Wrapped in layers

There is nothing flat about this flatbread — the paratha — as its stratified nature adds to its allure and wholesomeness, writes Anu Abraham

Paratha is the most beloved flatbread native to India as it offers layers of goodness in its layers of cooked dough. India has come up with so many different avatars of this flatbread and each version has its distinct taste and unique method of preparation. From the famed aloo paratha of North India to the crowning glory of the south, the Kerala parotta, or the heritage recipe of west Bengal the Dhakai paratha to the Rajasthani Moong dal paratha, India has a variety of over 20 plus lip-smacking paratha recipes that people from the West are beginning to enjoy as well. The beauty of these parathas is that they are a wholesome meal by themselves. All one needs to do is roll and tuck them in your bag on the way to work for a nourishing yet easy meal to make on a busy working day. Most parathas are stuffed with seasonal leafy vegetables, radish, cauliflower, paneer, spiced potato, or made with sweetened lentils that people who have a sweet tooth enjoy as a snack. They are usually soaked in clarified butter and are very rich. This is a flatbread that can be eaten as breakfast, lunch, a snack, or dinner. They are usually shallow fried and enjoyed with either butter, chutney, curd, or pickle.

Apart from being delicious and filling, these parathas are also diet-friendly. If one chooses the filling wisely and is careful not to get carried away and slather the bread with butter, it can be a good source of dietary fibre, protein, and minerals such as manganese, iron, and copper. If one cannot enjoy parathas made with buckwheat, the next best option is to use multigrain paratha. The choice of grains apart from whole wheat flour are jowar, ragi, or bajra. Let us remember our bodies are used to locally grown grains and will not require any international bread to nourish itself. Use fresh and seasonal fillings. Try adding raw vegetables as filling instead of fried fillings as this might make the paratha unhealthy.

Some filing options that might be worth trying if you are on the lookout for something healthy include beetroot, broccoli, mushroom, raw papaya, and carrot.

A special touch

Each recipe has a special story worth cherishing for generations to come. This paratha is a special paratha with thin layers and a saffron flavour. It is different from normal parathas as it has more layers and is soaked in ghee. I have seen my nani make this paratha on special occasions. Nani would prepare this special paratha for festivals or special guests.

My mom recalls that everyone in her family enjoyed this paratha during festivals. Back then, sons-in-law were treated with the utmost respect and considered to be as good as celebrities. To date, some parts of India still follow that tradition of according special attention to sons-in-law. My mom was the oldest daughter of nani so, my father was everyone’s favourite. Whenever my father visited nani’s place, she would prepare Warqi Paratha for breakfast. She would personally supervise the preparation and make sure it was well layered with ghee. This special paratha would get served with malai (in Lucknow people call it Baalai) or along with kebabs. Sometimes they are served with both malai and kebabs.

Warqi Paratha

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour: 2 cups
Milk: ¼ cup
Saffron: a few strands
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method

Soak saffron in milk. In the meanwhile, sieve the flour. Now, add saffron milk and salt to the flour to make a soft dough. Cover with a wet cloth and leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into equal parts. Roll each part into a thin chapati. Apply ghee on the chapati and fold both ends of the roti and align it to the centre to resemble an envelope. Again, apply ghee and fold till you get a small rectangle. The key is to create as many layers as one can get. Try repeating the above steps four more times. Keep aside and cover it with a cloth to avoid drying the dough. Repeat the same process for the remaining dough. Heat a pan and add oil or ghee. Once hot, turn the gas to medium. Roll the paratha thin and fry till golden brown. Serve it with malai, rabdi, kebab or paneer masala.
Note: These are best deep-fried, although I avoided deep-frying the paratha. It was tasty but not as tasty as the ones my nani made!

(Recipe courtesy Arshia Tabassum.)

One ingredient, one recipe

This column celebrates food and explores the possibility of forming an invisible chain that will bind us together as a family. Picking the most important ingredient of ‘love,’ we would want readers to send us a unique recipe that has either a childhood memory attached to it or, an interesting fact, or even a food philosophy they learned from their ancestors. We will hand-pick one unique recipe and publish it along with this column the following month. Please share your heritage recipe and story in 300 words with “Food Family: Love” mentioned in the subject line to [e-mail] by April 4.