Food Talk
Parantha gali

The winter chill makes one turn to the good old parantha that comes in delightful shapes and sizes, writes Pushpesh Pant

Chef’s special

Ingredients
Atta 450 gm
 Suji 50 gm
 Salt 1.5 gm
 Oil 100 ml

For stuffing: 250 g

Use any one of the following as preferred or mix ’n’ match as you wish. The spicing can be changed and adjusted as per fancy. We invite you to be adventurous by experimenting by trying out unusual combinations or introducing exotic ingredients like minced butter mushrooms with processed cheese, anardaana-sukha pudina, ande ki bhujia, baigan ka bharta, chopped tomatoes, deseeded green chillies very lightly sautéed with roughly chopped garlic or chane ki daal and sprouts. Potatoes (boiled and mashed) Cauliflowers (washed well and grated) Paneer (grated) Muli (grated)

Spicing

Roasted cumin powder 1 tsp
 Red chilli powder 1/4th tsp
 Saunth 1 tsp
 Rock salt 1/4th tsp
 Salt to taste
Anardaana dried 2 tbs
 Dried pudina 1 large pinch

Method

Sift suji, atta and salt. Make a hollow in the middle, pour oil into it and kneed the dough soft to touch adding sufficient quantities of water and let it stand for an hour. Roll into round discs like a roti and place 2 large spoonfuls or more of the stuffing. Place another disc on top and gently roll again. Shallow fry on a non-stick tawa or pan with desired quantity of fat till preferred crispness is obtained.

Can there be a bread more versatile than a parantha? It is just not the shape we are talking about — triangular, circular and four-cornered. It can be enjoyed plain or stuffed, flaky and crisp or soft and spongy, hot and cold. It can be made with just a suggestion of fat or can be shallow fried shamelessly in oodles of fat and further enriched with dollops of butter. The parantha can serve as a wrap or form the basis of a sumptuous roll.

A slice of your favourite pickle is the perfect foil for a one-dish meal and if the accompaniments are dahi or chaach, it is sheer bliss. With the whisper of the arrival of winter in the air, it is not unnatural that our thoughts turn to the good old parantha. This is the season to relish gobhi, muli, mutor, palak, methi and bathua. Thank God, all of these veggies have a parantha avatar.

We have long wondered where does the name derive from? Learned friends tell us that parantha essentially is layered bread and a layer as everyone knows at least in the Hindi heartland is a parat. There was a time when the khansama at the Fatehpur Sikri dak bungalow showed of his skills by surprising the guests with what he claimed was a 100-layer parantha. In our food driven rambles across the land we have encountered the parantha in different delightful garbs.

There is the ulte tawe ka parantha that is inseparable as the Siamese twins from the galauti kebab in Lucknow. And how can one forget the jalebi-like lachha parantha that is common at all tandoori outlets. Those who like a hint of mint in their food can always order pudina parantha. The Sonar Bangal has its own quite rich Mughalia parantha and the Malabar ‘pratha’ made with rice flour or unadulterated maida has a distinct personality. Some call it the Ceylon parantha. In any case, it is great to mop the gravy with.

The mother of all paranthas or the father if you please is the one cooked at Rambabu Parantha Bhandaar in Agra and now also in Indore. These mega breads are first dry roasted on a 30 kg heavyweight tawa and then shallow fried on another equal tawa. The medium used is pure ghee and the fresh vegetables are sourced from the proprietor’s own farm.

After great difficulty we have succeeded in worming out the secret that the khastagi — touch me not crispness — of this specialty is conjured up by adding Ikanni Bhar suji to the atta. This parantha is also made with a paneer or mava filling.

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