Paratha is made of whole wheat chapatti flour. It is a richer version of chapatti. Freshly cooked, crisp paratha, eaten as the cook is taking it off the griddle, is delicious though a little high in calories. Adding wild garlic leaves to the dough gives a lovely flavour. Makes 10-12.
Ingredients
| • | 500 gm. whole wheat chapatti flour |
| • | 2 tbs. oil |
| • | A bunch of fresh 'wild garlic' leaves, washed chopped very finely (approximately 2 cups). You can use garlic chives or garlic greens. |
| • | 1/2 tsp. salt (adjust to taste) |
| • | 1 tsp. carom or ajwain seeds |
| • | 1 inch piece of ginger, very finely chopped (optional) |
| • | Enough water to make dough |
| • | Oil for pan frying |
Instructions
| 1. | Making dough: |
| 2. | Place flour, (save 1-2 heaped tablespoon of dry flour or use extra, for dusting while rolling out parathas), ginger, wild garlic leaves, carom seeds, 1 tbs. oil and salt in a bowl. |
| 3. | Add enough water, a little at a time, to make a soft to firm-ish dough. If you are new at making parathas, it is better to have a firm dough, which is easier to control while rolling out. Experienced Indian cooks prefer a little softer dough, which makes softer parathas. |
| 4. | Knead well for 5-6 minutes. Do not use food processor for making this dough or it will grind the wild garlic leaves too fine and you will loose the texture. |
| 5. | Leave to stand for 10 minutes or so. Knead briefly again. |
| 6. | Rolling out parathas: |
| 7. | Break dough into 10-12 portions and roll them into balls, using a little dry flour to dust. Keep them covered with a moist cloth. |
| 8. | Parathas are rolled out one at a time. You roll the next one while previous one is cooking. |
| 9. | Heat a griddle or tawa to medium hot. |
| 10. | Meanwhile, dip one ball in dry flour and then roll it out to 2-3 inches or 6-8 cm. circle. |
| 11. | Place a few drops of oil in the centre of the circle, gather edges over it and make it into a ball again. |
| 12. | Now roll this out into a pancake like circle of 6-7 inches or 15-17 cm. circle. A paratha should be rolled from centre outwards so that the edges are thinner than the centre. You will need to dip it in dry flour a couple of times, on both sides, during this process. Parathas should not be too thin, approximately 2-3 mm. thick, as very thin ones do not have 'bite'. |
| 13. | Frying a Paratha |
| 14. | Put the paratha on the hot griddle. Turn it over when it changes colour to semi-translucent and you can see a few blisters on the under-surface when lifted. |
| 15. | Cook the other side same way and turn over again. |
| 16. | Brush a little oil on both surfaces. This can be done with a small ladle or a soup spoon. |
| 17. | Press it gently all over, using a flat spatula. This type of paratha may or may not puff up, because of the 'bits' of leaves, ginger etc. make it burst. |
| 18. | Cook until crisp and nicely browned on both sides. |
| 19. | Serve hot with a pickle of your choice and natural yoghurt (sada dahi). |
Notes
| • | Parathas can be made in advance, stacked on top of each other and wrapped in Aluminium foil. They can be re-heated before serving, either individually on a griddle or in a microwave - place 4-5 parathas spread out on a plate and heat for 2-3 minutes on maximum power. |
| • | They freeze quite well but should be defrosted properly before re-heating. |
| • | You can cut parathas into wedges and serve as a snack. |