Methi Parantha

It’s the season for greens. My neighbourhood grocery guy has a whole section in winters just for the leafy vegetables that are just so fresh and so bright this time of year. Yesterday I brought home a whole bunch of fenugreek. I cleaned it and kept it in the fridge for use later. My usual preparation with fenugreek leaves is to combine it with potato and prepare a dry vegetable fry. But today while thinking what to make for breakfast, I saw the whole bunch of fenugreek leaves – all cleaned and washed in my fridge and I decided to make methi paranthas or fenugreek Indian bread. Parantha is a flat Indian bread which may or may be stuffed with whatever you wish. For methi paranthas, the flour is kneaded together with fenugreek leaves. In case of stuffed paranthas, the stuffing is separate and is used when rolling the plain dough. I think I will soon give a recipe for a stuffed parantha as well but for now here’s the recipe for methi parantha.

Methi Parantha/ Fenugreek Indian Bread

Preparation: 20 mins| Cooking 2-3 mins per parantha| Makes 6

Ingredients

250 gms whole-wheat flour

2 tbsp. gram flour (besan)

~200gms fenugreek leaves

2 green chillies, chopped

1 inch ginger, grated

¼ tsp garam masala (optional)

¼ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp roasted cumin powder

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

Method

Remove fenugreek leaves from their stem. Wash under running water. It’s important to wash green leafy vegetables for a longer time as impurities sticking to the leaves can be difficult to clean.

Finely chop fenugreek leaves and mix together with chopped chillies and grated ginger.

In a deep mixing bowl, sift together whole-wheat flour and gram flour. Add all the spices. Mix together.

Add the fenugreek leaves mixture and knead into medium soft dough using warm water.

Divide into 6 round balls.

Clean your kitchen surface and sprinkle some dry flour.

Using a rolling pin, roll each ball into an approximately 6 inch diameter circle. You would need to dust more dry flour in between else the dough will stick to the kitchen surface/ rolling pin.

Heat a flat non-stick pan or a tava. Sprinkle a little oil. Put the rolled parantha onto the hot pan and cook on both sides until it becomes golden brown. Add a little oil on the sides when you flip it for the first time.

Serve hot with daal or chutney.

-Ashima Goyal Siraj

Ashima loves to play around in the kitchen. While necessity forced her into kitchen, she soon made it her haven. The thrill of being able to create something new and sharing it with others is what fuels her passion for cooking. The fact that her husband is a big foodie is just an added advantage. She believes that food is never just food; it’s story telling; it’s conversation. She blogs about her adventures in the kitchen at http://www.myweekendkitchen.in/