Sattu ke Parathe/ (Flat bread Stuffed with Spicy Toasted Bengal Gram flour)

I’m pretty sure you have heard the word “Parathe”/”Paranthe”. It’s essentially a form of Indian flatbread which is glazed in oil. It can be considered an upgrade from the more conventional baked flatbread, better known as “Chapati” or “Roti”.

But wait, there is another level of upgrade that is available if one chooses to really push the limits. And as you upgrade the options become wider.

What I am referring to is the absolutely endless ingredients that you can use as stuffing material inside the flatbread. Each one imparts a very characteristic texture and flavor to the “Parathe” and can be individually classified as a unique preparation although they all belong to the same type/class of Indian cuisine.

I hope to present a series of such recipes in the future. For today I will talk about ‘Sattu ke Parathe’ which is essentially an oil glazed Indian flatbread stuffed with bengal gram flour. Although the oil makes it less than ideal for health conscious folks, the stuffing itself is nutritious (high protein) and filling.

‘Sattu ke Parathe’ is a common breakfast in Bihar & Jharkhand (Eastern India). Every household has their own style of preparing this. I learned this recipe from my sister-in law (Ria). I often visited her on my way back from work, and gorged on delicious meals prepared by her. Ria is very happy go lucky and kind hearted soul, but at the same time pragmatic. She loves to cook spicy & tangy food. I still cherish our long street food-ing sessions and and strolls around local markets in town. She taught me the conventional way to prepare this dish. However, experimental as I am, I improvised it a bit by adding a few more ingredients. This recipe reminds me of her and the good times with her.

Ingredients:

Preparation for the stuffing:

• Toasted Bengal gram flour/ Sattu– 2 cups
• Nigella seeds/ Kalonji/ Kala jeera-1/2 teaspoon
• Carom seeds/ Ajwain-1/2 teaspoon
• Roasted cumin powder-1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder-1/2 teaspoon
• Dry Fenugreek leaves/ Kasuri Methi-1/2 teaspoon
• Salt-1 teaspoon
• Sugar-1 teaspoon
• Indian Sour Pickle/ Lime juice- 2 teaspoon
• Mustard oil- 2 tablespoon (to bind the mixture & add flavor)
• Onion -1/4 of a medium size (very finely chopped)
• Garlic- 3 to 4 cloves (minced)
• Ginger-2″ (minced)
• Green chilli- 2 teaspoon (minced)

For the Paratha/ Flat bread dough:

• Whole wheat flour- 3 cups
• Salt-1/2 teaspoon
• White oil-1 tablespoon
• Water-to knead it.
• Wheat flour-1/4 cups (Sprinkle for rolling the paratha)

For shallow frying:

• Canola oil/ Vegetable oil/ Sunflower oil- Any kind of white oil

Cooking Method:

1. In a bowl mix thoroughly all the ingredients mentioned in the section “Preparation for stuffing”
2. In a bigger bowl add wheat flour, salt, white oil and mix well. Further knead the wheat flour with water to a smooth dough. Cover and keep aside for 20-30 minutes
3. Make medium sized balls from the dough, first take a ball roll it out in around 4″ diameter, place the stuffing in the middle and plete from the side, bring it in the centre and press it, making it look like a sphere dumpling.
4. Dust some wheat flour on the sphere dough and roll it out to make a round paratha.
5. In a hot frying pan/ Tawa, put the paratha and dry cook both sides without oil, then brush both sides with some white oil.
6. Shallow fry them in medium heat while pressing it from all sides, so that the paratha gets cooked evenly.
7. Serve hot with Dahi/ Curd/ Yogurt, Crunchy “Bhujia”, Sour/Sweet pickle, or with any kind of Chutney