Parota (whole wheat)

Instructions

1. This recipe is done by hand and not in the food processor or kneading beater. Take a wide mixing bowl ,add the flour, ghee and gently rub it in between the fingers until it is well mixed. Add the milk, sugar, salt .Keeping the hand in claw like position make circles drawing in the the flour into the milk mixture until it is combined. To bring the dough together,add a little bit of warm water as necessary and begin the kneading. Ensure that it is a firm dough, not too soft or too dry. It should have a slight give when pressed but not be sticky.
2. Cover it with a lid and leave it to rest while you finish up cleaning or making a gravy. The original recipe says a 20 minute resting time ,we left it for an hour and a half and used the time to make the egg curry.
3. When ready to begin rolling, portion out the dough into individual balls and keep ready. Keep a large plate on hand to place the parota swirls after pleating.
4. Keep a little flour in a cup,next to the rolling board to dust the surface. Smear a little flour on the rolling pin and on the base of the board and start by rolling out one ball of dough into a thin disc. Don't worry about the shape at this point if it does not conform to a circle. After rolling it,add a few drops of ghee and gently spread it across the rolled dough . Now pick up the top edge and begin by making thin folds back and forth like one would do with a paper fan. Once the pleating is completed, hold one end of the length and roll it inside to form a swirl. It will look like a cinnamon swirl at this point. Set it in the plate and brush the top surface with a few drops of oil, using a pastry brush or the tips of fingers.
5. Repeat this until all the dough is used up.
6. Next, using the rolling pin again, flatten out each swirl of dough until it is the size of a medium sized roti. It should be neither thick nor thin.
7. After the parota rolling is done, heat a cast iron tava or any tava of choice and add a little ghee or oil . How much ghee you want to use is completely your choice. I find it effective to use the back of a spoon and smear a little ghee on both sides of the parota so that it cooks and crisps up without having to use too much oil or ghee. When I say the back of a spoon, it is literally whatever coating of ghee is at the back of the spoon after dipping it in the ghee. So there's no pouring of ghee here. But please do what works best for you. Also it is ideal to keep the flame low so that the parota does not blacken. It is important that those layers get well cooked inside. So press down ,keep for a few seconds, flip it over and press down again.
8. It helps if someone can assist at this point. After 2 parotas are done ,have someone esle watch the tava while you put two of the cooked parotas on the board or on a plate when it is hot .Using bot palms of the hands scrunch it on either side using quick motions . It makes it flakier and opens up the layers :) It's fun too !
9. Place it on a platter and serve with dish of choice. We made an egg curry and added some lemon wedges and garlic raita with this.
10. A friend said that the wheat flour gives it a crispier edge or surface. Please use any flour you like, we loved these whole wheat parotas. Leftovers made a great kothu parota dinner for one.

• Servings : 4
• Course : Dinner, Lunch
• Recipe Type : Dinner, Lunch
• Ingredient : Wheat Flour