PANEER - PEAS PARATHA

A nutritious paratha combining the goodness of fresh green peas and paneer (cottage cheese).

Makes 4 parathas

                                      
                                      

Ingredients

For the filling

1. Shelled Green peas – 1 cup
2. Paneer – 50 gms
3. Green chilli – 2
4. Coriander leaves (chopped) – 2 tbsp
5. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder – a pinch
7. Coriander powder – ½ tsp
8. Ajwain – a pinch
9. Salt to taste

For the dough

1. Whole wheat flour – 1 ¼ cup
2. Salt to taste
3. Oil – 2 tsp
4. Ghee / oil for the paratha

Method

Filling 

1. Boil the shelled peas with turmeric powder and salt for 3-5 minutes.
2. Allow to cool.
3. Drain off the water and grind the peas along with coriander leaves, green chilli, and cumin seeds to a fairly fine paste.
4. Crumble the paneer and mix it well with the peas paste, adding salt if necessary. 
5. Divide into 4 equal sized balls.

Dough 

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

Tips

1. This can be made with frozen peas too - in that case, just blanch the peas - put it in boiling water for a minute and draining off.
2. One day I did not have paneer, so I used 2 tbsp grated coconut instead and ground it along with blanched peas, cumin seeds, coriander leaves and green chilli. 
3. Once I tried with just peas and it tasted yummy too. 
4. An easier method is to add whole wheat flour to the ground peas mix and add salt if required and 2 tsp oil and make a soft firm dough. Roll out parathas after at least 20 minutes and roast them on the tava as mentioned above.

© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.