Food talk
Mother of all paranthas!

At a kid’s birthday party not long ago, we were dumbstruck by the sight of some adult friends devouring ‘mahaburgers’ by the dozen. Two patties of meaty stuff weren’t enough to satisfy exceptional hunger pangs, nor the extra slice of cheese. Many requested side orders of French fries. The prefix maha seemed to tempt the adults escorting tiny-tots as other snacks were very sensibly to avoid waste-bite sized for Lilliputian guests. But we digress. What is to be done when the body and mind want more and only one-dish option can be exercised? The parantha sprang immediately to our mind — plain or stuffed that can nourish and satisfy literally in more than a score of ways. But, we couldn’t help asking ourselves, can it ever mutate into a maha avatar? Talk of wish fulfilling prophecies! It was just two days after this
‘event’ that we were served a keema-anda-paneer-parantha by the lady who helps with cooking at home.

To be honest, she was shirking work creatively. She threw everything she had at her command at the day’s breakfast! There was little left over mince-not enough to serve four of us and there were just three eggs again not enough to scramble and stretch. Kneaded dough in the fridge too had reached the point of rationing. There was no bread! But combine all at hand and the whole as always turned out to be greater than its parts. Lip smacking, the novelty we feel fully deserves the epithet maha (Great) !

Maha Parantha

Ingredients

Cooked, left-over mince

(can be made with cooked

vegetables or soya

based mince) 150 gm

Eggs (beaten) 2-3

Processed cheese or 1 cube

paneer (sliced fine)

Dough Just enough to make

4 paranthas Onion

chopped fine One small

Fresh ginger (chopped fine) 1 tbsp

Green chilly (deseeded
and chopped) 1

Green coriander

(chopped fine) Small sprig

Butter/ghee 3 tbsp

Method

Divide the dough into equal portions and make balls.

Roll out in discs on a flat surface dusted with a little flour. Place equal portions of the filling — mince, onions, chillies, coriander and cheese — in the middle.

Reshape into balls, roll again as discs. Heat butter/ghee on a tawa and shallow fry the parantha.

As one side gets done, spread the egg batter with back of a spoon and flip over carefully, repeating the process with the other side. Do not overcook the egg crust. You may like ot enrich the maha parantha by ‘sprinkling’ or squeezing in a little ghee or butter from the sides rotating the tawa!

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