Combine soda and salt. Add a little water (from 200 ml) in it and blend everything well till the mixure dissolves. keep it aside. Combine ajwain, black pepper and chana flour together.
Add oil for movan and the soda mixure in the flour. Combine well and make dough using the remaining water from 200 ml.
Knead it really well for at least for 15 minutes. It's very important to do so for the perfect texture of gathiya. You may knead it on a clean greasy surface. Add more oil as needed while kneading to avoid stickiness. The dough should look smooth and get lighter in colour. Cover and keep it aside for 20-30 minutes.
Heat oil for frying. Pinch out a portion from the dough. Deep an edge of the dough portion in the very hot oil and work with it on a flat board. While working with it you need to press it down with the bottom of your palm and roll it back. Repeat the process quite a few times till the dough is nice and smooth. It also gets lighter (further) in colour and texture.
Prepare all the portions like that while the oil is heating up slowly.
Now for rolling gathiya take the prepared portion of the dough, work with it a bit once again to smoothen it further. Pinch out a small portion of the dough from it and start rolling gathiya by rolling it on the board. For that you press the dough to make it thin and press it from right to left using the side of your palm by flattening it a bit (not too hard or else the string of gathiya will break).Lift it to move further and to twist the gathiya. Use your thumb to push the dough for rolling.
Roll, flatten, lift, twist and repeat. That's how you make a continuous string of gathiya from every small portion. Fry on medium to low heat till you see the bubbles around them are minimised. This indicates that the gathiyas are cooked from inside. This gathiyas are not supposed to be fried till crisp or till they change colour. Remove from oil and sprinkle asafoetida and blackpepper right after.
For chutney : Mix curd and chana flour. Mix well to get smooth paste. Add 250 ml water and mix well. Heat oil in a pan. Crackle mustard. Add asafoetida and green chillies. Then add the chana flour mixture, salt, turmeric and sugar. Cook till the mixture starts boiling and gets thick to your desired consistency. This chutney should not be thick like besan, but it is supposed to be slightly thicker or similar to the consistency of kadhi.
Peel and grate pawpaw. Add salt and red chilli powder.
Thinly slice onions and add some salt, lemon juice and chilli powder. Wash and dry green chillies. Slit vertically. Fry it in a tbsp oil just till it gets fried a bit and releases it's aroma. We are not aiming at having tender chillies.
