We Don't Normally Do This - A Recipe For Cheats Paratha
Paratha, that flaky Indian style bread which takes a bit of time to prepare, but now it's done in minutes.
Hiya. If you don’t know who we are, we are Donna and Andrew and we owned and ran a groundbreaking vegetarian restaurant for 16 years. Forget Detox Salad or Baked Peppers, we were offering Brie Ice Cream for starter, Cheddar Cheese Sponge Cake for mains and Mushroom Fudge as a dessert. We were one of the first vegetarian restaurants to be Michelin recommended and it is said that we inspired a new generation of vegetarian and vegan restaurants.
We now write a weekly Substack about running a vegetarian restaurant. We take you behind the scenes and tell you how it really is. There’s funny moments, tricky situations and tough times.
Anyway, today we have a quick cheaty recipe for you.
Paratha, that flaky puffy Indian bread. I have made them many times but they’re a right faff on, although very delicious. So I got to thinking about them, and my mind wandered but came to a stop when I started to see them as a laminated (cheffy term for layers) pastry. Then I crossed the thinking over to something else which is laminated, puff pastry. Surely paratha and puff pastry are just layers of dough separated by a thin layer of fat, one is baked, one is fried. Get it?
So here we go………..
Pastry Becomes Paratha
This amount makes one paratha, so increase the amounts as required.
Ingredients
-½ teaspoon black onion seeds
-½ teaspoon dried, crushed chilli, or adjust to your liking
-A roll of shop bought puff pastry
-Sunflower/vegetable oil, or ghee if you want to show off
Method
-Dry fry the onion seeds and chilli for 20 seconds in a frying pan, shake them around a bit. Remove from the heat and transfer to plate.
-Wipe the pan but don’t bother washing it.
-Next the pastry. Unroll the pastry, then slice a length about 8cm wide, so you have a rectangle. Try to keep the pastry on the greaseproof paper which comes with the pastry, and cut the paper so it separates from the main roll.
-Now cut that pastry rectangle in half across, so now you have two rectangles.
-Dip your fingers in some cold water and dampen one of the pastry rectangles. Sprinkle on the spice mix fairly evenly.
-Place the other pastry rectangle on top, now carefully move this to one side of the greaseproof paper.
-Fold the paper over the little parcel and roll with a rolling pin to flatten. Now you see why we kept the greaseproof, you don’t even need to flour the worktop.
-Continue to roll until the rectangle is about 12cm wide, it’ll start to lengthen also.
-Heat the oil or ghee in the frying pan, get it to a medium heat. Note, if it’s too hot, the outside of the paratha will be burnt and the inside raw.
-Add the pastry, cook for one minute then turn over. Cook on the other side for one minute then turn again. Add more oil if it scorches. This turning allows time for the inside to be cooked. Adjust the heat as required.
-Continue to cook and turn. Once they are golden brown on both sides, they’re done.
-Eat them.
Now use your noggin here, if you don’t have black onion seed, try sesame seeds, or caraway seeds, or maybe some crushed coriander seeds. Or just experiment until you find your fave.
Yum!
You should open a resta...etc