How To Make Triangular Parathas
8 Feb
Have you had those triangle-shaped parathas with layers inside them and wondered how they got made? Wonder no more: in this post, I’ll show you how to make triangular parathas with step-by-step pictures.
The word "paratha" comes from the words parat (layer) and atta (flour). So parathas are literally layers of cooked flour.
Making parathas is similar to making chapatis in many ways. If I compare the two, I’d say rolling a paratha is trickier than rolling a chapati but cooking a paratha is easier than cooking a chapati. Let the rolling manoeuvres not daunt you – the triangular shape falls into place quite naturally when you make layers.
You Need:
- Flour – 1 cup
- Water – 1/2 cup or so, to knead
- Wide container – for kneading the dough
- Salt – to taste
- Rolling surface and rolling pin
- Non-stick skillet/tava – for cooking
- Ghee – for applying to the paratha layers
- Oil – for cooking the parathas
I add kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves), kalonji (nigella seeds) and ajwain (carom seeds) to the paratha dough, you can leave these out and make them plain if you like.
You also need some expertise in kneading and rolling the flour. Don’t have that yet? Let this chapati-making guide give you a quickstart.
How To Make Triangular Parathas:
Mix flour, salt, kasoori methi and ajwain well when dry. Then add water little by little, kneading as you would need the dough for chapatis.
Let the kneaded dough stand for 20minutes.
Roll out the paratha in a circle as you would roll a chapati. Apply a little ghee to one side.
Fold it over in half. Apply ghee again to the semi-circle.
Fold it over again into a triangle shape.
Dab dry flour on to the triangle and roll it to expand retaining the same shape. In a nutshell, this is how the shapes would look:
Don’t worry if there is a little shape distortion – it’s more important to have them even in thickness rather than perfectly symmetric. After a few tries, you’ll find you are making triangular parathas without sweating over it.
Put the non-stick skillet on the fire. Place the raw paratha in the center, making sure there are no folds. Let’s call the side being heated first side1.
When little brown spots begin to form, turn it around. Smear a little oil on side1, press and rotate gently with a spatula. Repeat the same with side2.
When both sides are cooked evenly, you’re done! Serve hot with curry and raita.
My meal today: triangle parathas, okra and yogurt with fresh mint.
Notes
Want to try more variations with parathas? Experiment with these options:
- Fortify the dough – make cabbage paratha or spinach paratha
- Add a filling – make sattu paratha or peas paratha
- Alter the shape – make the paratha elliptical or square!
That was very informative! Even though I can manage to make round rotis and parathas..I really enjoyed reading your post.
Thank you Shital.
I tried this today… Oh my God..! It was the tastiest paratha I had ever eaten. I especially liked the presence of ajwain and kalonji in the paratha which also turned out soft (inside) by your method.. Thank you so much for your detailed description…! It really worked for me… :)
Hey Shaima, Felt really good to read your comment. Thank you!
Very informative. I am gonna try this soon. Being a South Indian, I find it challenging to make tasty parathas. Thanks for the detailed description and pictures.
You have a good collection of recipes. Keep up the good work!
So…nice. I have done..
So yummy.
I am not Indian but have trying to make Naan &chipati at home. Today I tried these, sweet version…a little cinnamon sugar between the layers. Pretty good! But, how thin are yours after you roll the triangles? Mine may have been a little thinner than a flour tortilla…is this too thin?
Mine are about the same. That said, there is no golden rule for thinness. In Punjabi homes, the paratha layers are thicker and that’s fine too. As long as the layers are evenly sized and cooked through, and the overall shape is symmetric, all is well :-)
Cinnamon sugar – that’s a nice touch! You might like this too: gur ka paratha (jaggery stuffed paratha).