Friday, March 29, 2024

Cocina Caliente: Paratha (Roti)

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Cocina Caliente: Paratha (Roti)

I confess, when it comes to food I am one curious gal and when I encounter something I like I am not content with just ordering it from a restaurant … I need to know how to make it. 😀

Think of the savings!  And, I can make it (and eat it) any time I want.  I searched online for instructions on how to make paratha but what proved most useful was when I went to my next-door neighbor and asked if they could show me how to make it.

Plain Paratha

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: bread, flat bread, paratha
Servings: 4
Author: Penny Angeles-Tan

Equipment

  • large bowl
  • chopping board or rolling mat
  • Rolling Pin
  • hot plate or a flat pan
  • flipper or spatula

Ingredients

  • 1 cup wheat flour
  • wheat flour for dusting
  • water almost 3/4 cup, add a little at a time
  • oil
  • salt

Instructions

Preparation

  • Place the flour in a large bowl and add water a little at a time.
  • Mix them in the bowl until you form a dough. Keep adding water until you have a nice soft dough ball. If you put in too much water just add more flour.
  • Dust the dough ball with flour (so that it isn't sticky) and let it sit in the bowl for at least 10 to 15 minutes. I like to prepare the dough several hours before like after breakfast for lunch.
  • Cut the dough ball into 4 equal parts. If you want smaller parathas you can divide them into more parts.
  • Take 1 part and dust it and roll into a ball ... flatten into a disk on the chopping board with your palm and dust again.
  • Take the rolling pin and flatten the disk into a bigger, even circle (around 4 inches in diameter) and sprinkle with salt.
  • Roll the disk into a log (with the salted side inside) and then bring the ends of the log together to form a donut shape. This technique, I've found, is the best as it is what you want to do when you make flavored paratha by putting in filling like cheese, pesto, veggies, etc.
  • Dust the donut shape and (with your fingers) "massage" the donut shape until the edges and the center blend into a disk.
  • Dust the disk and take your rolling pin again and roll out the disk into an even circle. Don't be afraid to dust again if the disk starts to stick to the rolling pin. Be careful not to roll it too thin or the paratha will come out tough and not very edible.

Cooking

  • Place your hot plate or flat pan on the stove and heat it up until it is smoky. Drizzle with oil. If you are using a non-stick pan, no need to drizzle and the pan just needs to be hot enough, not necessarily smoking.
  • Place the rolled out dough in the hot plate/pan and drizzle some oil.
  • It will start to inflate and bubble out. Give it a few seconds and then take your flipper/spatula and turn it. Give that side about 20 seconds then flip it again. you want each side to be a little brown. With the air bubbles, it will make the surface uneven so the bubble pockets should be darker than the rest. This causes the "spotting".
  • Your paratha is done! You can transfer it to a plate. One serving is 2 pieces.

Notes

You can either make the paratha disks ahead of time and just make sure they are well dusted so that they don't stick to each other or you could make each one in between cooking.
It is THAT easy to make!
You can eat this with just butter or with curry or, really, with anything!  Yesterday I ate it with longganiza hamonado. 😀

When I tried making it another time I did something a little different and it turned out fantastic!  You might actually prefer this version. 😀

Cheese Paratha (with butter)

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: flatbread, paratha
Servings: 4
Calories: 142kcal
Author: Penny Angeles-Tan

Equipment

  • large bowl
  • Rolling Pin
  • mat or board
  • pan
  • flipper/spatula

Ingredients

  • 1 cup wheat flour
  • wheat flour for dusting
  • 3/4 cup water approximately
  • butter (salted)
  • grated cheese

Instructions

Preparation

  • Place the wheat flour in a large bowl and add water a little at a time and mix until you form a soft, smooth dough ball
  • Dust the dough ball with flour and let it sit in the bowl for at least 15 minutes.
  • Divide the ball into 4 equal parts. Take 1 part and put the rest back in the bowl to sit.
  • Roll the 1 part into a ball, dust it, then flatten it and roll it out as thinly as possible. Dust it again.
  • Flip the rolled out dough and spread butter on top as evenly as possible and add the grated cheese and distribute more or less evenly.
  • Starting from one end, roll the dough into a long, thin log then twist it into a spiral until it looks like a cinnamon roll and tuck the end underneath. Dust and put it in the bowl.
  • Repeat from step 4 for the remaining pieces.

Cooking

  • Place your pan on the stove and put on low to medium heat. While it is heating up take one of your rolled dough, dust all sides, and roll it out evenly on your board until it is about 1/4 inch thick. If it is thinner than that it will come out a little tough.
  • Once the pan is hot, add a little butter to melt, spread it on the pan with the spatula then place the rolled out dough on the pan.
  • After about 20 to 30 seconds it will start to bubble and rise, flip it.
  • Give it another 20 to 30 seconds (or longer if you want it crisper) and flip it again then using your spatula press down evenly on the paratha to remove air bubbles and to make it crispy.
  • Remove the paratha from your pan and serve on a plate

Notes

  • 1 piece of paratha is only 123 calories.
  • 1 full serving is 2 pieces of paratha.
  • You can roll out all the dough ahead of time before you start cooking but it makes more sense to me to do it at the same time as it saves on time and the dough is kept more fresh
  • The butter makes the paratha yummier.  Some recipes will tell you to use ghee which is essentially butter. 😀
  • You can eat paratha with anything!  It is the perfect rice substitute.

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