Theme : Paratha, Variations : Infinite

10 Paratha families
1.: Common Paratha Take a tomato sized ball of whole wheat flour dough ( see sidebar). Roll into a large circle, Brush surface with oil or ghee. Fold in half so that you have a semi circle. Brush surface with oil / ghee and fold in half to get a rough triangle. Roll gently to into a thick triangle. Cook both sides on a hot skillet ( tava) till brown spots appear all over.	Theme : Any edible dough can be layered or stuffed, rolled into a thick sheet and cooked into a Paratha. Variations: Infinite combinations exist using a variety of stuffing, flavouring, flours and cooking techniques. This cookbook lists major families most parathas belong to. The next few pages explore different stuffings, flours and flavouring Parathas are layered, unleavened flatbreads. They are usually accompanied by butter, yogurt, raitas, pickles, curries or just tea. Originating from Punjab, parathas traveled with Indian traders and workers across the world, becoming Roti prata in Singapore, Roti canai in Malaysia, Farata in Mauritius, Palata in Burma and Bussup shut ( Bust up shirt - what a flaky, crumbly paratha resembles) in Trinidad. Western cuisines use leavening to make thick breads. Indian cuisine evolved the unique technique of making thick unleavened breads edible by stuffing or layering them. This key breakthrough led to creation of a delicious range of parathas. Parathas can be thick or thin, small or large, round, square or triangular, stuffed or plain. They are normally cooked on a skillet (tava), but can also be baked in a tandoor. Some can even be deep fried. Most north Indian parathas are made from whole wheat flour (atta). The south Indian version, called parota is made from maida (refined wheat flour). Essential skills : Kneading: Take a cup of flour, four pinches of salt and half a cup of water. Mix in water very gradually with the flour using your fingertips. Once the flour starts holding together, start kneading and knead well till you get a non-sticky dough. Adjust the amount of flour / water as needed. Stuffing: Pinch off a tomato sized ball of dough and roll out into a disc. Place a lemon sized ball of stuffing in the center. Gather the edges of the dough together, enclosing the stuffing. Flatten with palm and roll gently into a thick disc. Rolling out: Flatten the ball of stuffed dough by hand. Roll gently into a disc, dusting with flour if it is sticky. Do not worry about the shape as long you get a sheet of uniform thickness. Cooking: Heat a skillet over medium flame. Add half a spoon of ghee. Place the rolled dough sheet on the skillet and cook both sides till brown spots appear all over. Shopping List: Atta, Maida - 1 kg Oil/ Ghee - 500 ml, Egg - 4 nos Salt/ pepper / garam masala/ chili flakes /chili powder/ cumin, Onion, tomato, ginger garlic paste, green chilies - 100 gms Paneer / potatoes - 250 gms
2.: South Indian Parota Take a tomato sized ball of maida dough ( all purpose flour). Roll into a large circle, Smear liberally with oil and cut up the sheet with a pizza cutter into 10-12 pieces. Stack the pieces over one another. Flatten with hand and roll gently into a thick round. Cook both sides on a hot skillet generously drizzling with oil / ghee. Before serving, place the edges of your hands on either side of the paratha. Bring them sharply together, crushing the paratha. This separates it into layers. The traditional way to make this takes years of practice. The dough is stretched wafer thin by deft flicks of the wrist, as large as a newspaper sheet, rolled up like a Swiss roll, patted into a thick round and cooked.
3.: Muglai Paratha Roll out a common paratha ( see recipe #1) Cook one side on a hot skillet.. Beat an egg with two pinches each of salt and pepper. Flip the paratha and spread a spoon of beaten egg all over the cooked side. Repeat for the other side. Cook till the egg sets, flipping again if needed.
4.: Deep fried Parota Roll out a South Indian paratha ( see recipe #2) Heat 500 ml oil till it starts to smoke. Reduce flame to medium and slide in the dough sheet. Deep fry both sides till golden.
5.: Lachcha Paratha The traditional method takes practice to master. Instead, take a tomato sized ball of atta dough. Roll out and cook it using the technique described in recipe # 2.
6.: Tandoori Paratha Roll out a common paratha ( see recipe #1) . Line the tray of an electric Tandoor with silver foil. Place the dough sheet in the tray and cook for 2-4 minutes till it is done.
7.: Flavoured Paratha Take a tomato sized ball of atta dough. Roll out a common paratha ( see recipe #1). Sprinkle chopped mint leaves /chopped fenugreek leaves / cumin seeds / red chili flakes / crushed black pepper. Pat them so that they stick to the surface. Cook both sides on a hot skillet till done.
8.: Stuffed Paratha Take a handful of grated paneer or boiled and mashed potatoes. Mix in two pinches each of salt, chili powder and garam masala. Shape into tight lemon sized balls. Take a lemon sized ball of atta / maida dough. Roll into a disc. Place the ball of stuffing in the center. Gather the edges together to enclose the stuffing. Press with hand to flatten and roll gently into a thin disc. Cook both sides on a hot skillet, drizziling with ghee / oil. Anything edible, that can be shaped into a ball can be used as a stuffing.
9.: Unlayered Paratha While making a stuffed paratha, if the stuffing leaks or if the paratha sticks to the surface while rolling out, do not despair ! Just scoop the mess, shape again into a ball, dust with flour and roll / pat into a thick round. Cook both sides on a hot skillet, drizzling with ghee / oil. These blur the line between parathas and rotis, since they are not layered. In some versions, grated bottle gourd, or other stuffings are kneaded while making the dough.
10.: Kothu Parota Chop two south Indian parotas into tiny bits. Heat two spoons of oil. Add half a handful of chopped onion. Stir and cook for a minute. Add a chopped green chili, a chopped tomato, half a spoon of ginger garlic paste and two pinches of salt. Stir and cook for two minutes. Add the chopped parota. Stir and cook on high heat for two minutes & serve. Numerous versions are much loved in Tamilnadu. In Muttai Parota , an egg is cracked in before mixing in the chopped parota. In chicken or mutton kothu parota, chicken / mutton mince is cooked in the masala before adding in the chopped parota.

1001 South Indian Breads

South Indian Breads
The term 'bread' is used here to mean a staple food, cooked from flour, and is eaten everyday.

In the west, the majority of breads are baked from wheat dough. In South India, baking never took off and so most breads are pan fried or steamed. Instead of wheat, the staple cereal is rice and so, it is no surprise we find a variety of rice breads. Most South Indian breads use a combination of rice and lentils, thus meeting both carbohydrate and protein needs.

A word of warning : Despite their apparent simplicity, all these recipes take quite a bit of practice and perseverance to cook up.

South Indian breads fall into six categories :

1. Bread made from fermented rice batter : Aappam
2. Bread made from lentil batter : Pesarattu , Adai
3. Breads made from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal : Idli, Dosa, Uttappam, Paniyaram
4. Breads made from steamed rice / ragi flour : Puttu
5. Breads made from semi cooked rice flour dough : Pathiri / Ada / Akki roti / Kozhukattai
6. Breads made from Wheat dough - Parota

Detailed instructions and great photos here.

Any thick bread needs a leavening agent. The leavening agent fills the batter with gas, puffing it up from the inside, giving the bread a soft, fluffy texture. Without leavening, all we get on cooking is a hard , inedible mess. Wild yeast is the most common leavening agent used in South Indian breads. Leavening is not necessary for thin breads like dosa / pesarattu / pathiri , nor for flaky breads like parota. But without leavening, thick breads like Idli / Uttappam would be tough and chewy.

Aapam
The hemispherical crepe, Aapam (Aa as in audience and pam as in pump) is cooked from a fermented batter of rice flour and water /coconut milk . These are cooked in a hemispherical pan ( wok). The batter is poured into the wok and swirled so that it coats the sides of the wok. Aapam has thin, lacy sides and a spongy base.
Aapam Video

Pesarattu
Pesarattu is a type of dosa popular in Andhra pradesh which uses a batter made from soaked and ground green gram ( Mung dal).

Model Recipes
Indira's Pesarattu
Akshayapatram's MLA Pesarattu

Adai
When soaked mixed lentils and grains are ground to a coarse batter and cooked into thick rounds on a hot skillet, we get Adai. A variety of grain and lentil combinations are used to cook numerous varieties of adai.

Model Recipes
Vaishali's Adai
Quick and easy Adai
Shriya's Kara Adai


Idli, Dosa, Uttappam & Paniyaram
Idli, Dosa, Uttappam and Paniyaram share the same rice and urad dal batter. This batter is steamed to give Idlis. The same batter is spread into thin rounds on a hot skillet and cooked into crisp dosas. When the same batter is cooked into pancake sized thick discs on a hot skillet, it is called uttappam / kal dosai / Set Dosai. When pan fried in small hemispherical moulds, the same batter becomes paniyaram.

Model Recipes
Seema's Idlis
Indira's Andhra style rice grit idlis

Sweet Babe's Dosa

Prema's Uttappam

Cham's Paniyaram
Jayasree's Paniyaram

Puttu
When rice or ragi flour is mixed with water and steamed, we get puttu. Special cylindrical moulds are packed with the flour and steamed. These are popular in rural Tamilnadu and Kerala.

Model Recipes
Saradha's Ragi Puttu
Lan's Puttu with a neat technique for keeping it soft.
The not so common Wheat flour Puttu

Pathiri / Ada / Kozhukattai
A variety of rice flour breads are popular in Kerala and Karnataka. Since rice flour does not have gluten, it cannot be kneaded into a dough like wheat flour. So the flour is mixed with boiling water, which cooks it partially into starch. Cooked starch becomes sticky. This sticky dough is shaped into thick or thin rounds, cooked on a skillet or steamed and are called pathiri / ada / akki roti. When shaped into dumplings, and stuffed with sweet / savoury fillings and steamed, these are caled Kozhukattai.

Model Recipes
Annita's Malabar Pathiri
Mallugirl's fluffy rice pathiri

Priya's Stuffed Ada
Surya's rice and wheat stuffed Ada

Ruchii's Akki Roti
Aayi's masala Akki Roti
Aparna's Akki Roti

Prema's Kozhukattai
Ammupatti's Kozhukattai video

Though wheat breads like chapati and poori have now become common in South India, they are yet to attain the status of 'traditional' fare. The only wheat bread which is considered traditional is the parota, made from all purpose flour. This thick, multilayered, crumbly bread is completely unlike any other north Indian bread. It is usually cooked on a skillet, but in some places it is deep fried. Layered like a pastry, it is mainly eaten at dinner.

Model Recipes
Annita's Parota
Renuka's Parotta with step by step photos

Unlike the breads listed above, which cut across regions and have their variants in more than one state, there are other delightful local breads like the multi layered wholewheat parotta found in Kerala ( Thanks Mallugirl !) or the Jonna Roti ( made from Jowar / Sorghum / Cholam ) popular in parts of Andhra / Karnataka. If you know of any other breads, would you please mail me / comment ?

This post is reposted for Aparna's Small Breads & Srivalli’s Roti Mela