Dal Paratha
Chana dal paratha is a traditional north indian flatbread made of whole wheat dough stuffed with spiced lentil filling. Vegan friendly!
Ingredients
For Making The Dal Stuffing
- ¾ cup Chana Dal bengal gram
- 1.25 cup water
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder haldi
- ¾ teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- Pinch asafoetida hing
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder hot, adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon dry mango powder amchur, adjust to taste
- 2 indian green chillies hot, adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoon cilantro chopped
For Making The Dough
- 2 cup whole wheat flour atta + extra for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup water or as needed
- Oil or ghee as needed for frying the parathas
Instructions
Make The Dal Stuffing
- Place chana dal in a large bowl and wash 3-4 times under running water while rubbing it slightly until the water is clear. Place the washed dal in a bowl and soak in enough water for 2-3 hours.
- Drain the water and add the soaked dal with fresh water to a pressure cooker or instant pot. Add turmeric powder, hing and salt.
- Pressure cook for 3-5 whistles on medium high flame or until the dal is fully cooked but the grains hold shape.
- Open the lid, there would be no water in the pressure cooker. Using the back of spoon, gently mash the cooked dal to resemble a crumble while its still warm. We don't want to make a paste, few grains here and there are fine.
- Add the dal to a bowl and mix in the red chilli powder, garam masala, amchoor, chopped cilantro and green chillies. Mix well. Tip #1- The dal stuffing should neither be dry nor pasty. It should be lightly moist. You should be able to a make a soft small ball of the dal mixture. See image 8 in the blog post.
Make The Dough
- Measure and add dry atta to a large bowl. Add salt. Slowly start adding water and mixing in the flour using circular motion of your fingers.
- Slowly, atta will start clumping up as it absorbs the water. Add water in very small quantities from now to make a non sticky dough ball. Use your knuckles to knead the atta to soft, smooth & pliable dough.
- If you want you can add a little oil or melted ghee while kneading. The dough should be smooth and should not have any cracks.
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel for about 20 minutes (to rest the gluten). If you plan on making parathas later, your refrigerate the dough in an air tight container for later use.
- Once rested, divide the paratha dough into 8 equal parts. Roll each portion to make smooth balls.
- For Using Stand Mixer - see instructions in this post.
STUFF, ROLL & FRY THE DAL PARATHA
- Place a tawa(griddle) to heat up on medium flame. On a floured surface or a chakla, place a the dough ball and flatten slightly. Sprinkle little bit of dry flour and using a rolling pin, roll it into a 3 or 4 inch circle.
- Place about 2-3 tablespoons of chana dal stuffing in the center and bring the sides of the dough together to make a small round parcel. Dusting with flour as needed, using a rolling pin, roll the stuffed dough parcel into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Tip #2 - In general, stuffed parathas taste better when they are rolled not too thick or thin. Be gentle handed during rolling, else the dough will start sticking to the rolling pin, tear and the stuffing will start coming out.Tip #3 - You may sprinkle dry flour during rolling the paratha, however don't add too much, because the dry flour sticks to the surface of the paratha and when you will fry, there will be black specks on the paratha(that look quite unappetizing).
- Place the rolled paratha on the hot tawa. Cook the parathas on medium flame, flip after 1-2 minutes, generously brush oil or ghee and then flip again to let cook on the oil side. Brush little oil on the second side, flip and cook till both the sides have golden spots. Serve!
Notes
- Nutrition information mentioned in the recipe is an estimation only.
- Always make a fresh dough for the best taste.
- Avoid adding too much salt to the dough else as the dough rests, it starts getting sticky and you will have difficulty rolling it.
- Always rest the dough for 10-15 minutes, this rests the gluten.
- Rolling to a perfect round shape takes practice. Even I am not great at it. Don't be frustrated if you cannot get a perfect shape. If you ask me, good tasting parathas are more important than good looking ones!
- You could make the dal stuffing 1-2 days ahead and keep refrigerated.
- You could add more or less spices or flavors to the dal stuffing as you prefer. I personally don't like to add a lot of spices so that the taste of lentils shine.
- Make sure to over fill the dal stuffing. The dal stuffing is soft and has salt and it will start to come out when you roll the paratha.
- If you roll the parathas too thin, they will not be soft or if you roll thick(they will remain uncooked).
- The texture of paratha depends on the material of skillet. I use a heavy tawa or cast iron griddle for cooking the paratha. You could use non stick or aluminum pans too (I feel that the parathas aren't that khasta(crispy flaky) when cooked on those).
- For a karara (flaky and crisp) parathas that are still soft on the inside, cook on a constant heat, keep a close eye and flip & brown as needed.
- Don't skimp on oil else the parathas will taste dry.
Nutrition
Calories: 157kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 7gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.01gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.01gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.01gSodium: 296mgPotassium: 38mgFiber: 7gSugar: 0.4gVitamin A: 44IUVitamin C: 0.04mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!