Spinach Parathas | Palak Parathas
Everyone in my family loves spinach parathas. These are lightly pan-fried whole wheat flatbreads flavored with spinach puree and spices. My mother-in-law’s spinach parathas are the best and she always makes them hot for my son when we go to visit. To our delight, there’s also usually a stack of spinach paratha for us.
I love making these for a lazy weekend breakfast or light lunch served with yogurt, athanu/achaar and a cup of masala chai. They taste best fresh off the griddle but you can also stack them in a foil or cloth-lined shallow bowl to hold in some of the heat if you want to serve them all at once. They also taste pretty good cold – we often pack them on trips.
If I’m planning ahead, I prefer to buy bunched spinach rather than the baby spinach that comes in clamshells. I prefer the flavor of fully grown spinach, especially when cooking. However, it’s a perfectly delicious way to use up baby spinach so use what you have!
The dough is soft and the most ridiculously cheerful green. If you need to entertain a toddler while frying the paratha, consider taking one of the balls, rubbing in plenty of extra flour to make it less sticky and voila, instant playdough!
Spinach Parathas
Course: Breakfast, Lunch15
minutes25
minutesBright green, lightly fried flatbreads full of spinach. They’re quite simple and riffable once you get the hang of them and they are perfect for a weekend breakfast or light lunch.
Ingredients
1 bunch spinach
2 cups atta (chakki ground whole wheat flour)
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chaat masala (optional)
1/2 green chili (optional)
Flour for dusing
Additional oil for panfrying
Directions
- Remove the coarse stems from the spinach and wash thoroughly. You do not need to dry the spinach. Coarsely chop the spinach and then puree in a food processor with the green chili if using. Add a tablespoon or two of water to get started if necessary. You should have a little more than 1/2 cup of spinach puree.
- In a medium or large mixing bowl, make a dough with the spinach puree, atta, oil, salt, cumin and chaat masala if using. Add 1-3 Tbs of water as needed to make a soft, not too sticky dough. You can refrigerate the dough for a day or two if you’d like to make the paratha later.
- Using your hands, portion the dough into one-inch balls. Dust the bull with atta or all-purpose flour and roll into a large circle about 5-6 in wide in diameter.
- Over medium-high heat, drizzle a spoon of oil on a skillet (I like to use my cast iron). Pan-fry the paratha until you see brown spots and then turn over to fry the other side. I like to brush a little oil on each side as I fry until the paratha is cooked through, has brown spots on both sides and puffs a little during the cooking.
- Serve with yogurt and pickles of your choice.