A meal in one Paratha

A stuffed paratha is one of the most popular flat bread in the Indian cuisine and forms an important part of the breakfast menu.  Most stuffed parathas can be served with yoghurt or masala tea and the list of stuffing is endless as are the the various shapes and types of dough used in cooking the stuffed parathas. The most common varieties of stuffed paratha are the aloo paratha and the gobi paratha. The stuffing and the dough are always freshly prepared for optimum taste and pan fried in ghee.  In Delhi the parathas are so popular that there is actually an area named “Gali Paranthe Wali” or “paranthe wali gali” translated as the lanes of the Parantha makers.

Here is a paratha that is a meal in one as it is stuffed with a variety of vegetables and spices.  It is rather an interesting meal and the shape resembles the half moon pasties that are readily available in the UK.

My sons Vishal and Akash absolutely love these stuffed parathas and this is a recipe that was first shared with me by my niece who is a passionate cook and baker.   Over the years, I have modified the recipe adding some spices and leaving out others and it is this modified version that I am sharing with you.

These parathas take a bit of preparation but they are so delicious that all that extra work is really worth it.

For the stuffing, I use: peas,carrots, onion, potatoes, a few strands of cooked spagetti and the spices from my masala dabba.

For the dough I recommed that you use self raising flour as it makes this paratha light and interesting.

So here is what you need and how you make the stuffing:

  2 medium potatoes                                   

 1/2 cup peas                                   

 25 to 30 sticks of spagetti  -broken into 1 inch pieces and cooked                             

 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds                                   

 2 table spoon oil                                   

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt                                   

3/4 teaspoon chilli powder                                   

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder                                   

 2/3 spring onions         

For the dough                           

1 . 1/2 cup white flower                                    

3/4 tea sp salt                                   

 4/5 tab sp ghee or butter                                 

 1/2 cup water (aapx

Now to prepare the stuffing:

In a medium sized pan, heat 1 tbsp oil  cumin seeds.  Once the cumin seeds are slighly toasted.  Now add the rest of the vegetables ie: potatoes, peas and add salt, turmeric, chilli powder.  Add about 1/2 cup of water, cover and cook over a low/medium heat until the vegetables are tender.  Now add the cooked spagetti stir gently and let the mixture cook a little longer until it is quite dry (this is important as a wet mixture will make soggy paratha).  If you wish, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of garam masala to this stuffing.  Let the stuffing cool for a while and garnish with chopped spring onions.

For the Dough: 1.5 cups  flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tssp ghee, pinch of salt (bind these ingredients to form a pliable dough – cover and set aside while the stuffing kools)

So, now you have your dough and the stuffing ready and thus begins the assembly and cooking of the paratha itself. The pictures above demonstrate how to assemble this meal in one.

Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll out each piece into about 8″ diameter discs.  Put about 2 tablespoons of the cooled stuffing in the centre of the rolled out dough and bring the sides of the dough together to form a half moon shape.  You can crimp the edges or simply use a fork to press down on the edges of the paratha to make sure the stuffing is properly encased and that is wont leak out of the pastry during the cooking process.

Heat a non stick frying pan over a low/medium heat, add a teaspoon of ghee/butter and roast the paratha until it turns a golden colour adding more ghee/butter if necessary.  Once cooked, place the paratha on some kitchen paper to absorb some of the grease.