I can't seem to make enough flatbreads lately. So easy, so versatile. So delicious. A favorite, of course, is parathas. Once I learned how to make them, I couldn't stop thinking up ways to stuff them. Keema paratha is certainly not my idea, but it's one of my favorite versions of paratha. Keema simply refers to minced meat. In this recipe I've used lamb because we really prefer it to beef. It has so much more flavor and character.
Regarding the many foods of different cultures I make at home, I don't claim to know how to make "traditional" versions. I do, however, read a great deal about food and culture and I love to experiment. I've got thousands of recipes for thousands of foods and I can read them a thousand times. But it still might all come down to what's in the refrigerator, what's in the pantry, and what's in in the taste part of my brain on the day I make the dish.
This version of keema paratha was a huge crowd pleaser, even if the crowd consisted of just me and S. These turned out so good I almost smacked myself. I will be making these again and in a large batch so I can freeze them and enjoy them at a moment's notice. Two of these with a big salad was a great dinner the first night. And they made very tasty lunches for us over the next two days.
These amounts are not exact but pretty close and this recipe made 10 (I think!) parathas (I tend to make them on the small side).
Lamb filling:
3/4-1 lb. ground lamb
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, diced very small (seeded for less heat, if desired)
2 tsp. garam masala
2 tbsp ground panch phoron
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste
fresh flat-leaf, Italian parsley, chopped, to taste
In a large skillet, heat the oil on medium-high heat. Add garlic, onions, and jalapenos and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the ground lamb and break it apart until it is well combined with the other ingredients. Add salt and panch phoran. Cook the mixture until the meat has given up its juices and the juices have evaporated. You need the mixture to be dry (and cooled) before making the parathas. Once the meat is cooked enough to taste, add the garam masala and incorporate. This is a good time to taste the mixture in order to re-season, if necessary. Who wants bland parathas?
Dough:
2 cups atta
1/2-3/4 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour (plus additional for dusting)
1 heaping teaspoon salt
1 tbsp oil (I use olive oil but any oil will do)
warm water - enough to make a smooth dough, moist but not sticky
While the meat is cooling, make your dough. Combine the flours and the salt and stir to distribute everything. Add the oil and incorporate by hand, making sure no lumps remain. Slowly add warm water until all the flour comes together in a cohesive ball that you can manipulate. It's OK if the dough is moist but you don't want it sticky. Form into a smooth ball, lightly drizzle with oil, cover, and let rest for about 15 minutes. 10-12 minutes later pre-heat your skillet on medium-high heat. You don't want to toss the paratha into a cold skillet.
Divide the dough into equal portions and roll each into a ball. Take a ball of dough, dust with all-purpose flour and use a method for round parathas or b method for oval ones. I like a variety in shape plus the oval ones allowed me to fit two at a time in my skillet.
a. Using your hands, gently pat out into a disc about 3 inches across. Give the edges of the disc a bit more pressure so they are thinner than the center. You don't want your edges thick and your center too thin in the final product. You want to make sure there is enough dough to stretch over the stuffing.
b. Using a rolling pin, gently roll out into disc about 3 inches across. Either way, cup the disc in one hand and press about 2-3 teaspoons of filling into the center. Pull up the edges of the dough and pinch closed.
Dust again and place the stuffed dough seam-side down and gently roll out into a disc about 5-6 inches across or into an oval about 5-6 inches long. You can roll them all and have them waiting to cook but set them aside in a single layer on a clean, lightly floured surface. Just dust off the excess flour before cooking. Or you can roll out parathas while some are cooking. Once you have a paratha ready for the skillet, just toss it in. Let it cook until you start to see the edges change shape and color a bit. This doesn't even take a minute. Give it a flip and drizzle with oil. By that I mean a real light drizzle. I keep a tiny bowl of oil near the skillet and I use the back of a silverware teaspoon dipped in oil to spread some on the paratha. Cook again for about 30 second and flip to the first side. You can add oil again or not. You can also add oil or butter or ghee once you take them off the skillet. Once each side has some nice golden brown spots, you're done. 
Place somewhere clean where they will stay warm, like wrapped in a dish towel. If you want to freeze these, let them cool completely before you wrap and/or bag them. Enjoy!
I'm amazed at the various roti/paratha recipes I see on the web. So many creative ways to incorporate a wide variety of ingredients. Now that I have the hang of making roti/parathas, I'm experimenting now and then with new versions. As I suspected, I had leftover urad dal. Not to worry. It's easy to incorporate leftover dal of any kind into warm and savory roti or stuffed parathas. You get your protein and your arbs in one bite!
I put my cup of leftover urad dal in the food processor with about two tablespoons of water, ground cumin, chopped cilantro, salt and a couple teaspoons each of two homemade spice blends - sambar powder and garam masala. I blended this until it all stuck to the sides of the bowl. I didn't need it to be a puree but I didn't want the individual pieces of dal in my roti.
In a mixing bowl I added atta a little at a time to the dal until I had a soft "dough" that wasn't too sticky. I used 3/4 cup of atta before I reached a consistency that felt right. I coated the dough with a few drops of oil and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
I then sectioned the dough into 6 portions that I rolled into balls. Keep extra atta on hand for dusting. Onto a flat surface I rolled out the dough (dusting as needed) into relatively thin rounds about six inches across. I heated my non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Once the pan was hot, I placed a rolled-out roti in the center and let it sit. In about a minute, look for it to change color around the underside edges and you will see little puffs forming in various places. Flip the roti and continue cooking. Sprinkle a tiny amount of oil over the surface and spread with the back of a spoon.
Flip again and you will see that the roti has darkened in color and hot spots have formed. I add another tiny dribble of oil at this point. From here I continue to cook and flip until the roti get to the color you see in the photo. Cool these on a wire rack for a couple of minutes then eat right away.
What will be the next addition to my roti/paratha?
Nupur over at One Hot Stove has posted the Less Is More Round-Up. This is where we food bloggers chose another food blogger's recipe consisting of five or fewer ingredients, created the dish, then posted our results.
I participated with my first try try at aloo paratha, inspired by Manjula's Kitchen.
Nupur, thank you for all of your hard work on this great showcase of food bloggers sharing ideas.
I'm excited for this post for a couple of reasons. First, I've wanted to try my hand at making parathas for a long time. I've had the ingredients just waiting for me to venture into this recipe. Next, I've wanted to participate in the Monthly Blog Patrol (MBP) for a long time. I finally get to do both. MBP is a chance for food bloggers to patrol other food blogs and choose someone else's recipe to create. It was started by Coffee at The Spice Cafe. July's MBP is hosted by Nupur at One Hot Stove .
The theme for July's MBP is Less is More. Choose a recipe from another food blogger's site that has five or fewer ingredients. Make the recipe at home and post your results. You do get three ingredients for free: water (stock/broth), salt, fats (oil, butter, cooking spray, etc.). I've chosen Manjula's aloo paratha from Manjula's Kitchen. Manjula has great videos that demonstrate how to cook delicious Indian food.
Aloo parathas are an Indian flatbread stuffed with spiced potatoes. They are made with a whole wheat flour called atta. This isn't the standard whole wheat flour. Atta is finely ground and used for making paratha, chapati, roti, etc. You can find it at Indian groceries. It's lighter in color and milder in taste than standard whole wheat flour and very soft and easy to work with. 
The parathas came out perfect. Manjula makes it look easy because she's a pro at this. But it was easier than I originally thought. I think I was worried that the dough wouldn't be as agreeable as it looks in Manjula's video. But it is. The process was simple and the results were impressive. Plus, the variations are endless with parathas. I will be making these all the time. In fact, I have made them since and used lots more spices in the potato mix. Next I will be trying spinach parathas.
Here is what you need for 6 parathas.
Dough
1.) 1 cup atta (plus more for rolling)
3/4-1 cup water (Use more or less as needed)
Pinch of salt
Potato Filling
2.) 2 medium potatoes, boiled and peeled
salt, to taste
3.) 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
4.) 1 teaspoon chopped green chili peppers
5.) 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Oil to cook
Manjula's original recipe included 1/2 teaspoon garam masala and 1/2 teaspoon amchoor powder (dried mango) but both were listed as optional. I opted to omit these and that brought my ingredient list to 5.
To mix the dough, combine the flour, salt and water. Mix well until it forms a soft dough. This happened quickly and easily. I kneaded the dough a couple of minutes right in the bowl after adding a few drops of oil to my hands. The dough should be very smooth and soft. Set the dough aside and cover. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes before you start rolling the parathas.
For the filling mash the potatoes with the chili peppers, cumin seed, salt and cilantro. At this point you can adjust seasonings. The potato mixture should be about 1 1/2 cups.
Divide the dough and potato mixture into 6 equal parts. The filling balls should be about 1 1/2 times the size of whole-wheat dough balls.
I kept a small bowl of extra atta on hand for the rolling. Each dough ball first got a quick atta bath. Then roll out the balls into about 3 inch diameter circles. Put a serving of filling into the center of each circle and bring up the sides of the dough like a dumpling and pinch to seal. 
Flatten these slightly into a hockey puck shape and let the dough rest again for several minutes before you begin rolling them out.
I used a large non-stick skillet to cook my parathas but you can use a flat griddle or a cast iron pan. Heat the pan to medium-high heat before cooking the parathas.
To roll the paratha, take one of the hockey discs and give it a quick dusting of atta. Gently roll out the dough about 6 inches in diameter. Give the paratha a turn or a flip if needed. You can give another light sprinkle with atta too if it sticks.
To cook a paratha, place the paratha right in the middle of the skillet and let it sit until it starts to change color and you will see little puffs forming in various places. Flip the paratha and you should see some golden spots. Sprinkle a tiny amount of oil over the surface and spread with the back of a spoon or the spatula you are using. I used just whatever oil dribbled off a teaspoon when I dipped it into the oil.
Flip the paratha and lightly press the puffed areas with a spatula. You can add another dribble of oil if you like. Flip again and press with the spatula making sure the paratha is golden-brown on both sides. Cool the parathas on a wire rack so they don’t get soggy. Eat right away.
I can't seem to make enough flatbreads lately. So easy, so versatile. So delicious. A favorite, of course, is parathas. Once I learned how to make them, I couldn't stop thinking up ways to stuff them. Keema paratha is certainly not my idea, but it's one of my favorite versions of paratha. Keema simply refers to minced meat. In this recipe I've used lamb because we really prefer it to beef. It has so much more flavor and character.
Dust again and place the stuffed dough seam-side down and gently roll out into a disc about 5-6 inches across or into an oval about 5-6 inches long. You can roll them all and have them waiting to cook but set them aside in a single layer on a clean, lightly floured surface. Just dust off the excess flour before cooking. Or you can roll out parathas while some are cooking. Once you have a paratha ready for the skillet, just toss it in. Let it cook until you start to see the edges change shape and color a bit. This doesn't even take a minute. Give it a flip and drizzle with oil. By that I mean a real light drizzle. I keep a tiny bowl of oil near the skillet and I use the back of a silverware teaspoon dipped in oil to spread some on the paratha. Cook again for about 30 second and flip to the first side. You can add oil again or not. You can also add oil or butter or ghee once you take them off the skillet. Once each side has some nice golden brown spots, you're done. 
Place somewhere clean where they will stay warm, like wrapped in a dish towel. If you want to freeze these, let them cool completely before you wrap and/or bag them. Enjoy!
