There’s a number of reasons that the plain parantha is the most amazing concoction within the bread space. One of them being that you don’t have to make them round – and YES, that’s a legit reason.
A plain parantha is flaky, chewy, and crispy. Paranthas can be plain, stuffed with potatoes, radish, paneer, queso, or anything that you come up with. They’re eaten with lots of butter, yogurt, pickle, and fresh veggies – though plain paranthas can be paired with daal, sabji, meat, or curries. I almost feel the need to draw from my inner Dr. Seuss and talk about how we ate them on a plane, in a train, and while digging a drain. They’re for everyday or fancy occasions. And should anyone ever tell you that paranthas are overrated or not a principal item in Punjabi cuisine, they’re a monster and you must stop speaking to them post haste.
As a rule of thumb paranthas are both easy and complicated to make. They’re incredibly easy because it’s just making a basic dough, rolling it out, and then pan frying it. That said, they’re really difficult to make because the perfect parantha has flaky layers within it. The only way to get there is practice. But the great thing is, layers or no layers, they are so delicious!
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Plain Parantha
4
servings15
minutes20
minutes35
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
1/4 cup melted ghee or vegetable oil
Melted butter for brushing
Equipment/Specialty Items
AttaAtta
Directions
- Prep:
- Make atta ahead of time and let set for at least 30 minutes.
- Fill a small bowl with loose atta.
- Lightly dust the rolling pin and countertop (rolling surface) with loose atta.
- Place 1 tbsp of ghee/oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.
- Rub a bit of vegetable oil on your hands and divide dough in 4 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a log about 2 inches thick.
- Pinch off a golf ball sized piece and roll it into a ball.
- Apply oil to each ball to help with rolling.
- Rolling:
- Flatten the ball into a thick disk – with the palm of your hand.
- Dredge the disk in the loose atta.
- Using the rolling pin roll the disk into a flat 7-8 inch diameter circle-ish.
- Brush the dough with a thin layer of butter/ghee.
- Roll the dough to form a tight roll.
- Coil the roll to form a tight circle.
- Flatten the circle with the palm of your hand.
- Dredge it in flour.
- Re-roll to into a 6-7 inch circle-ish.
- Turn up the heat on the skillet to medium-high, until it’s lightly smoking.
- Cooking:
- Place the parantha into the skillet.
- Cook until it begins to bubble on the bottom, approximately 2 minutes, then flip.
- Continue cooking until lightly browned, approximately 2 minutes.
- Brush with butter/ghee on both sides and cook each side for approximately 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat, brush with butter/ghee and serve warm.
- Serve:
- Serve with butter, raita, sabji, or anything else you’d like.
Notes
- You can roll all of the paranthas out if you have time but make sure to put wax paper between them to prevent sticking, and place a towel over the rolled balls of dough as well as the rolled paranthas to prevent drying.
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