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Paneer Paratha Recipe – a step by step

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I am vacationing in India right now and enjoying some fabulous home cooked food. Every time I visit India, I ask my mother’s friend Veena aunty to teach me her amazing recipes. Veena aunty has such a love for cooking, you can taste the passion in her food. This time she showed me how to make her paneer paratha recipe. Paneer parathas are Indian flat bread stuffed with cottage cheese. You wont be disappointed with this paneer paratha recipe!

Paneer Paratha Recipe (Cottage Cheese Stuffed Flat bread)

makes 6-8 parathas

for the paratha dough

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/3 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup water (you may not need all of it)

Method

1. Combine the wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt and oil in a large bowl

2. Sprinkle a little water at a time till the dough binds together

3. Knead the dough, sprinkling water, until it forms a soft, elastic ball

4. Make sure the dough isn’t too wet. If it gets too wet or sticky, add more flour

5. Knead the dough till it is smooth and elastic (think pizza dough)

6. Drizzle a few drops of oil over the dough ball, and spread it all over the surface

7. Cover the dough with a damp towel

8. Let it rest for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile, make the paneer filling

for the paneer filling

Ingredients
7 oz paneer, finely grated (about 1 1/2 cups when grated)
1 small onion, minced
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, optional
1 green chili finely chopped or according to taste
salt

Method

1. Combine all paneer filling ingredients in a bowl

2. Taste the filling and adjust salt and seasonings if needed. If you like it spicier, you can add more minced chilis or garam masala at this point

Make the paneer parathas

1. Keep a small bowl of wheat flour near you

2. Remove the dough from the bowl, and knead it a few times

3. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. If you don’t have much experience making parathas, divide the dough into 8 parts, so each paratha is smaller, and therefore easier to make.

4. Take one piece of the divided dough and form it into a ball

5. Dip the dough ball in wheat flour

6. Place it on a clean, flat surface for rolling

7. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a round using a light touch

8. Turn the paratha 1/4ths of a turn each time you roll it. This will keep it round.

9. Sprinkle a little flour as and when needed.

10. When the paratha is thin and even (see picture above), stop rolling, and spread 6 drops of oil

11. Sprinkle a little flour on the oiled side, dust off the excess flour

12. Place 2 tablespoons of the paneer filling in the center

13. Gather the edges of the paratha and bring them up, and pleat them over the filling, to form a parcel. If you feel the parcel can hold more paneer filling, add a little more now

14. Pinch the top to seal the paratha

15. Dip it in flour, flatten it a little, and gently roll it using a rolling pin

16. Roll gently till the paratha is about 1/4 inch thick

17. Heat a tava, or cast iron skillet on medium heat

18. Place the paratha on the skillet. Cook on medium heat till pale brown spots appear on the under side

19. Then flip the paratha and let pale brown spots appear on the other side

20. Then increase heat to medium-high and drizzle about 1/4th teaspoon of vegetable oil (you can use less oil or oil spray)

21. Cook paratha on both sides till the dough is cooked and lightly browned (but not too dark)

Serve paneer parathas with yogurt or my grandmother’s multi colored raita and my apple pickle.

Paratha making tips

- add enough water to the dough so that it is soft (but not sticky)

- sprinkle wateron the flour a little at a time, this way you are more in control of the final result

- a hard dough will make your parathas stiff

- when kneading, aim for a soft, smooth, elastic dough that is not sticky

- it important to cover and rest the paratha dough for atleast 15 minutes before rolling

- when rolling parathas use a gentle touch

- make sure you chop the filling ingredients very fine. For paneer parathas, the paneer must be grated finely, and the onions and cilantro must be minced. For aloo parathas, the potato must be mashed with no lumps. If you leave large pieces in your filling, it will tear the dough when you are rolling out the parathas.

- when stuffing parathas, you need to use about equal amounts of dough and filling. So if you are using a lime size ball of dough, use about a lime sized mound of filling. However, if you are new to paratha making, lesser amounts of filling may be easier to deal with it, but you will compromise on taste.

- the more you practice making parathas, the better you will get!

Ethiopian Mushroom Sauté or Ingudai Tibs

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Ingudai tibs or Inguday tibs is an Ethiopian mushroom sauté that is simple to make but tastes wonderfully complex. Ingudai means mushroom and tibs means to saute.

 

Traditional tibs recipes use an Ethiopian spice blend called berbere. My berbere recipe is here.

 

If you can’t find Ethiopian berbere spice for this recipe you can make your own berbere. Or you could get away with substituting Berbere with Indian garam Masala and a little cayenne or paprika. Take a look at the spices in Ethiopian berbere powder and Indian garam Masala powder.

Ethiopian Berbere    Indian Garam Masala
Coriander                           Coriander
Cumin                                  Cumin
Cinnamon                          Cinnamon
Cloves                                 Cloves
Cardamom                        Cardamom
Pepper                                Peppercorns
Nutmeg                              Nutmeg
Fenugreek
Cayenne pepper or paprika
Ginger
Garlic

The spices are almost the same, expect for the added fenugreek, cayenne or paprika, ginger and garlic in berbere. If you used equal amounts of garam masala and cayenne or paprika, you will get pretty close to Berbere flavor ( not traditional, but still tasty).

This mushroom ingudai tibs recipe on mushroom info by Ethiopian restaurant chefs uses portobello mushrooms and sounds delicious.

 

Ethiopian Sautéed Mushrooms with Onions and Peppers or Ingudai Tibs Recipe

serves about 6 as a side dish

2 tablespoons clarified butter or olive oil
1 large green pepper, cut into strips
1 large red onion, cut into strips
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 lb button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered

for the spice mix  (Awaze sauce)
2 teaspoons Ethiopian berbere (substitute with 1 teaspoon garam masala + 1 teaspoon paprika)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon white wine (substitute with lemon juice)

Heat butter or oil in your largest skillet. Add onions, peppers and tomato. Cook on medium high heat till the vegetables have softened a little, about 4 minutes. Then add mushrooms. Crank up heat to high. Mix all ingredients for spice mix and add to the mushrooms.  Sauté on high for about 3 minutes or till mushrooms are done. Add salt at the end. Garnish with cilantro or parsley. Serve with rice, bread or Ethiopian Injera.

Tandoori Grilled Broccoli and Cauliflower Kebabs

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A tandoor is an Indian clay oven. Marinated meat, cottage cheese (paneer) or vegetables are skewered and cooked in the oven. The result is smoky, charred skewers of tandoori yumminess.

 

Make sure you soak the skewers before grilling, otherwise they will burn on the grill. If you dont have a grill, you can place the skewers in the oven and broil them till brown and slightly charred. Then flip the skewers and broil the other side.

The tandoori marinade recipe I give you is very versatile, you can use it for paneer, tofu, potatoes, even seitan.

I like to blanch the broccoli and cauliflower before marinating. This reduces grilling time and also makes it easier to thread the skewer into the broccoli and cauliflower.

We usually eat these grilled kebabs with either brown rice, rotis or pita bread and some raita. Here are some recipes on Veggie Belly that will make great accompaniments to these kebabs:

Walnut raisin rice

My grandmother’s multicolored raita

Tamarind Jelly

Tandoori Grilled Broccoli and Cauliflower Kebabs Recipe

serves about 2 as an entree

4 bamboo skewers (about 10 inches long)

1 small head of broccoli
1/2 small head of cauliflower
1 small red onion, cut into 4 wedges
1 large tomato, cut into 4 wedges

for marinade
3 tablespoons chickpea or garbanzo flour (besan)
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
Salt

Soak bamboo skewers in water for atleast 30 minutes, to prevent them from burning on the grill.

Cut the broccoli and cauliflower into large florets. You should have 6 florets (about 2 cups) each of broccoli and cauliflower.

Bring water to boil in a medium pot. Add plenty of salt. Add the broccoli and cauliflower florets. Bring back to a boil. Cook for 20 seconds. Then turn off heat and drain the broccoli and cauliflower. Rinse under very cold water to stop the cooking. If the tap water is not cold enough, dunk the broccoli and cauliflower in a bowl filled with water and ice cubes, then drain. Pat dry with a towel. Make sure the vegetables arent wet, if they are they will dilute the marinade.

Whisk all marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add the broccoli, cauliflower, tomato and onion pieces to the marinade. Mix gently so the marinade coats all the vegetables. Cover and refridgerate for about 30 minutes.

Heat an out door grill to 400f. Skewer the broccoli, cauliflower, onion and tomato pieces. Place on grill and cook till one side of the vegetables is slightly charred, about 1 minute. Then using tongs, flip the skewers and cook the other side. If you dont have a grill, broil the skewers in the oven.

Twice Cooked Tomato Chutney

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This takes a little longer to make than your average chutney, but well worth the effort. Double cooking  the chutney (once before pureeing, and once after) makes the onion, garlic and tomatoes extra flavorful. I like to add sambar powder to my tomato chutney. Sambar powder is a roasted, powdered blend of spices from south India containing red chilies, coriander seeds, turmeric, lentils and fenugreek. You could leave out the sambar powder if you wish or use only turmeric and chili powder instead.

The recipe below is my ‘special’ version. For a simpler, ’everyday’ version of this tomato chutney, I simply saute the onions, garlic and tomatoes, blend in a blender, temper some black mustard and cumin, add the pureed chutney and cook again. No matter which version I am making, I always twice cook the chutney.

This chutney will freeze well, so if you have a bumper crop of tomatoes this summer, and dont know what to do with them, this is a great option for you. I put the chutney into ice cube trays and place in the freezer. Once they are frozen, I remove the cubes from the tray, put them in a zip lock bag and return to the freezer. This way, you can defrost even tiny quantities of chutney.

Serving tomato chutney with idlis or dosas is traditional. Here, I serve the chutney with pita bread.

Twice Cooked Tomato Chutney with Cumin and Fennel: Recipe

makes about 2 cups

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon each cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds, urad dal (black gram)
1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 dried red chili, optional
1/2 cup curry leaves loosely packed
1 large onion (about 2 cups when diced)
8 pods garlic, peeled
6-8 (about 1 lb) ripe tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon sambar powder

for tempering:
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon each cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black mustard seeds, urad dal
a few curry leaves

Heat oil in a large wok. Add cumin, fennel, black mustard and urad dal. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add fenugreek seeds, red chili if using, and curry leaves. Cook for about 30 seconds. Then add chopped onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook on medium for about 15 minutes or till the tomatoes are completely soft.

Cool the chutney a little and then puree in a blender, along with sambar powder and 1/2 cup water till smooth. (Make sure to vent the blender lid slightly when blending hot stuff).

Wipe the wok, and heat oil for tempering. Add all tempering ingredients. When the mustard seeds splutter, reduce heat and carefully pour the blended chutney into the wok. Be very careful, the chutney may bubble and splatter. Add salt. Cover the wok and cook the chutney on medium-low for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with idli, dosa or pita bread.

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