 |
6cm diameter ball of soft dough.
|
Mix the flour and water to make a nice soft dough.
Leave it covered up for 20 minutes.
Roll the dough into a cylinder around 5cm in diameter and cut into 5cm lengths.
Divide what is left equally between the cylinders you have cut and then roll them into balls.
Take one of the balls and put in on a surface that is lightly dusted with chapatti flour.
 |
Roll it out to around 30cm in diameter -
it doesn't have to be circular though. |
Note that during the first stages of this procedure, you need to keep the flour that you add in the rolling process to a minimum. This is because you need the spiral that you are going to make to be able to stick to itself.
Next, roll out the dough-ball untill it is about the same size as the tava.
 |
Spread the first filling on just half of
it, leaving a border around the edge. |
On half of it, spread a small quantity of chilli sauce.
You only need to spread this over half, and leave a border around the edge because you need to be able to seal it and during the subsequent rolling process, it will tend to spread out.
 |
Fold it over, squash out the air and seal it.
|
Slightly dampen the border with a few drops of water.
Don't use too much because it is only thin and you will make a slurry if you use too much, and, you don't want it sliding around - you want a firm, sealed joint.
Fold the circle of dough in half and from the centre of the straight edge, gently press down the surface, working your way outwards, towards the edge, squashing the air out of it.
When you get to the border, seal it.
 |
Put on the second filling.
|
Now, spread some brinjal pickle on the half-circle, in the same way that you did with the first filling.
Remember to pick out any bits that are too large as they will go through the dough.
Dampen the edges as you did with the previous layer step.
Now, starting at the straight edge, roll it up to form a cylinder shape which, if you sliced across it, would have a spiral cross section.
Try to make sure that there are a minimum of air pockets inside it - any air trapped in it will break out and make a hole in the dough, giving the filling an opportunity to leak out.
 |
Roll it up, stretch it out
and then seal it. |
Now, keep on rolling it, in the same direction so that it doesn't unroll, and stretching it out a bit.
Don't over-do this bit because if you make the dough walls too thin, they will leak filling into each other.
Once you have about the right length - a length of roughly 1.5 times the diameter of your tava - seal the ends.
 |
Make a spiral out of it.
|
Now, carefully roll it up into a spiral.
Flatten it very slightly - this is so that the coils stick to each other by taking up the available space, not so that it becomes flat.
Sprinkle flour on it and turn it over.
Sprinkle flour on that as well.
 |
Flatten it to make the
spiralled spiral paratha. |
Now, flatten it, a little at a time, by hand, until it is around 1cm thick - not much less.
Any bubble will burst through during this and any leaks that you get, just sprinkle some flour on the leak and gently rub it in.
Finally, use a rolling pin to roll it to around 6mm thick - again, only do this a little at a time.
 |
Fry it on a hot, oiled tava.
|
Oil the tava and place the paratha on it.
Put some oil on the upper side whilst the underside cooks.
Either when you think that the underside has started to brown, or, if earlier, when the paratha starts to bubble a bit, turn it over.
 |
Turn it when it starts to bubble.
|
Now cook the other side.
If it hasn't already started bubbling, it will now.
Be careful to to burn the paratha so keep on looking at it to see how it is getting on.
 |
Both sides should look like
this when it is finished. |
Finally, your paratha should look like this on both sides.
If you cut it in half, you should be able to see the edges of the two layers inside.
These are easier to see if you haven't rolled it out too much when you were making it.
You can see the layers best of all if you tear it - they will separate nicely then.
Having two layers, you can put any combination of flavours in there that you like. The choice is yours
 |
Two layers, spiralled. You can use any flavours
you like as long as the particle size is small. |