Plain paratha or tawa paratha is an Indian flatbread made using whole wheat flour. It’s prepared in a lot of households almost on a daily basis. Here is how to make it.
Here are some more Indian bread that can be served for your everyday meals – Roti, Khamiri Roti, Multigrain Roti, Punjabi Missi Roti, and Bajre Ki Roti.
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What is Paratha?
Paratha is a flaky and soft Indian unleavened flatbread made using whole wheat flour. It could be plain like tawa paratha, Kerala parotta, or lachha paratha or stuffed with various fillings like aloo, gobi, mooli paratha, etc. This bread can be had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and is quite filling and satisfying.
About This Recipe
Tawa Paratha is a popular Indian bread, which is made in almost every household for either their breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is a flaky and soft layered unleavened flatbread made using whole wheat flour. This means that it can be made without having to wait for the dough to rise.
Just like our roti, it also needs just three ingredients, but the cooking technique is different as it is shallow fried with ghee or oil.
It can be served with egg bhurji, paneer bhurji, plain yogurt or masala tea for breakfast, and any curry, chutney, pickle, or dal for lunch and dinner.
These are mostly made triangle in shape, but you can make these square or round as well. Plain paratha should be soft from the inside and the outer layer should be a little flaky.
They are perfect to pack for your travels or lunch box, as they tend to last long. Just pair them with a pickle and a dry sabji and you have a heart-filling meal ready.
This Tawa Paratha is,
- Crispy and Flaky
- Soft from inside
- Made with just 3 ingredients
- Perfect for everyday meals
- Great to pack in Lunch Box
Ingredients
For this simple bread, you just need three everyday ingredients – Whole Wheat Flour, Salt, and Ghee.
Whole wheat flour (atta) is available in most Indian grocery stores or you can even order it online. I use Aashirwad brand atta to make these. You can also use multigrain flour.
I also like to add carom seeds (ajwain) sometimes to the dough, as it is good for the stomach and helps in digestion.
You will need ghee or oil for layering and frying. Parathas fried in ghee tastes the best, but use oil if making a vegan version.
How to make Paratha?
Start by making the dough. Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 tsp ghee, and 1 tsp salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix well using your fingers. In India, we use a utensil called parath to knead the dough. It’s a large flat plate with high edges. It makes the kneading process quite easy.
Note – You can use a stand mixed fitted with dough attachment or a food processor to knead the dough.
Note – When making these for everyday use, I skip adding ghee and salt to the dough and make these with just whole wheat flour. Adding a little ghee and salt while making the dough makes them flakier.
Add warm water to the bowl little by little and knead to make a soft dough. I used approximately 1 cup of water for 2 cups of flour. The amount of water used to knead the dough will depend on the quality of the flour. So do not add all the water at once. Go slow, you don’t want a sticky dough.
Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes until soft and smooth. If the dough is not smooth, the paratha will not come out well.
Cover the dough using a kitchen towel and keep aside on the counter for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8-9 lime size balls. If you are a beginner, measure and divide the dough so that your paratha are of the same size.
Take one dough ball and slightly flatten it in between your palms. Keep it on the rolling surface and dust lightly with dry whole wheat flour. Roll the dough to make a 4-inch circle.
Brush oil or ghee on the circle and fold the sides to make a semi-circle. Brush oil or ghee again and then fold to make a triangle.
Note – Brush the oil or ghee generously to get the layers separate.
Dust and roll to make a 5-inch triangle. Paratha is rolled slightly thicker than the roti, approx ⅛th of an inch. Try to keep the edges slightly thinner than the center.
While you are rolling, heat a griddle over medium-high heat. Transfer the rolled paratha to the hot griddle.
Cook until brown spots appear on the bottom sides. Flip and cook until brown spots appear on the other side as well. Flip again and brush it with oil or ghee and cook until it is nicely browned. Keep pressing it with the back of a ladle while cooking. Serve hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both these bread are made with whole wheat flour, but the style of cooking and shape is different.
While paratha has layers and is triangular in shape, chapati is perfectly round in shape without any layers.
Chapati is cooked on tawa until it fluffs up without ghee or oil and ghee is later applied on the top, whereas on the other hand, paratha is shallow fried on the tawa using ghee or oil.
Chapati is also thin and papery, in comparison.
If you are looking for a vegan option, then you can replace ghee with vegetable or olive oil.
Pro Tips by Neha
Kneading the dough – Knead the dough using warm water. It will make sure the paratha will turn out soft.
Make sure to rest the dough for 20-30 minutes after kneading. Knead once again after it had well rested and then divide it into balls. This will ensure the gluten in the flour has been worked well and the resulting bread will be soft.
You can flavor the flour with ajwain (carom seeds), cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, or masalas like red chili powder, chaat masala powder, and garam masala powder before kneading.
Adding 2 tbsp of yogurt while making these will also ensure soft paratha. I personally like these slightly crisp and so make my dough a little tighter.
Rolling – Rolling these properly is very important. Dust the dough lightly and roll it using light hands.
The edges of the paratha should be thinner than the center and the thickness should be approx 1 mm. Don’t roll it thin like roti.
Instead of triangle shape, you can make these square as well.
Frying – Cook them on medium heat for the best result. Cooking these on high heat will brown them from outside quickly and they will not be properly cooked from inside.
Apply oil only once it is cooked from both sides. After applying the oil or ghee, keep pressing it with the back of a flat ladle all over. Keep flipping 2-3 times until it is nicely golden brown from both sides.
Serving Suggestions
It is a versatile Indian bread that tastes great with any sabzi, curry or even dal.
It can also be served with pickle, chutney, yogurt or any raita of your choice.
Try my green chili pickle or Rajasthani mango pickle to serve with these.
You can even make a roll or wrap with paratha and fill it with kabab, veggies, sauces, cheese, and spices. You can also use your leftover sabzis to make these delicious rolls.
Variations
Masala – This is very similar to plain paratha, it is just flavored with some everyday spices. For Instance, try to make masala paratha or ajwain paratha.
Layered – This variation is flaky from the outside and soft from the inside. It has many layers and has a unique technique to prepare it. There are many layer paratha such as Kerala parotta, laccha paratha, etc which require different techniques to get the layers.
You can even flavor these with your favorite greens and make pudina paratha etc.
Stuffed – These are the most popular version, which is made mostly for breakfasts in North Indian households. The dough is stuffed with varieties of vegetable fillings and shallow fried on the taw to get a crispy texture on the top layer.
Stuffed ones are thicker and heavy on stomach as compared to regular ones.
Some of the popular stuffed varieties are- aloo paratha, gobi paratha, palak paneer paratha, keema paratha.
Kneaded – In this version, you can knead the finely chopped and grated vegetables such as spinach, fenugreek leaves, cauliflower, carrot, radish etc in the dough itself. Then it is rolled and cooked until nice and crispy from outside.
Tandoori – This can be plain or stuffed with different fillings, and is very popular in Punjab. Instead of shallow frying on tawa, they are cooked in a tandoor.
Storing Suggestions
Paratha can be stored for a day at room temperature, covered in aluminum foil in a container. You can store it in the fridge for about 3 to 4 days in an air-tight container.
Heat it on the tawa, add a little oil or ghee while reheating to make it flaky again, as they tend to get soft with time.
You can freeze it for later use too. To freeze them, give them the shape and cook from both sides for about 15 seconds without adding any ghee or oil. The motive is to cook them partially. Once done, let them cool down completely.
Next, store them in ziplock freezer bags with parchment paper/butter paper in between each one. They will stay good for about 1 to 2 months.
Once you want to cook them again, remove it from the butter paper, place it on the heated griddle and cook it fully with ghee or oil.
You can also store the dough for about 3 days in an air-tight container in the fridge. All you have to do is roll the dough and make hot paratha out of it.
When you are planning to make the paratha, take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before rolling.
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Recipe Card
Paratha Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoon ghee
- 1 teaspoon salt
- warm water (as required)
Instructions
- Start by making the dough. Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 tsp ghee, and 1 tsp salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix well using your fingers. In India, we use a utensil called parath to knead the dough. It’s a large flat plate with high edges. It makes the kneading process quite easy.
- Note – You can use a stand mixed fitted with dough attachment or a food processor to knead the dough.
- Note – When making these for everyday use, I skip adding ghee and salt to the dough and make these with just whole wheat flour. Adding a little ghee and salt while making the dough makes the paratha flakier.
- Add warm water to the bowl little by little and knead to make a soft dough. I used approximately 1 cup of water for 2 cups of flour. The amount of water used to knead the dough will depend on the quality of the flour. So do not add all the water at once. Go slow, you don’t want a sticky dough.
- Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes until soft and smooth. If the dough is not smooth, the paratha will not come out good.
- Cover the dough using a kitchen towel and keep aside on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8-9 lime size balls. If you are a beginner, measure and divide the dough so that your paratha are of the same size.
- Take one dough ball and slightly flatten it in between your palms. Keep it on the rolling surface and dust lightly with dry whole wheat flour. Roll the dough to make a 4-inch circle.
- Brush oil or ghee on the circle and fold the sides to make a semi-circle. Brush oil or ghee again and then fold to make a triangle.
- Note – Brush the oil or ghee generously to get the layers separate.
- Dust and roll to make a 5-inch triangle. Paratha is rolled slightly thicker than the roti, approx ⅛th of an inch. Try to keep the edges slightly thinner than the center.
- While you are rolling the paratha, heat a griddle over medium-high heat. Transfer the rolled paratha to the hot griddle.
- Cook until brown spots appear on the bottom sides. Flip and cook until brown spots appear on the other side as well. Flip again and brush it with oil or ghee and cook until it is nicely browned. Keep pressing it with the back of a ladle while cooking. Serve hot.
