Spelt Parathas

While I was in architecture school, I used to buy frozen onion parathas from Metro (formerly Dominion) from the frozen food aisle. They were really quick to make because I just heated up my IKEA non-stick pan, fried up both sides until golden and boom they were done. They had a lot of palm oil in them though and you kind of feel bad afterward because of all the added things they put in there to make it taste so good. As you’re eating the flaky bread, you can almost feel your arteries clogging and your liver groaning…

To make a healthier alternative, I opted to use Spelt Flour and Chickpea Flour, but I would recommend using whole wheat flour instead of the chickpea flour. The reason being, that chickpea flour has a slightly bitter taste and in such a delicate flaky bread with no other flavours in it, it was kind of too much. This results in a more dense flat bread, but still retains the flaky quality. You can put any toasted spices into the dough to make it a bit different each time. Serve with your favourite Indian dish, like Mutter Paneer, Chicken Tikka Masala, or Curried Fish. 

You can also use this the same way as a pita and make wraps with it as well. Instead of pan frying, baking is a great alternative, but I find it easier to pan fry these up in batches.

Final Product:

Ingredients:
2 cups Spelt Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Water (or left over whey from making paneer)
3/4 cup Olive Oil

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flours by passing through a sifter, or a sieve.

2. Crack 3 eggs into a bowl and lightly whisk with a fork
  
3. Make a well in the center of the flour bowl, and pour in the egg.

4. Add salt and mix. Add just enough water to make a very soft dough, or use the left over whey from making paneer.

5. Dust your clean work surface with spelt flour, and knead the dough with your hand in the bowl, then turn out onto the table and knead with both hands. Knead until you have a very elastic-y, soft dough. 2 minutes or so.

6. Cut up the dough into 9 sections with a bench scraper or serrated knife, and roll up each bit of dough to make 2” balls.
  

7. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and leave it for 20-30 minutes.

8. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out each ball into very thin sheets, as thin as you can get, on a floured table and keep flipping and turning so it doesn’t stick.

9. Using a brush, lightly brush some olive oil to half of the dough, then fold in half, brush then fold in half, continuously until you can’t fold it any more.

10. Gently roll out the folded dough to form a disk around 6” in diameter. Don’t press down too hard or else you’ll lose all your layers that make the flatbread flaky. Repeat steps 9 and 10 until all the dough is flattened. You can hopefully see all the layers as you roll out the dough.

11. Lay down each paratha on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and have a layer of saran wrap to keep the 2nd layer of parathas from sticking.
 

12. Heat up a pan with a little bit of vegetable oil, and fry both sides until golden. Press down with a spatula to make sure the whole surface gets contact, but there are usually bubbles that prevent it from going completely brown on the 2nd side, so don’t sweat it. Repeat until all the parathas are fried up. Serve with your favourite Indian dish, like Mutter Paneer, Chicken Tikka Masala, or Curried Fish.