Ingredients
1 cup gram flour, dry roasted
15-16 large green chillies
2 tbsp coriander and cumin powder mix
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp lemon juice
4 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1 1/2 cup water
Extra coriander for garnish
Preparation
1. We’re going to start with dry roasting the gram flour. Place a pan on medium to low heat and add your gram flour. Roast in the pan for 2 minutes. This will add a better flavour to our shaak. Once it’s roasted for 2 minutes, turn off the heat and take the flour out in a mixing bowl so it doesn’t continue to cook in the warm pan.
2. Next, let’s prepare the green chillies. The ones I have are quite spicy and so I am putting on gloves, otherwise my hands will burn! If you want to keep your chillies spicy, you can skip this step. One by one, make a slit length wise and using the tip of a knife or with your finger, remove the seeds. You can turn it over and tap the seeds out and this should usually loosen them. Repeat with each chilli and place these on the side.
3. Now, take the mixing bowl with the gram flour we roasted earlier. We’re going to add our spices to this. Start with the coriander and cumin powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, sugar, and lemon juice. Now give the flour and spices a good mix.
4. Add the chopped coriander and mix again. Lastly, we’ll add the oil and now we will give the flour a mix with our fingers, so we can create a breadcrumb like texture. Using your fingers, mix well, rubbing between your fingers.
5. Once the flour, spices, fresh coriander and oil is well mixed, we’re going to add one more ingredient that is optional: ground sesame seeds. This adds a corse texture to the shaak. Add the ground sesame seeds and mix well. You want the texture to be like breadcrumbs.
6. Now, one by one, fill the green chillies. You want to make sure you push the flour mixture all the way to the top. To ensure each chilli is full, you can add extra flour and then squeeze the chilli together. Remove any excess flour and repeat the same with the rest of the chillies. Once all of the chillies are filled, you should have some flour left over.
7. For this quantity of chilies, you’ll need at least 3 spoons of the flour mixture. To this mixture, add 1/2 cup of water and stir. Keep this on the side as we’ll need it later.
8. Heat a pan on medium high and add oil. Once it is ready, add mustard seeds. Give these a few moments to pop and once they have, add cumin seeds. Once the cumin seeds are brown and cooked, add the asafoetida and immediately follow with the green chillies.
9. Once you add the green chillies, turn the heat to low and let the chillies cook for 10 minutes. Keep turning them so they cook on all sides.
10. Once the chilies have browned all around, add the water mixture that we kept on the side from earlier. Add another 1/2 cup water to the bowl and add this to the pan. Stir well.
11. Place a lid on the pan and let it cook, stirring every 5 minutes. After about 15 minutes cooking on low heat, add another 1/2 cup of water and stir well. Place the lid back on for a few minutes.
12. After 5 minutes, the shaak is done! Serve with a sprinkling of freshly chopped coriander and serve with warm rotli.
