Pithala is a dish with chicpea flour mixed with water till it is cooked down to a shiny thick consistency. It is typically flavored with mustard seeds cracked in oil and chilies. Generally it is cooked with some onions and served with bhakri which is a flatbread made from flour of grains like bajri or jowar.

We had a hunch that pithala would pair well with other vegetables although it is typically not served like that. We wanted to try something local and in season. When we saw some brussels sprouts we just wanted to crisp them up to add a nice crunch. Since chicpea and chicpea flour come from kind of the same ingredient we decided to inspire ourselves from a hummus plate and pair them as well. 

We started of shaving the brussel sprouts on a mandolin slicer.

We dress it with some oil and salt and cook in an oven at 400 F for around 20 minutes. 

We also boiled some chicpeas and dressed them with olive oil and cooked them along with brussel sprouts for 20 mins at 400 F. It gives their exterior just a bit of bite. 

We take out the chic peas and dress them with some ghee, lime juice, coarse black pepper, chopped garlic and cilantro. We set the brussel sprouts on broil and watch till some of its shaving crispen up to a dark brown char.

We meanwhile blend in a mixer 1 cup chic pea flour with 1 cup water. Then set it on a pot on low heat starting to whisk it continuously as water gets hot and cook it down till it starts leaving the sides and turn shiny. We season this with salt and a squeeze of lime juice at the end. 

We also set some oil with kashmiri chili powder On low heat till it warms up and is flavored with chili powder taking care to not burn the chili powder. 

We spread the hot pithala (cooked and seasoned chic pea flour) on a serving dish. Drizzle with some chili oil. We then top it with some dressed and warm chic peas. Finish it by topping generous amount of the crisp brussel sprouts.