Making a PARATHA is very simple once you get the hang of it. In today’s day and age, things are so much easier with the help of hand blenders and mixer grinders. I will explain how to make it manually.
Ingredients:
- 2 Cups of Aata
- Salt to taste
- 3-4 cups of water
Method
Sift Aata. Add salt. Mix well together. Add a little water at a time while kneading the dough. First, you will get a crumby/sticky consistency. Not to worry, carry on with this process adding a little more water and continue the same process til the Aata is mixed well and forms a dough. (Tip: Never pour too much water or your dough will get too soft and too messy to handle and you will have to add a lot of dry Aata to get it to form a pliable dough again). Take some dry Atta on your fingers and rub the wet Aata off them. Continue kneading the dough. If you use pressure, it will soften faster. If not, then continue this process for 5-7 mins til it is soft. Let the dough rest after that. Keep it covered with a Clean Damp Cloth or a lid for half an hour.
After 30 mins, Take the dough by first sprinkling very little water over it and knead for 3-4 mins more and form the dough into a ball. Poke with your finger to see it is nice and soft. If not, continue for a couple of minutes more.
Make 6-8 large size balls from the dough. Put dry Aata on the board and roll it out into a medium size Chapati using a rolling pin. *To this you smear OIL, MELTED GHEE or BUTTER generously.
3 different shapes to make PARATHAS (please use the pictures above as reference)
- Roll out like a Chapati/Roti. Smear any of the 3 Ghee/Oil/Butter generously over the top. then from the center of the Roti you make a slit with a knife to the end. Lift one part of the slit end and roll it right around till it meets the other end. It will look like a Cone. Now stand this up on the board and press it down with the palm of ur hand and flatten it. Dip in dry aata and roll it out to a ROUND shape. This will have layers when done.
- Roll out round like a Roti and add any of the 3 Ghee/Oil/Butter generously. From one end fold to the centre. From the other end fold to overlap the first fold to the end. Next, from top fold to Centre and from bottom to overlap. This will form a SQUARE. Now roll it according to the shape.
- Roll out round like a Roti and add any of the 3 Ghee/Oil/Butter generously. Now, fold in half completely. From one end to the other and again from the top to the bottom. This will form a TRIANGLE. Roll it out following the shape.
*All the 3 forms will have layers if done correctly. Don’t roll them out too big. Keep them medium in size.
Cooking
Heat a TAWA/GRIDDLE til it’s nice and hot. Add your PARATHA to it. Once you see it’s bloating or little bubbles starts to appear, turn it over and add a generous amount of GHEE/BUTTER/OIL over the top. When the underneath starts bloating the same way, turn over and follow the same procedure. Flip over again. Using a Spatula or the back of a Spoon press around the edges firmly. This will allow it to cook and not be raw on the inside. Then, press the centre and flip over and follow the same procedure. Be fast while doing this or else your PARATHA will burn. Don’t worry or get upset when this happens. You will face this the first few times until your hands get SET. Then you will sail through the making of PARATHAS and become an EXPERT!!!
Once you master the art of making parathas, you can improvise by adding oil or diluted ghee to the Aata or Flour and kneading the same combined or separately. Always remember when kneading Flour always add oil or ghee along with salt and knead in HOT water. Then you will get EXCELLENT FLOUR/MAIDA PARATHAS.
Lastly when you become a PRO at it, then you can start adding fillings like eggs, mince meat, sausage mince, various veggies like potato, cauliflour, radish, etc..
HOPE YOU FIND THIS HELPFUL!
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