Healthy veg and lentil parathas

Priya Hunt

Parathas are ubiquitous items of the menu at home – breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was taught how to make parathas when I was a young girl by a male friend who had trained in catering. He taught me his grandma’s trick of cooking them on high flame and how to roll them out quickly. I experimented with these for years, finally getting well know among my family and friends for my parathas. This is a recipe that has a healthy twist and adds a good deal of protein even if you have it without any accompaniments. I wanted to add more protein to my diet, being a vegetarian. Adding the dal, yogurt and chia seeds to the dough helps with this. Avocado (instead of oil) gives a touch of healthy fat.

What you need

• Dough:
• Multi-purpose Atta: 4 cups (any cup but use the same for rest of the measures, I use a small teacup)
• Dal – Dry lentils (any sort): 3/4 cup
• Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
• Yogurt: 1/2 cup
• Avocado: 1, well mashed
• Fresh fenugreek leaves or spinach, chopped fine : 1/2 cup
• Salt: to taste
• Chia seeds (optional): 1 tbsp
• Stuffing:
• Boiled and mashed potato: 1 cup
• Romanesco or ordinary cauliflower, grated: 3/4 cup
• Ginger, grated: 1 tbsp
• Red onion, chopped fine: 2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves, chopped fine: 1/2 cup
• Green chillies, chopped fine (optional): 1 tsp
• Coriander and cumin powder: 1 tbsp
• Salt: to taste 
• Ghee: for cooking
• Extra flour or Atta: for dusting

What you do

• Wash and cook the dal in double the quantity of water, with the turmeric, until well cooked
• Mash with a spoon and leave aside to cool down
• Mix the rest of the ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl, add the mashed dal little at a time to make a dough
• You can use a little water if needed but I manage to just stick with the cooked dal
• Set aside to rest for 30 mins
• In the meantime, heat a tsp of ghee and fry the grated cauliflower till its cooked slightly (this helps it bind better and not leave moisture)
• Add it to the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Mix and mash well
• Take a small ball of dough (size of a golf ball), dust with a little flour
• Dust a chopping board or surface with some more flour
• Flatten the ball with your hands on this surface to a small disc
• Take a smaller ball of the stuffing and place in the centre of the dough disc
• Pull the dough around the stuffing to make a round ball
• Dust with more flour and roll out the paratha into a flatbread, it should be no thicker than half a cm, preferably thinner
• Cook on a griddle pan (Tava) until pink spots are formed on one side
• Turnover and cook the other side
• Flip over again and spread half a tsp if ghee on the surface, flip and do the same to the other side
• Cook both sides till nice brown spots are formed and set aside
• Cook the rest, I normally make 2-3 per person as they are moreish
• Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt

What helps

• Get really good Atta – I particularly like using multi-grain mix which includes a mix of wholegrain wheat and various millets
• Experiment with the proportions as it varies slightly based on your ingredients. However, instead adding water if too dry, add more yogurt as that enhances the flavour and texture
• Cook on a medium to high flame. But if you have a smoke detector, make sure you have the windows open as I’ve set the alarm off in my house many times!
• You can use leftover cooked yellow dal to make the dough