Methi (Fenugreek) Parathas,my attempt at healthy cooking!!

My quest for making healthy food is ongoing. I always find out different health food recipes, try to add my own twist to it, and the end product is a far cry from healthy. I guess I should find a way to break away from my butter/ghee addiction...tough one,especially since the more grease you add, the tastier the food becomes! Well, there was one time when I used to run in the opposite direction when any of the greens are mentioned in the lunch or dinner menu. These days I seem to have matured enough to eat any vegetable. I remember my mom used to break her head to make something that the entire family would eat. we used to make her life hell by being very picky about food. The moment I started cooking on my own, I realized how hard it is to think up of a simple menu for lunch.

Back to parathas...My prior experience with parathas were not so good. I was not good with stuffing the dough and rolling it out and my work space used to be such a disaster. Just recently I found out that you need not really stuff the ingredients to make a tasty paratha..phew! such a relief!! This is a different way of including greens into ones palate, boiling them is not the lone option. Below is a tried and tested way of making decent parathas..you might question the health factor after reading about the ghee/butter I have used..but you are free to alter the amount according to your taste.



Ingredients:

1) Wheat flour                      - 2 cups
2) Besan (chickpea flour)     - quarter cup
3) Methi/ Fenugreek leaves  - cleaned and roughly chopped
4) Red chili powder              - 1 to 2 tsp (according to your spice level)
5) Green chilies                    - 2 finely chopped/minced
6) Ginger                              - 1 tsp minced/grated
7) Ghee/melted butter/oil     - 1 tbsp
8) Salt to taste
9) Cumin seeds                     - 1 1/2 tsp 
10) Ghee/melted butter        - to spread on paratha
11) water for the dough

Method:

1) Heat a tawa and dry roast the cumins till they slightly turn brown. Transfer the content to a tissue paper and roughly crush this with a rolling pin. alternatively, you can simply use cumin powder, I just love roasting it fresh as the aroma is too good to pass up.

2) Make sure to destem the methi, clean thoroughly in water and roughly chop it.

3) Mix all the ingredients 1 through 7 (including the roasted cumin seeds). You can use oil/ghee or even melted butter, the choice is upto you.

4) Sprinkle some water and knead it to make a soft dough. The ghee in it will take care of making the dough soft, so there is no need to put too much effort in making the dough. Just knead till the dough does not stick to your fingers.

5) Cover the dough with a wet towel or just with a lid and let it sit for at least 15 minutes.

6) Rest of this is just like making chapathis.Divide the dough into golf ball-sized portions and roll between your hands till they are smooth and without cracks.




7) Dip it in flour and roll each ball into a thick circle (or something close to a circle in my case :D)

8) Heat a griddle and put a rolled out paratha. Flip this when you see tiny bubbles rise on the surface of the paratha. Spread a little bit of melted butter/ghee on the top well over the surface of the paratha. Flip again in a minute and spread the melted butter/ghee on this surface too. 




9) Remove from heat when both sides are golden brown.

 

I usually store the parathas by wrapping them in a wet cotton towel and placing it in a hot pack.This keeps them warm and fresh.Serve it warm with chilled thick curd and pickle or even raita. I am just crazy about tomatoes, so I like to have my parathas with Cooked Tomato Raita..itz yummilicious!!

 

Few tips to cut down the bitterness of Methi:

1. The flavor of Besan(chickpea flour) should take care of the bitterness of the Methi leaves, if any.
2. In case you are not comfortable with the slight bitterness, then you could try adding salt to the chopped methi and setting it aside for 5 minutes. All the bitterness oozes out along with the juices. squeeze out the juices and use the leaves for the dough.
3. Alternatively, you can cook the methi leaves in 1 tsp oil along with a pinch of salt and Aamchoor powder (dry mango powder). Once the leaves wilt and the water is evaporated, remove this from heat, cool it down and mix with the dough. The aamchoor makes sure to cut thru the bitterness. cooking the methi leaves enhances the aroma of the leaves

I am not very sure about the nutirtional value in case you choose to try out tips 2 and 3...but no harm in trying them out!!