Kachchi Pakki Rotii or Paratha Made With Pressure Cooked Dough
Kuchcha Pukka Paratha/Roti Made from Steamed Dough
Suresh Chandra Gupta, submitted by his son Alok Gupta
This recipe is the invention of my late father. My memory was that while mother was making chapatti dough one day, she added too much water by accident. She was going to add more flour to make it right again, but my dad decided to cook it in the pressure cooker and see what happened! However, when I was talking to my mum about this recently, she said that my memory was inaccurate, here is the correct version of the start of this family favourite:
In olden days, people in Punjab used to make a special roti for the woman who had just delivered a baby. It was called Kachchi-Pukki Roti, meaning half cooked-half uncooked roti. In traditional method, they used to half cook a thick roti (chapatti) on the tava/ griddle. Then they would break it up into pieces while still hot, then they mash it back into dough while still hot. They will then make roti from the resulting, cooked dough. This was said to be easier to digest for a new mum.
My mum was making this roti one day in the year 1959. Because the half cooked roti had to be mashed while still hot, my mum kept burning her hand doing it. My father, the ever inventive scientist who loved to hang around in mum's kitchen, was watching. He suggested; "Wouldn't it be easier to cook the dough in a pressure cooker first and then make roties from that dough"?
So they tried it. It took them 3 attempts to get the water content of the batter right and the dough to cook properly, but the result was worth the attempts. The dough came out firm and steaming hot. When cooled and kneaded, it was perfect for Kachchi Pukki Roties and Parathas. The parathas turned out to be so delicious that they became one of our family favourites for Sunday brunch.
Now that microwave is here, the dough can also be cooked in a microwave oven. Cook in a wide bowl, so the deep centre doesn't remain uncooked. Microwave 2-3 minutes at a time, stir and microwave again, until all dough is cooked evenly and is steaming hot. Makes 15
Note from Mamta: My father bought my mum her first Prestige pressure cooker in 1958, when it first came out in India and was the new kitchen toy of all the housewives. She was using pressure cooker for making dals/beans/chickpeas/pilaf/kheer (rice pudding) etc. a long before it became an indispensable gadget in every Indian household.
May they both rest in peace.
Pictures 2-6 dough cooked in pressure cooker.
Pictures 7-10 dough cooked in a microwave oven.
Edited August 2023
Ingredients
500 gm. whole wheat chapatti flour
1 tbsp. oil or ghee or butter
1/2 tsp. carom seeds
1/2 tsp. salt
Enough water to make a 'dropping' consistency batter, like for making pakoras
Oil for pan frying parathas
Pressure cooker/microwave
Optional additions to the dough: Any one of these ingredients can be added to the batter before cooking the dough. Be inventive, add what you fancy.
1/2 cup of finely chopped fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves or 1 tbsp. dry methi leaves (Kasoori methi)
1 onion, chopped finely
1-2-3 green chillies, chopped finely
2 tbsp. coriander leaves, chopped finely
1 tbsp. ginger, finely chopped and grated
Instructions
Making the batter for dough:
Save 2 tablespoon of dry flour or use extra, for dusting while rolling out parathas.
Place remaining flour, salt, ghee, carom seeds or any other optional extra, and make a thick batter of dropping consistency, like you would have for making pakoras.
Cooking batter in a pressure cooker, see picture composite 1:
Place batter in a stainless steel/metal bowl that will fit inside your pressure cooker. Do not cover the bowl.
Put 1/2 cup of water in base of the pressure cooker and place the trivet/steaming plate (it comes with the pressure cooker) on it.
Place the bowl with batter on top of this plate, close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook under full pressure for 15 minutes.
Allow the cooker to cool completely, open and take the bowl out.
Cooking batter in a microwave, see picture composite 2:
Place batter in a microwave bowel, cover and cook on full pressure for 2 minutes.
Break up and stir with a fork well to get to still uncooked batter and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Stir with a fork again to make sure that there are no uncooked pockets in the dough.
When cool enough to handle, knead well until smooth.
Rolling out parathas:
Break dough into 15 portions and roll them into balls, using a little dry flour to dust (size is a personal choice).
To roll one ball, dip it in dry flour and roll it out to 3 inch or 7 cm. approximately.
Brush some oil on top and fold both ends to centre.
Spread another film of oil and fold it in again, making a square.
Roll it out into a 6-7 inch/15-17 cm. square. You will need to dip it in dry flour on both sides a couple of time during this process to stop it from sticking. These parathas should not be too thin, approximately 1/3 cm thick.
Cooking the Parathas:
Heat a griddle or tava.
Put the paratha on the hot griddle. Turn it over when it changes colour to a darker shade and you can see a few blisters on the under surface.
Cook the other side same way and turn over again.
Brush a little oil on both surfaces, one by one. This can be done with a small ladle or a soup spoon.
While this paratha is cooking, roll out the next paratha, ready to cook.
Cook until crisp and nicely browned on both sides.
Serve hot with fresh butter, pickles and Sweet Mango Chutney.
