The first time I thought of this dish was on the Irish festival Saint Patrick’s day. To say that we don’t celebrate it here even would mean that people know of this. But my Facebook wall was flooded with green pictures from my friends staying in North-America. Rivers colored green, people wearing green and even rivers dyed green. I wanted something green too. I couldn’t dye a river nearby but surely I could cook something green. Who better than Sanjeev Kapoor for a recipe. His recipe calls for only salt and ajwain but I have added a few more ingredients of my own to get a different taste in paratha. Hope you like it.
Goes without saying, it is healthy, wholesome and green :P. I have paired it with green coconut chutney to suit the green theme. You can have it with pickles, sabzi, curds or just a thick layer of butter. Also, the method used here for folding the parathas makes it a lachcha paratha. You can use any style you prefer.
This requires you to make blanch the palak/spinach. Blanching enhances the color and the flavor of the spinach and also makes it soft. After blanching, grind and make a paste of the spinach.
Ingredients :
Spinach/Palak – 1 small bunch
Whole wheat flour – 2 cups
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Ajwain/carom seeds – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Till/ White sesame seeds – 1 tsp(optional)
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Milk – to knead the dough
Method:
- Blanch and grind the Spinach to make a paste.
- Add all the dry ingredients with the dough and mix them well. Later add the Spinach paste to it and mix.
- Use milk to knead the dough. And let it settle for 20-25 mins.
- Pinch a ball-sized dough and flatten it and start rolling it out using a rolling-pin
- Once rolled out now sprinkle a bit of flour and oil on the paratha. And start to fold it in the Japanese fan style. Then fold it to make it round. Sorry I couldn’t describe it any better. Please see the pics to get an idea.
- Now roll it out again using a rolling-pin. I couldn’t get the round shape. Swalpa adjust maadi(Please adjust). Knowing I couldn’t get a circle even with a compass in hand, I keep my expectations low w.r.t the shape 😛
- Put the paratha on a hot tawa.
- Fry the parathas with oil/ghee by flipping and frying on both sides. Once done, take it out and serve hot 🙂