Monday, March 11, 2013

Parsley paratha enriched with flaxseed powder and teff flour, flavored with mild hint of few ground spices and spiced with Florida Hot green chilies. {Parsley flavored Indian unleavened flat bread.}

Today morning I prepared Parsley parathas / rotis to pack in lunch box. I had one bunch of parsley laying in refrigerator over one week, so decided to prepare parsley paratha. I enriched it with some flax seed powder and Teff flour, for a change I flavored it with freshly ground cloves, Kalonji, corriander and shahijeera spice blend. To bring the heat I used Florida Hot green chilies which are very long and appealing but exactly not too hot for Indian palate. Parsley is deep green, curly herb with  remarkable health benefits. This is my first attempt to prepare  Parsley paratha. Parathas were aromatic and full of  flavor.


Parsley Herb

Ingredients to make Parsley Paratha :
  • 1.5 cup - wheat flour ( I used Indian chakki aata-Royal Brand)
  • 4 Tb.spoon - Besan/ chickpea flour
  • 3 Tb.spoon - Teff flour ( you can substitute with any other grain flour like jawar, bajra,ragi)
  • 1 Tb.spoon -  flax seed powder/ Alsi powder
  • 1.5 cup - extra finely chopped parsley
  • 4-5  - garlic cloves
  • 1 inch - ginger piece
  • 1/2 cup - roughly crushed onions
  • 2 Florida hot green chilies or regular 3-4 chilies.(for mild heat use 1 Florida Hot chili.)
  • 1/4 cup - yogurt
  • 1/2 T.spoon - turmeric powder
  • 1/2 T.spoon slightly heaped - salt
  • 5-6 Tb.spoon water
  • 2 Tb.spoon oil + more to apply while roasting parathas.
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour/ Maida - to dust dough balls. (you can use rice flour or same wheat flour)
Spices to grind :
  • 2 cloves
  • 1/2 T.spoon - shahijeera
  • 1 Tb.spoon corriander seeds
  • 2 pinches kalonji 
Combine and grind to fine powder.

Note : You can change this spice blend with your choices of spices, even you entirely skip adding spices these parathas will taste good, only change I will suggest is  increase ginger and garlic quantity.


How to make Parsley Paratha/ Roti.
  1. Roughly chop onion, garlic, ginger and green chilies. Combine all in a small mixer bowl, crush to coarse texture without adding water. Alternatively you can grate onion, garlic, ginger and finely chop chilies.
  2. In a medium bowl combine 1.5 cup wheat flour, 4 tbsp besan, 3 tbsp Teff flour, 1 tbsp flaxseed powder, finely chopped parsley, coarse ground mixture of onion-ginger-garlic-green chilies, 1/4 cup yogurt, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp salt, ground spice powder. Mix all together with wooden spoon.
  3. Add 5 tbsp water, knead until mixture forms into dough. If  dough doesn't  form ball add 1-2 tbsp more water. Once dough is merged it  will be sticky so smear dough ball with 1 tbsp or little more oil  and knead again. Press several times with your fist to make smooth dough ball.
  4. Divide the dough into eight balls of equal size. Dust each ball with little flour, roll  each ball  circular holding between your oil greased palms. Make perfect shallow round dough balls, dust  with flour, keep aside covered for 15-20 minutes. 
  5. Heat griddle over medium low heat. Slowly roll out dough ball over flour dusted surface. You may experience some difficulty as we have lot of rough texture of crushed herbs. Pat cracked edges with spatula or fingers to  make edges smooth. Continue to roll paratha  by flipping  one or two times. Stretch up to 6 inch diameter. If  white flour is visible over rolled paratha, dust if off by using brush or wet paper towel.
  6. Spray 2-3 drops of oil  in the center of the griddle before placing  rolled paratha.(Use home made oil spray, Take new plastic spray bottle, rinse with water, dry and fill with cooking oil.) After placing rolled paratha over griddle maintain medium low heat for 30 seconds then increase heat to medium. Spray some oil above and over the edges. Press with kitchen towel/ balled paper towel or wooden chapati press. After one minute flip paratha, again you may spray little oil and fry for 30-40 seconds. You may once again flip paratha and fry for few seconds to ensure it is rightly fried. Give around two minutes for each paratha and maintain medium low to medium heat.Don't let get dark browned burnt spots on paratha. Slow roast for more flavor.
  7. As you finish frying each paratha, stack it on a  paper towel lined plate. Cover with dome lid to keep them soft. Do wipe out formed steam from dome lead with paper towel after stacking 3-4 parathas.
  8. Serve hot with sour cream, mayonnaise, plain yogurt, whipped cream cheese or parsley infused yogurt like shown in the image. To make parsley infused yogurt - Take half cup yogurt, add salt and 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley.


Images of Paratha Preparation steps.




Rolled Parsley paratha over rolling pin/ Latne /Belan



Indian unleavened flat bread infused with Parsley.

9 comments:

sm said...

tasty paratha
just remembered coriander paratha

Usha said...

sm, This parsley looks like corriander, I have not made corriander parathas since long time but use it generously in all dishes. It will be good addition to paratha list, I will blog corriander paratha in summer.

Anonymous said...

Would love to try this recipe ! Would you know the Indian / Hindi name for teff flour so I can ask at the store? Thank you!

Usha said...

anonymous, Teff is staple crop of Ethiopia and not grown in India so I don't know what it is called in Indian languages..I tried to search but failed to get Indian name for Teff.

If you have any Ethiopian restaurant near you, request them to share their source of buying Teff flour and another place to look is Indian supermarkets..Now few of them carry few American brand grains, FoodHall stores carry few Bob'Red mill grains, you can request to get Teff flour. Also online store gourmetco.in carry Bob's Red mill products, they may import Teff flour upon request.

You can use any other gluten free Indian flour instead of Teff. It will be nice if you get Teff flour in India, Look for "Ethiopian Injera" they are made like our dosa...very spongy, soft, extra large and thick.

Thanks for checking paratha recipe.

Unknown said...

Upon looking up I understand that Teff is nothing but pearl millet or bajra in Hindi and saddalu in telugu.

vidya said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paspalum_scrobiculatum
Teff is nothing but varagu in India. Used as health food these days was staple for rural people.

KumaranSurendran said...

Anna & Vidhya, I don't think it is either pearl millet or Varagu :( I am still trying to get the right indian name

Usha said...

KumaranSurendran, Thanks for taking time to stop by...you are right teff is not pearl millet or Varagu. If you google for Teff and view the images of Teff farms, it is a type of grass..that grass looks familiar..may be we have it in India but never considered to harvest seeds as grain. Look for all types of grass in India to get the clue for exact Indian name for Teff. I read that farmers from few states in America are now growing Teff..one can also try to grow Teff in India.

Suchitra said...

Very good website, thank you.
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