cloves, finely diced

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 green chilies, slit in the middle or finely diced, to taste 

Salt, to taste

1/4 tsp sugar  

Method 

Mix the chickpea flour, salt, sugar and turmeric powder. Then slowly add the water and mix it together to create a slurry. Make sure that it doesn't have any lumps. 

Heat oil. To it add the mustard and cumin seeds . Once the seeds begin to crackle add the garlic and chillies and cook them for a minute and then add the onions. Cook them till transparent. Then add the chick pea slurry in. Stir well and let it come to a boil. It tends to splatter, so use a splatter screen or a pan that is deep enough to catch the splatter. Let it boil for a couple of minutes and start to thicken. Keep stirring it frequently, so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Cook it till it has a pudding consistency. Turn off heat. Serve hot with white rice or jowar bhakri.

Tips

Stir the slurry before you pour it in as the flour tends to settle. You can add spice like garam masala or gods masala to flavor it further, though I prefer it without any additional spices. You can also cook it till it is dry and serve is like a sabji.