Indian warm flakey, smothered in oil with added garlic and onion are heaven! When I lived at home, my mom used to make the plain version (no onion or garlic) for breakfast on a sunday morning at least once a month! Paratha and Chai used to be my weakness as a child!
Paratha are south indian flatbread. A paratha means layers of cooked dough, which is exactly what these little moorish indulgent breads are. The paratha can be round, square, or triangular. Usually homemade ones are generally not round – well specially mine!
Parathas can be eaten with chai, chutneys, pickles, butter and even curries. My brother used to eat them with ketchup too. Most supermarkets now have fou can frozen versions you can cook easily at home.
Parathas are so versatile, as you can stuff them too. They can be stuffed with boiled potato called Aloo Paratha which as widely available at many indian restaurants. However there are many veggies you can use to stuff them, such as cauliflower, spinach and even paneer .
Ingredients:
500g Chapati Flour
3 Tbsp oil
3-4 Crushed Garlic Cloves
1/2 Finely Chopped Onion
250ml Hot Water
1/2 Tsp Salt
Oil for cooking
In a mixing bowl add chapati flour or a mix of plain and whole-wheat flour, crushed garlic cloves, salt, 2 1/2 table-spoon of oil and finely chopped onion. Mix for about a minute either by hand or using the dough hook on your mixer.
Add hot water slowly until a dough forms, then once it is dough like, add the rest of the oil (1/2 tsp).
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
Break the dough into smaller even pieces about the size you can put into your hand ( see picture before)
Then grab each piece at a time and roll into a flat type circular ball.
Roll in the some chapati flour and push down slightly with your fingers onto a rolling board or flat surface.
Roll out evenly keeping it not too thick, sprinkle on some more flour if needed.
Using a pastry brush, brush on oil over the top of the paratha and then sprinkle on the flour.
Fold in half and add brush on more oil and sprinkle with flour
Fold in half again, dip in some flour and then roll out again
It will be more of a triangular shape and keep it about 2-3 mm thick.
In an indian lodhi ( or use a shallow fry pan) add oil and heat over medium heat.
Place the paratha on the pan and brush on some oil over the top, and drizzle a little oil around the edge of the paratha.
After about 30 seconds, check and flip over, brush on a little oil if needed to the other side and cook.
Ensure the paratha is brown on both sides and flip if needed.
Serve and enjoy warm!