Skip to main content

Parantha Time

It's amazing how traditions are made. Take this one for example. For the past many years, we eat gobhi paranthas on diwali night. I think it first started because we were a bit tired of all the sweets, dry fruits and chocolates that are gifted you on diwali day. And it was 11 pm, that time after the festivities are over. You're done with lakshmi puja, have lighted up the rather huge house with electric lights, diyas and candles, bursted tons of crackers and then you don't know what else to do. So the crisp pan-fried gobhi paranthas just sounded perfect. And continue to sound perfect many years later. We had gobhi parathas once again last night after the excitement of the festival.

To make gobhi paranthas, make a smooth, elastic but not too soft a dough with whole wheat flour and water. Grate cauliflower florets. Add salt, garam masala, red chilli powder, ajwain (carom seeds) and some chopped coriander leaves. Mix, then squeeze the mixture between palms to drain out any excess water. Take a lemon sized ball of dough and roll it a bit thickly. Place 2 tbsp of cauliflower mixture in the middle and gather the flour on top to seal and form a flattish dough ball. Roll out as thin as you can. Place on a heated tawa (flat pan) and let cook for a minute. Flip, apply ghee on both sides and shallow fry until crisp and brown. Serve immediately with butter.

A fitting end to the lovliest festival of the year. Hope you also had a great diwali!

Comments

Bharti said…
Sounds like a lovely tradition. I know I'm craving soemthing spicy after stuffing my face with the mithais!
Sujatha said…
Thats an interesting tradition.. I totally agree to have something spicy after overloading my tastebuds with sweets.. :)
Rachel said…
that is a nice read...am yet to make a near perfect paratha!!!
Biswajit said…
gobhi parantha - the food of gods...at least north indian gods.

i have trekked up the hills of Vaishnodevi (in Jammu) three times, to taste the Gobhi Parantha they sell at a dingy little shop at the top.

heaven!
Unknown said…
For me, heaven's mom's paranthas - I still can't make anything half as good as hers

Popular posts from this blog

Announcing AWED : Britain

Before I ate my first Italian wood fired pizza, before I went to that swanky Japanese sushi bar for the first time, or the neighborhood Chinese joint, the first non-Indian cuisine I encountered was British. Not real food, mind you, but the tempting, oh so delicious descriptions in my favorite novels. From Enid Blyton to Jane Austen to P.G. Wodehouse, every favorite character in every favorite novel seems to have food on their mind. Yes, British food gets ridiculed a lot. But forget their main course dishes for now, and think of the full English breakfast and the elegant afternoon teas. Then try imagining the world without cucumber sandwiches or potato chips and you will realize you can't do without British food. Which is why when I saw that DK was looking for hosts for her monthly event AWED (A Worldly Epicurean's Delight) and there has never been a British AWED, I promptly signed up. The rules are simple really: Make any vegetarian or vegan British dish (eggs are

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.