When it comes to Indian food you’re usually either a rice or a bread person, personally bread wins every time for me. The paratha I’ve had in India or restaurants here in the UK tend to be delicious but incredibly unhealthy. More often than not they’re brushed with Ghee (clarified Butter) which in my opinion makes them too greasy.
The following recipe uses no oil or ghee so they are much healthier. They’re pretty quick to prepare and well worth the effort.
To Make the Dough
- 1 cup of flour (i use 1/2 wholemeal, 1/2 strong white flour)
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 pinch of salt
1. Simply place the flour into a large mixing bowl (use a stand mixer if you have one), add the salt then slowly add the water until a nice dough forms.
2. Continue to knead for 5 minutes.
3. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
To Make the Filling
- 6 floury potatoes
- 2 teaspoons of ground cumin seeds
- 2 chopped fresh green chillies
- 1 handful of chopped coriander
4. Boil the potatoes, drain and place in a large bowl.
5. Mash together with the ground cumin, coriander leaves and chopped chillies.
6. Allow to cool.
To Make the Paratha!
7. Simply take a golf ball sized piece of dough and roll flat to about 3mm thick.
8. Place a desert spoon amount of the potato mix into the centre and fold in the excess dough all around to form a parcel.
9. Flip over and gently roll out the parcel until about 4mm thick.
10. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side in a medium hot non stick frying pan
Paratha are best served fresh so be sure to start serving them to your guests as soon as the first one is done. Traditionally they are just served with some fresh natural yogurt (check out our recipe for home made yogurt), maybe some matter paneer or chilli and coriander chutney.
I’m going to have to try these; never realised they were so easy (or appear to be) to make, feel lazy now that I’ve never tried making them before.