Palak Paratha | Indian Spinach Flatbread
Easy, nutritious and mouth watering Indian flatbread made with unleavened dough that is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Indulge in this delicious iron rich meal.
Servings 8 parathas
Ingredients
- 2 cups Wholewheat Flour
- 300 grams Spinach
- 1 or 2 Green Chilies optional
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Ajwain (Carom Seeds)
- 1/4 tsp Garam Masala
- 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder
- 1/4 tsp Red Chili Powder optional
- 1/4 tsp Amchoor (Raw Mango Powder)
- Ghee as required for cooking
- 2 tsp Ghee/Oil for the dough
Instructions
Blanching and Pureeing Spinach
- Wash spinach leaves very well under running water. Drain all the water and set aside.
- Heat some water in a pan and add spinach leaves. I have also added some ginger, garlic and green chili to spinach for more flavour. Let spinach boil for 2 minutes.
- Now strain the spinach leaves and spread them on a large plate. Allow it to cool a bit before adding it to a blender jar.
- Puree the leaves without adding water.
Knead the Dough
- Take wholewheat flour in a large bowl. Add carom seeds (ajwain), red chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder, raw mango powder (amchoor), ghee/oil and salt.
- Now add the prepared spinach puree and knead a soft smooth dough.
Roll the Paratha
- Take a small medium size ball from the dough. Roll it into a small circle. Dust it with some flour if required. Spread some oil or ghee on the rolled dough.
- If you want to make a square shaped paratha, fold the sides of the dough. Then fold the sides again to make a square shape.
- Dust the dough with some flour and roll the dough to get medium size paratha. Do not roll it too thin like a roti. Paratha are slightly thicker than rotis.
Cook Palak Paratha
- Place the prepared paratha on a hot tawa or skillet. Prefer using cast iron tawa and not non stick.
- Once you see the bubbles forming, flip the paratha and cook the other side for a few seconds.
- Now spread 1 tsp ghee over the paratha and flip. Cook the ghee side. Press with spatula so that it gets cooked well. Similarly cook the other side.
- Serve paratha hot with dallop of homemade butter, pickle or some curd.
Notes
- Instead of pureeing the spinach, you can also choose to add finely chopped spinach. But I prefer to puree because it gives a great taste and also it is a great way to feed spinach to fussy kids.
- It is always good to blanch spinach before pureeing to get rid of oxalic acid which hinders in calcium absorption.
- Always cook the paratha on high heat and never on medium or low heat. Paratha cooked on low heat tends to become dry and hard which doesn't taste very nice.
- To make perfectly soft parathas make sure the dough is moist and soft. Dry dough will lead to dry parathas.
- You can choose to add other vegetables also like grated carrot, boiled and mashed peas etc.
- Do not add the entire puree in one go. Add little at a time so you do not end up with sticky flour and then eventually adding more flour to get a soft firm dough.