Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Parotta

The parotta , I am narrating here is entirely different from the North Indian parathas and frozen malaysian poratta.

Poratta or parotta , they tell in Tamilnadu and kerala is made of maida (All purpose flour). while the parathas of north India are made of whole wheat. The street side stalls in TamilNadu and kerala serve this parotta with a side dish called salna. Actually they call the parottas as 'veechu parotta'. That means the chef uses a style to spread the dough into a thin chapathi by swinging it in air. 'salna' means a watery gravy with few pieces of chicken or completely vegetarian. This parotta and salna combo is an unbeatable one .It has the potency to tempt even a strict diet conscious person. My weaker soul always craves for those parottas :(
Last week I got tempted a lot by Varsha and chams parottas. But the frozen parotta we get here cannot satisfy my crazy instincts. So I decided to make it my own in a different method.
Long time ago I learned to make this parotta from a cookery show in SunTV . A chef from a star hotel demonstrated this version to make parottas easily. We will get parottas of larger diameters and this can be a fool proof method for a novice like me . May be we can call this as the 'parotta for dummies'.

We may need:

Maida / All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
water - as per requirement
salt - 1 tsp
baking powder - 1/2 tsp
sesame oil - 1/2 cup
(The parotta stalls in Tirunelveli do not use ghee / butter).

A flat surface like clean kitchen counter top.
Rolling pin.
plastic sheets - 20
(I cut and used the plastic sheets used for filing. we can clean, preserve and use the plastic sheets given with frozen parotta also).

Method:
Mix Maida with salt and baking powder.
Then add water little by little to get a chapathi dough consistency.
Then add 3 tbsp oil to the dough and knead well.
Knead for 5 minutes with beating and punching to get a silky smooth dough.
Cover it with a cling wrap or wet towel and leave it for 4 hours in the room temperature.
Then divide the flour in to 10 equal size balls.
In a small bowl, mix the rice flour with 2 tbsp of sesame oil to get a ghee like paste.

Step 1:


Take one dough ball,apply some oil to it and flatten it on a clean kitchen top .
Flatten it till it tries to tear off. No need to get a smooth circle.
But a very thin disc should be achieved.
(Do not try to take it with hands, just flatten it to a big circle.)
Take a little rice flour + oil mix and apply it smoothly over the flattened disc.
The rice flour gives a flaky texture and also prevents the layers from sticking with one another.

step 2


Using a knife , slit the disc into long ribbon like strips.
Fold every strip once in a longitudinal manner like a paper. (see figure).

step 3


Apply little oil on a plastic sheet . Make concentric circles using all the folded ribbons to get the shape as shown.

step 4

Place another plastic sheet above the dough . No need to apply oil now. Press it gently with a rolling pin to get a perfect circle.


step 5


Make all the 10 parottas as described in the leisure time. keep them frozen in a freezer.

step 6


If you want to fry them immediately, then no need to freeze.
Heat a dosa tava. Apply a little oil over the surface.
Remove the top plastic sheet. Peel off the parotta . Place it on the hot tava.
Flip it again and again to get it cooked evenly.
Take out and serve hot.
Parotta is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Place all the cooked parottas one above other.
Using both the hands , pat them on the sides , to get a loose flaky texture.
Serve hot with any gravy or salna along with raitha.
Makes 10 bigger size parottas.
Increase the flour quantity to get more parottas.

Note:
Even though the all purpose flour parottas are not that great for health, these home made ones will surely outwit the store bought 'ghee loaded frozen parottas'.
Try these 'southern style Parottas' and lemme know how it comes out.
You may be interested in 'scrambled parotta / Muttai kothu parotta' too.

34 comments:

Malar Gandhi said...

Oh my gosh...believe it or not...I too learnt this parotta from the same sun tv program, long long years ago(when I was in 1yr undergrad...I suppose)The guy showed 6 different ways tho'...but I adapted the same, what you picked. Slice them method is easier and kool to practice!

Vikis Kitchen said...

yes, Malar. This again shows our same taste.. love it dear:)

FH said...

Great looking Parottas. I tried twice before to make Parotas, came out okay but this is so good. Thin and flaky, the way it should be! :)

Varsha Vipins said...

Oh..awesome viki..u took a lot of effort..but then this is d best method..they look fab..!!!!

Nandinis food said...

Wow! Thin and flaky delicious parottas! step by step procedure! great !Awesome !

Recipeswap said...

wow these look like the restaurant ones.great!Thanks for visiting my blog.

Yasmeen said...

Nice technique for flaky parotta,thanks for the easy steps,makes it so much more easier to understand:)
And thanks dear Viki for your kind prayers.My son has seasonal asthma,Spring and Fall are bad for him with allergies in the peak.With Spring approaching I certainly am a worried Mom,God willing he will grow out of this unfortunate condition.

Cham said...

Very different way of making parotha and less oil (even in our side we get "sukka" means no oil or butter , they re slightly rough but taste yum. Looks absolutely delicous and I will try ur version too :)

Vibaas said...

Parotta looks so tempting. Congrats on your award, dear!

sriharivatsan said...

OO Viki, What a lovely Parottas you have made..Itz very tempting..Even i have made Parottas long back but never came out like this. Yours look like resturant ones..Also you have explained right from the scratch..Simply Superb Dear..

Thanks for your lovely comments on my blog and I have only gmail chat, not having Orkut..Mail your gmail id to sriviselvam@yahoo.co.in and let me add you..

Divz said...

hey viki...thats cool!!
i never knew tht parottas came be made without flipping and flopping them in the air!!

Jaishree Iyer said...

viki I too postedparotoyesterday.but in diffrent method.your looks very yummy & perfect.

Unknown said...

nice presentation..parota looks so good..

Raks said...

So kewl idea dear,I wud love to try it out soon! Thanks for sharing!

Finla said...

Wowo i love parota and these looks so yummy delicious.

gtyuk said...

I love parottas, yours has come out perfect, fluffy and wafery! nice demonstration!

Priya Suresh said...

This techinique is quite diferent..looks delicious n flaky parotta..superb Viki!!

Usha said...

The parotta looks flaky and delicious...good step by step pictorial :-)

Sia said...

how interesting. i have never seen this method for making parottas. thank u for step by step instructions.

Chutneytales said...

Hai Viki..This is my first time here...i love parottas..i live in Chidambaram,TamilNadu..Here Parottas from a shop Called Murthy Cafe is so famous..They serve it with 'Salna'..Yours look similar to the Murthy Cafe's Parotta..Im soo tempted now...I think this is one perfect recipe to try parottas at home..I guess there wont be any need of going to Murthy cafe anymore..Thanks for sharing the recipe..By the check out my blog when free..

Sujatha said...

thats a terrific effort, Viki! It looks like exactly how we get in the restaurant! My havorite street food and I have a blast with parotta and chalna whenever I visit India.. Can't wait to try this at home! Bookmarking.. :)

Adlak's tiny world said...

how wonderfuly u made parottas... i too tried from cham's blog. Yet to blog it.

this is also simple and yummy one. will try next time. perfectly layered dear.

Swapna said...

Ur version of paratha is really interesting & will try soon...

Sam said...

What a beautiful parotta dish. Looks very yummy! Thank u for step by step instructions. Will try it out soon.

Jaleela Kamal said...

wow super parotta,
i am also making different type of parottas, but this parota totaly different and vey nice.
thank you

Gomathy S said...

We also make Parotta this way.. but we dont cut it into pieces we just pleat it ! :)

Unknown said...

can you possible to say how to make the salna also

Sumi said...

Hi Viki,
great recipe, have blogged about it in my blog.

Unknown said...

viki,

how can i keep parottas hot and crispy for a birthday party

please reply ASAP

Vikis Kitchen said...

Bessie: Making parotta on the party day will be a hectic job. So I do like this below.

I can suggest you the following:
(I assumed you have to make 25 parottas or more)
1.Make all the parottas (made from frozen or store bought or home made) ahead, say a day before.No need to get them brown or crispy now. After putting them on the tawa, spread every parotta under fan and let them all cool. Then store them in fridge.
2.On the party day, take them out 3 hours before and let them loose all the chillness.
3. Then just before serving, heat the dosa tawa and fry them again with little oil for every parotta, till it gets crispy.
4.Spread a kitchen paper towel and place 4 parottas, then again a paper towel and like that , we should layer the parottas with paper towels now, so that they won't get soggy by their own steam.
Place them inside a hot box or microwave 1 minute before serving.

* Anyways, the parotta won't be that too crispy....but still this has worked me earlier.Believe me , this method will save a lot of time and tension. So try this and enjoy.

Hope you got it:)
Enjoy and have a wonderful party.

Magie said...

This is good technique... one of my friend also though me an easy way of doing it. you can roll the dough to about 8inch and spread some oil n dust some flour on it and fold it alternate with about 1cm width starting from top. Then when you will have thin long strip... hold either ends and start tapping the strip lightly dont worry if it breaks... just keep tapping till the whole strip is evenly thin and roll into a circle and roll with rolling pin to desired size. this method will also give same effect as the above :). Sorry if i dint convey it properly, quite hard to explain the process in words :D

Magie said...

This is good technique... one of my friend also though me an easy way of doing it. you can roll the dough to about 8inch and spread some oil n dust some flour on it and fold it alternate with about 1cm width starting from top(Think of how you make saree pleates.. in similar maner). Then you will have thin long strip... hold either ends and start tapping the strip lightly dont worry if it breaks...just patch it up n keep tapping till the whole strip is evenly thin and roll into circle holding one end and roll with rolling pin to desired size. this method will also give same effect as the above :). Sorry if i dint convey it properly, quite hard to explain the process in words :D

Vikis Kitchen said...

Magie: Thanks for the comment and that technique. My mom too, used to do like you told, as it was the original method. I have tried that many years ago and it will also be good. But getting distinct layers is easier by the recipe I shown above. Anyways I will try yours also soon for my viewers....I'm gonna release some cooking videos soon and this idea will be spectacular:)...Have a nice day!

www.mahaslovelyhome.com said...

i love this Parotas..nice explanation of step by step pics..

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