ON THE LANE OF TASTY PARATHAS
Dear readers, here are few recipes of delicious and tasty variety of parathas. They are not only easy to prepare but also healthy and tempting. Do surely try them
Index
1. Salsa paratha
2. Aloo palak paratha
3. Matar/peas paratha
4. Corn paratha
5. Sprouted paratha
1.Salsa paratha
Ingredients:
capsicum - 2 large sized
Tomato - 2 large sized
Onions - 2 large sized
Cheese
Wheat flour - 1 bowl
Chilli paste - ½ spoon
Oregano - ½ spoon
Chilli flakes - 1 spoon
Salt - to taste
Black pepper powder - ½ spoon
Oil
How to prepare:
1. Chop the vegetables- capsicum, onion and tomatoes very finely into small pieces.
2. In a pan, take 2 spoonful of oil and after it gets heated, add chopped onions.
3. Saute the onions till they turn pink and then add finely chopped capsicum to it.
4. Cook the mixture till the capsicum turn little soft.
5. Add the seasonings to the mixture, like green chilli paste, oregano, black pepper, salt and chilli flakes. Cook for few minutes.
6. Add chopped tomatoes to them and mix thoroughly.
7. Cook the mixtures till all the water part evaporates. And it should remain dry. You can also add cheese at this stage. Allow the mixture to cool.
8. Now knead a little soft dough of wheat flour adding salt to taste in it.
9. After kneading the dough, keep it aside for a while.
10. Now make medium size balls of dough and roll a large round paratha from it.
11. Take a tablespoonful of mixture cooked earlier and keep it on one side of the paratha.
12. Spread the mixture on half of the paratha and turn the rest of the paratha over it giving the shape of a semicircular packet.
13. Seal the boundary of semicircle using water and give the impression with fork for good look.
14. Fry the salsa paratha on a hot tava or griddle with a few teaspoons of oil or ghee till brown spots appears on both sides and they are cooked.
15. The salsa parathas are ready. You can serve them with tomato sauce or cheesy dip.
2. Aloo palak paratha
Ingredients:
15 to 18 medium to large palak/spinach leaves, yields approx ¾ or ½ cup spinach puree
2 medium aloo/potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed, approx 1 cup mashed potatoes
2-3 garlic, crushed or made into a paste in a mortar-pestle
½ tsp cumin powder/jeera powder
½ tsp coriander powder/dhania powder
½ tsp red chili powder/lal mirch powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
2 cups whole wheat flour/atta
1 tbsp yogurt (optional)
1 tsp oil
salt as required
oil or ghee as required for frying the parathas
How to prepare:
1. rinse and then chop the palak/spinach leaves roughly.
2. boil or steam the potatoes till they are completely cooked.
3. when they are still warm, peel and then mash them.
4. keep aside.
5. heat through 1 or 1.5 cups water in a pan.
6. just heat the water till it comes to a gentle boil
7. add the palak or spinach leaves and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
8. using a strainer or colander drain the spinach.
9. while straining, collect the stock in which we blanched the spinach in a bowl and keep aside.
10. puree the palak/spinach with a hand blender or in an electric blender.
11. in a bowl or large plate, add all the above ingredients, except for ghee/oil meant for frying.
12. begin to knead to a smooth dough.
13. you may not require adding water while kneading the dough.
14. but if the dough looks dry and needs water, then add the strained stock in which we simmered the palak leaves.
15. add very less stock and knead to a smooth dough.
16. keep aside for 15-20 minutes.
17. make medium sized balls from the dough and roll into 5-6 round parathas.
18. fry the aloo palak paratha on a hot tava or griddle with a few teaspoons of oil or ghee till brown spots appears on both sides and they are cooked.
19. serve aloo palak paratha hot with pickle, curd or butter.
3. Peas paratha
Ingredients:
for the dough:
2 cups whole wheat flour/atta, 240 grams
½ tsp salt
2 tsp oil
½ to ⅔ cup water for kneading, add as required
for the green peas stuffing:
1.25 cups fresh peas/matar, 125 grams
½ tsp cumin seeds/jeera, roasted
1 tbsp besan/gram flour, roasted
1 to 1.5 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 green chili, finely chopped
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
¼ tsp garam masala, optional
salt as required
oil or ghee as required while roasting parathas
How to prepare:
preparing paratha dough:
1. first take 2 cups whole wheat flour, ½ tsp salt and 2 tsp oil in a mixing bowl or pan.
2. mix very well.
3. then add ½ cup water and begin to knead. add more water if required while kneading.
4. knead to a soft and smooth dough. cover and keep aside for 30 minutes.
preparing green peas stuffing:
1. steam fresh green peas in a pressure cooker or electric rice cooker. steam the green peas and do not boil them in water. for steaming, take the green peas in a pan. add 1 cup water in the cooker. place the pan with the green peas in the cooker. now pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles. i used electric rice cooker to steam the green peas.
2. drain the green peas very well. there should not be any water in them. allow them to become warm or cool at room temperature.
3. mash the green peas coarsely with a potato masher. keep aside.
4. heat a pan. lower the flame and add ½ tsp cumin seeds in it.
5. roast the cumin seeds till they become fragrant.
6. remove and add the roasted cumin seeds to the mashed peas.
7. in the same pan, on a low flame, add 1 tbsp besan. stirring often, roast the besan.
8. the besan should become aromatic. its rawness should go away. the color of besan will also change. do not brown too much or burn the besan.
9. add the roasted besan to the mashed peas.
10. add 1 green chili, finely chopped, a pinch of asafoetida, 1 to 1.5 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves, salt as per taste. you can also add ¼ tsp garam masala powder.
11. mix very well.
assembling and preparing stuffed parathas:
1. pinch small balls from the dough. roll them and keep covered.
2. take 2 small balls and dust them with whole wheat flour.
3. roll each of them to a round of 4 to 5 inches in diameter.
4. place the green peas stuffing on one of the rolled round.
5. cover with the second one and seal the edges firmly. sprinkle some wheat flour on both sides.
6. roll gently to a paratha of about 6 to 7 inches. sprinkle flour as required while rolling.
7. heat a tawa and let it become hot. place the paratha on the hot tawa. on a medium to high flame, begin to roast the paratha.
8. when one side is partially cooked (about ¼th) then flip.
9. spread some oil or ghee on top. flip again.
10. now spread some oil or ghee on this side too.
11. if the paratha has been stuffed and rolled well, it will start puffing up while cooking.
12. flip again. press the paratha edges with a spatula too, so that they are cooked.
13. flip once more and roast till the peas paratha is evenly cooked and has golden blisters on top.
14. serve peas paratha hot.
4. Corn paratha
Ingredients:
American sweet corn - 1 bowl (boiled and crushed)
Potatoes - ¼ bowl ( boiled and mashed)
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Ginger and green chilli paste - 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste
Lemon juice - 1 spoon
Coriander leaves - finely chopped
Oil
How to prepare:
1. Boil the american sweet corn and crush the seeds to make a crunchy mixture.
2. Boil one or two potatoes. Peel them off and mash them till they are hot.
3. In a mixing bowl, take the corn crush and add potatoes mashed to provide binding to the mixture.
4. Add the ginger chilli paste and salt to it.
5. At the end, add lemon juice and finely chopped coriander leaves.
6. Mix all these ingredients properly to prepare a delicious stuffing.
7. Knead a soft dough from wheat flour using a little oil and water. Keep the dough aside for few minutes.
8. Now make medium sized balls from the dough and roll a small paratha.
9. Take a spoonful of mixture and place it as a stuffing in the center of the rolled dough.
10. Cover it with all sides with dough and again make a lump from it.
11. Roll this again to make a thick stuffed paratha.
12.fry the paratha on a hot tava or griddle with a few teaspoons of oil or ghee till brown spots appears on both sides and they are cooked.
13. serve aloo palak paratha hot with pickle, curd or butter.
5. Sprouted paratha
Ingredients:
Par boiled srpouts of moong - 1 cup
Potatoes - ¼ cup ( boiled and mashed)
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Ginger and green chilli paste - 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste
Lemon juice - 1 spoon
Coriander leaves - finely chopped
Oil
How to prepare:
1. Prepare sprouts of moong and parboil them.
2. Also semi crush them to prepare a stuffing.
3. Boil the potatoes and mash them.
4. In a mixing bowl, add these crushed sprouts and mashed potatoes.
5. Now add all the spices like ginger chilli paste, salt and lemon juice.
6. Finally add Coriander leaves to the mixture.
7. Mix properly to prepare the stuffing.
8. Now using wheat flour, oil and water, knead a soft dough.
9. Keep it aside for sometime and then make medium sized balls from this.
10. Roll them into small paratha.
11. Place a spoonful of stuffing in the center of the rolled paratha.
12. Roll it from sides to again make a ball.
13. Roll this dough again using dry flour to prepare a thick paratha.
14.fry the paratha on a hot tava or griddle with a few teaspoons of oil or ghee till brown spots appears on both sides and they are cooked.
15. serve aloo palak paratha hot with pickle, curd or butter.
