Ingredients

• For the sweet stuffing or filling:

• 150 gm. or 1 cup channa or Bengal gram dal, skinless

• 2 cups water

• 100 gm or 1 cup light muscovado sugar (unrefined cane sugar). You can use grated jaggery instead.

• 3 tbsp. desiccated coconut

• 1 tsp. poppy seeds, roasted (microwave on full for 2-3 minutes)

• 1 heaped tsp. cardamom powder (use green cardamoms)

• For Dough:

• 300 gm. or 2 cup plain white flour or maida

• Enough water to make dough

• 3-4 tbsp. flour placed on a plate, for dusting (rolling out)

• Ghee or cooking oil for shallow frying

Instructions

1. Wash and soak the dal for 1 hour.

2. Add water to the flour, a little at a time, and knead into a dough like chapatti dough (soft to firm). Cover and keep aside.

3. Drain dal. Place in a pressure cooker, with 2 cups water and cook on full pressure, for 5 minutes or 5-6 pressures/whistles. Or, boil in a pan until dal is soft. It should not be mushy or runny. Drain the excess water off, if any. Allow to cool.

4. Grind to a smooth paste. I use a hand held blender for it. The consistency should be like a soft dough.

5. Add and mix all other stuffing ingredients.

6. Rolling out a paratha:

7. Break off a golf ball size portion of dough and roll into a ball. Dust it with dry flour and roll it out to a circle of approximately 2 inch diameter.

8. Take 1 HEAPED tsp. of the filling and place it in the centre of the circle. Pull the edges in on top and gather like a parcel. Seal well by pinching the gathered edges. You now have a ball again.

9. Heat the griddle or tava.

10. Dip the stuffed ball in dusting flour on all sides and roll out to approximately 15-20 centimetre size. Roll from centre outwards so the edges are thinner than the centre. You will need to dust, with dry flour a couple of times during the rolling process. If a little filling escapes, don't worry, just remove it.

11. Cooking the parathas:

12. Place the paratha on the pre-heated griddle. Turn it over when it changes colour slightly and you can see a few blisters on the under surface.

13. Cook the other side the same way. Turn it over again.

14. Brush oil on both surfaces, one by one.

15. Press gently all over, using a flat spatula. This helps to fluff it up into a ball, as well as making it crisp. Cook until nicely browned and crisp on both sides.

16. Serve hot.

17. In the beginning, it is better to have two people working together, one rolling out and the other cooking.

Notes

• You can experiment by adding some finely chopped raisins, dates, finely grated nuts etcetera to the stuffing.