Gobi Paratha (Cauliflower stuffed Flatbread)

Gobi Paratha

I just got back from India.  I had the most wonderful wedding there in the most beautiful location, to the loveliest man.  

 

And now I miss it all.  I miss India. I miss everything that annoyed me while I was there, the traffic, the honking, the people that do not know what personal space is.  I miss everything about it.  Which is why I made gobi paratha this morning - also, I am horribly  jet lagged - so lack of sleep coupled with the fact that I'm hungry at 4am for a true Indian style breakfast.  We had so many of those in India.  Every morning we would wake up to a feast, and it comprised of everything imaginable, like the typical Sindhi breakfast of daal pakwan, South Indian breakfast of idlis and uttapams with spicy sambar, Sindhi onion koki and sweet vermicilli. I could go on, but I'm getting hungry again.  So, early this morning while I was up and there was half a head of cauliflower in the fridge, and there's a new chakla that my aunt Kusum gave me, well, what would you have done??

 

Stuffed Parathas can be very greasy and doughy if not made right - in my opinion anyway. I like them stuffed well, or even overly stuffed where the filling is almost peeking out in some places.  The filling can be spicy - my mom certainly makes it that way, but it's really a matter of taste on the amount of spice you want to add.

 Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup grated cauliflower (or you can use boiled potatoes or boiled lentils)
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp mango powder
1 tsp chopped green chillies

Method:
Once you have grated the cauliflower, squeeze to get the water out, if any. Mine was pretty dry so I did not have to do that.  Also I've noticed that purple cauliflower is less watery than the regular white variety.

In a bowl, add the flower, oil and water, and knead until it turns into a ball of dough. This dough is not sticky at all, and takes less than a minute to come together. I suspect that is because of the whole wheat flour since it tends to be dry.  Hence the oil.

Once the dough is ready,  in a separate bowl, add the spices to the cauliflower and mix.

Roll the dough into golf ball size - I got about 5 of these.  If you don't have a fancy chakla from Ahmedabad like me, use a regular cutting board.  Roll out the ball just half way.  Add filling on top - about 3 tsp, wrap into a little parcel, and roll out until it's fairly thin.  Make sure to flour as you're going along, but remember not to over-flour since ww flour is quite dry.

In a medium heated skillet, add the flat bread and cook for a minute.  Turn it over, and cook for another 30 seconds.  Add a tsp of oil to help it fry a bit, and continue to cook it by turning it over every minute or so.  Once it's brown and looking yummy, take it off the heat.

I like to eat it with mango pickle, but people enjoy it with ketchup as well.