Millet, Wheat & Gram Flour Paratha with Fenugreek Leaves
Bajra, Besan, Gehun Atta aur Methi ka Paratha (Dhebra)
Reeta Kumar
This tasty paratha is good to eat with curries, saag (spinach, mustard leaves) or as a snack with pickles.
Makes 14-15
Ingredients
2 tightly packed cups fresh fenugreek or methi leaves, washed, drained and finely chopped
3 cups millet or bajra flour
1 cup whole wheat or chapatti flour
2 tbsp. gram flour or besan
2-3 green chillies, very finely chopped (adjust amount to how hot you want the parathas to be
1/4 tsp. hing or asafoetida
1 cup natural yoghurt or dahi
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1 inch piece ginger root, peeled and finely grated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated (optional)
1 level tsp. salt
2-3 tbsp. millet flour for dusting during rolling out the paratha
Oil to pan fry
Instructions
Place all ingredients except oil, flour for dusting and yoghurt in a bowl and mix well.
Make a firm dough by adding a little yoghurt at time and kneading well. You may not need all the yoghurt or may need a little extra.
Divide dough into 14-15 balls. Keep them covered with a moist cloth.
Rolling out the parathas:
Parathas are rolled out one at a time. You roll the next one while previous one is cooking.
Start heating the griddle or Tava to medium hot.
Meanwhile, dip one ball in dry flour and then roll it out to 2-3 inches or 6-8 cm disc.
Place a few drops of oil in the centre of the disc, gather edges over it and make it into a ball again.
Now roll this out into a pancake like disc of 6-7 inches or 15-17 cm circle. It should be rolled from centre outwards so that the edges are thinner than the centre. You will need to dip it in dry flour, on both sides, a couple of time during this process. Parathas should not be too thin, approximately 2-3 mm thick, as very thin ones do not have a 'bite'.
Cooking
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.
Cook the other side the same way and turn over again.
Brush a little oil on both surfaces. This can be done with a small ladle or a soup spoon.
Press it gently all over, using a flat spatula. This type of paratha does not always puff up, because of the 'bits' of onion, ginger etc.
Cook until crisp and nicely browned on both sides.
Serve hot with a pickle of your choice, , natural yoghurt (sada dahi) and chilled butter and Green Mango Chutney
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.