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/
I made its cooked well , also I added SAUNF or VARIYALI .. taste and smell of variyali awesome when eat ..
Thumbs up for that dassana
thanks yugesh. good to know this.
This I make often, its a great snack. The aroma of methi, when you fry this really carries far! I make the instant batter type, meaning I mix besan, methi leaves, ginger chili paste in a bowl. I add required water and salt at the time of frying( making the batter not so thick) and then immediately fry them. My sister taught me this method, saying this ‘instant gota’ method makes it really soft and fluffy. It really does. I would like your opinion on this. I make really the simple ones without banana, pepper and dhania, as i like the raw taste of methi.
thanks bharat for sharing your version. the way your sister makes methi na gota, i make methi pakoras this way, but with the addition of ginger and sometimes onions. i also add chopped green chilies. what i have seen is that when baking soda is added, the pakora or methi na gota becomes more soft and fluffy, then when its not added. your recipe will give a strong flavor of methi. when bananas are added, apart from giving a sweet taste, banana also reduces strong flavor of methi. pepper gives a nice faint peppery flavor and dhania also add its own taste.
I avoid baking soda because I am told that it makes gota to absorb more oil. Does it?
no it does not. if the oil is hot enough, they don’t absorb oil.
O.K, I get it. That was helpful. Thank you.
welcome bharat
Hi dasanna, I tried this recipe today…. I was little confused how the batter should be ….. 🙁 I made like onion pakoda batter …..after frying the pakoda taste was gud 🙂 forgot to add soda … y is it needed?
hi deepthi, the batter is a bit thick like a cake batter. i will try to add step by step in this one. soda helps in making them soft and fluffy. next time when you make, add the soda. it gives a better texture than when made without.
Ok …thank you 🙂
welcome deepthi
Tempting recipe can we add eno fruit salt instead of soda
not sure how the gota would turn up with eno fruit salt.
They look really tempting Dassana!! perfect for the weather..