Tomato Stuffed Paratha
Tamatar ka Paratha
Mamta Gupta
This filling is for when tomatoes are cheap or when you have a glut of home grown tomatoes.
Makes 10-12
Ingredients
For the dough:
400-500 gm. ( 3 to 3 1/2 cups) chapatti flour
1 tbsp. oil or ghee
1/2 tsp. ajwain or carom seeds
Enough water to make dough
For the stuffing:
1 tbsp. oil
1 medium sized onion, peeled and finely chopped
5-6 good sized tomatoes, chopped
1 or 2 green chillies, very finely chopped, increase if you like food hot
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and finely chopped/grated
1 tbsp. finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp. salt, adjust to taste (stuffing should be slightly over salted, as it is filled in unsalted dough)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper (optional)
Oil for pan frying parathas
Instructions
Preparing stuffing:
Heat oil in a wok or karahi. Add onions and fry until soft.
Add ginger, green chillies, tomatoes, salt and black pepper. Stir fry until tomatoes are soft. If you like things hot, add a little chilli powder.
If tomatoes are too tart, add a teaspoon sugar and mix. Continue to cook until it looks quite thick, even thicker than a jam.
Add chopped coriander leaves. Allow to cool to room temperature. It should be thick enough to be used as a stuffing. If it is not, you can add a little flour to make it of a 'paste like' consistency.
Making dough:
Save 2 tablespoons of dry flour on a plate, for dusting while rolling out parathas.
Mix the remaining flour, salt, ajwain and 2 tbsp. oil or ghee in a bowl and add enough water to make a 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 cooks prefer a little softer dough, which make softer parathas. Knead well for 5-6 minutes. This process can be done quickly in a food processor.
Leave to stand for 10 minutes or so. Knead briefly again.
Rolling out parathas:
Break dough into approximately 10 portions. Break each of these portions again into 2 and make into balls (20 balls). Each paratha will require 2 balls. Keep covered with a moist cloth. Once you are a confident paratha maker, you can make 2 balls for one paratha at a time and roll the next balls and paratha out while the previous one is cooking.
For each paratha, dust 2 balls with flour and roll out to 8-10 cm. in size circles.
Take roughly 1/10th of the filling and spread out in the centre of one circle. Cover with the second circle on top and gently press the edges to seal. Now you have a stuffed double circle, with the filling between the two layers.
Heat the griddle or tava.
Dust the stuffed circle with flour on both sides and roll out gently, to approximately 20 cm. in size. You may need to dust it with dry flour a couple of times during the rolling out process. If a little filling escapes, don't worry, just remove it.
Cooking the parathas:
Place the paratha on the heated tava or griddle (medium hot, not smoking hot). Turn it over when it changes colour slightly, you can see a few blisters on the under surface.
Cook the other side the same way. Turn it over again.
Brush oil on both surfaces, using a long handled spoon or ladle.
Press gently all over, using a flat spatula. This helps to make it balloon as well as crisp. Cook until nicely browned and crisp on both sides. It is important that you crisp the paratha on medium heat and not cook it too fast.
Serve hot with a knob of butter, pickles of choice, natural yoghurt or Lassi.