CARROT-PANEER PARATHA

 A colorful, nutritious paratha - with the goodness of carrots and cottage cheese! Try this one for a change!

Makes 4 parathas

Ingredients

For filling

1. Grated carrot – 1 cup
2. Crumbled paneer (cottage cheese) – 50 gm. (about ½ cup)
3. Turmeric powder – a pinch
4. Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
5. Coriander powder – 1-1 ½ tsp
6. Asafetida – a pinch
7. Coriander leaves (finely chopped) – 1 tbsp
8. Green chilli – 1-2 (finely chopped)
9. Salt to taste
10. Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
11. Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
12. Oil – 1- 1 ½ tsp

For dough

1. Whole wheat flour – 1 cup
2. Oil – 2 tsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Oil / ghee for making parathas

Method

Filling 

1. Heat 1 ½ tsp oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and asafetida.
2. When they splutter, add the grated carrots and stir on a low flame.
3. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt and stir for a couple of minutes - till dry.
4. Add the crumbled paneer, coriander leaves and chopped green chilli and mix well and turn off the heat.
5. Allow the filling to cool.
6. Make 4 equal sized balls of the filling.

Paratha 

1. Mix the whole wheat flour with salt and oil and add enough water to knead into a soft firm dough and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
2. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions.

1. Roll one dough ball into a small thick circle of about 3” diameter.
2. Place a ball of the stuffing in the centre and fold in from all the sides so that the stuffing is fully covered.
3. Dust it with flour and roll it into a paratha carefully so that the stuffing does not spill out.
4. Heat a tava / pan and put the stuffed paratha on it.
5. Flip it after a minute.
6. Flip it again after a minute and add ghee (or oil) all over the paratha.
7. Turn it again and spread ghee on this side too.
8. Remove from tava when both sides have golden brown spots.
9. Serve hot with butter / ketchup / curd.

Tips

1. The stuffing should be absolutely dry – otherwise you will have difficulty rolling the stuffed paratha.
2. If you find that the filling is spilling out, next time you can try adding the filling to the whole wheat flour and preparing a soft, firm dough and roll out the parathas – as mentioned in palak-paneer paratha.
3. Children will love its orangish-red color!

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.