Green Papaya Paratha

#Ashuskitchen- Raw Green Papaya Paratha

Greetings from Ashu to all the readers. It has been a sudden unexpected absence from this online space of mine and  I sure missed posting new posts. Starting this new day of March with one of my healthier recipes, Green Papaya Paratha that uses raw papaya as the main ingredient of the recipe.

Parathas are a common menu item in the Indian household, a well accepted food by all, be it the kids, young or old folks. One can have any number of possibilities or types of parathas. It is one of my favorite dishes to make for breakfast, nothing beats the hot stuffed parathas and achar/pickle on a chilly winter morning. I have very fond memories of the yummy parathas that I used to make in the winter months during my stay in North India.

Breakfast happens to be the most essential meal of the day and hence one should try and make sure to eat a wholesome, healthy one on a regular basis. The necessity to make a nutritious breakfast made me try out this different paratha, making use of the raw papaya that I had got from the market. Papaya fruit has lot of health benefits. It is a rich source of antioxidants and phytonutrients that work against free radicals, is great source of Vitamins A, B, C and K, a good source of fiber, also has the digestive enzyme Papain and thus helps in digestion too. It is also rich in calcium and some other minerals. The taste of grated raw papaya is also very refreshing and one can make use of it to make many dishes, but here I incorporated it to make the filling of the parathas and with little addition of oil, the crispy and hot parathas were heartily devoured. If you have not tried this paratha then I suggest you to try once and then decide.

Many a times one is faced with taking care of a sick loved one and is faced with the question to what type of food to include in the regular diet. This Paratha would make an excellent snack or meal menu option as it is wholesome, with vegetable that has fiber, vitamins, is good for digestion and as is a regularly made food item in Indian houses hence one does not have to put extra efforts in its preparation. When cooking for family or loved ones, do make the food with a smile and add loads of your love to it.

 Recipe for Green Papaya Paratha:

INGREDIENTS:

Raw Green Papaya: 1 Small

Green Chilli: 2

Green Coriander: 1 Tbsp

Sesame seeds: 2 Tbsp

Carrom seeds: 1 Tsp

Wheat Flour: 250 Gm

Water: 1 Glass

Oil: 50 ml

Turmeric: 1 Tsp

Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp (Optional)

Salt : To Taste

Chaat Masala: 2 Tsp

METHOD:

Wash and dry the raw papaya. Cut into half and remove the seeds if any. Grate both the halves of the papaya and put in a bowl.

Finely chop the green chilies and green coriander and add to the bowl of grated papaya.

Add sesame seeds, carom seeds, red chili powder, salt, turmeric, and mix all the ingredients of the bowl.

Grated Papaya with masala

In another bowl make a medium-soft dough of the wheat flour using water. For method of making wheat flour dough click here.

Make lemon-sized balls of the dough. Take a dough ball and roll out a small round puri and add the raw papaya filling, close the edges and again roll to make a circular Paratha.

Heat a Frypan or Tava on the gas flame and cook both side of the paratha, apply oil as per taste.

Cook paratha golden brown

Apply oil and Cook paratha on both side till golden brown or crispy.

Green Papaya Paratha/Flatbread

Once the parathas are ready, one can sprinkle Chaat masala powder over them and serve with either a yogurt raita or a mint yogurt chutney or Tomato Ketchup.

Green Papaya Paratha

Enjoy!

ashu.

 

 

 

 

 

Spicy Tomato Chutney/Dip

Tomato chutney is one of the easiest and tastiest side dishes that goes well with any form of parathas, be it plain paratha or the numerous stuffed parathas that one can think of or few rice preparations like masala khichadi. It is my son’s favourite chutney and hence a frequently made recipe. It goes well my Baked Thalipeeth recipe too, the post where I have shared this same dip.

Ingredients:

Red Tomatoes: 2 Large

Onion: 1 Small

Green Chillies: 2 0r 3(spicy variety)

Garlic-2 cloves

Salt/Red chilli Powder/Turmeric-As per taste

Oil-2 Tsp.

Mustard Seeds: 1/2 tsp for seasoning.

Sugar-1 tsp (optional, I do not add.)

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan and add the mustard seeds, chopped green chillies, garlic and onion. Sauté till they are soft.
2. Then add the red chilli powder, turmeric, and salt.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till done.
4. Remove from heat into a bowl and cool.
5. Blend this in blender to get the smooth dip.

Tip: If one does not wish to use a blender or mixer, then you can add a little water to the tomatoes and cook them to a very soft and saucy consistency.

Kheema Parathas

This is also one of the recipe that is extremely quick and easy to make, a not much effort needed types of recipe that could easily become your family favourite, hence maybe worth trying it out. Whenever I am cooking mince meat dishes or for that matter any recipe, I find it so amazing that the same meat or vegetable can taste so different by simply changing a few ingredients, or cooking it differently, and one can churn out so many dishes out of that one main ingredient. I like cooking food using fresh herbs, and try to keep the ingredients added list as small and simple, wishing to make the final result a tastier and more appealing one.

In this recipe, the meat is simply boiled and water is completely drained out of the cooked mince to which ginger, garlic, chillies, cumin, and spices are added and a filling is made, this is then filled inside a wholewheat flour dough ball, rolled, and baked crisp on a hot griddle.

I usually ask the butcher, at the supermarket, for removing all the visible fat layer present from the meat and then to make the mince, just to cut down on the fat. By adding these readily available at home ingredients, the recipe turns out to be one that is simply irresistible. The pictures below would help in understanding the cooking instructions better.

Ingredients:

For the minced lamb filling:   Minced meat 300 g

Onion 1 medium-sized, chopped finely

Garlic- 6-8 cloves

Ginger-small piece

Green chillies 2-3 (according to ones preference)

Cumin- 1tsp

Garam masala- 1tsp

Red chilli powder- 2tsp (as per ones taste)

Turmeric and salt.

Green onion leaves for garnish.

For the outer coating – Wholewheat flour dough.

Wholewheat flour – 2 cups

Water- as needed to make a medium soft dough.

Oil- 2 tbsp.

Method:

Coarsely grind the ginger, garlic, and green chillies together.

Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and finely chopped onion and fry till onions are pinkish and then add the ground ginger garlic mix and fry.

Add turmeric, red chilly powder, salt, fry for 1-2 min and then add the boiled, water drained out, mince meat (kheema) and mix. Sauté, and make the filling completely dry.  Add the garam masala powder. Remove this filling from the pan onto a plate and cool. Use the spring onion greens for garnish.

Prepare the wheat flour dough.

Roll a small round puri of the dough ball, add the filling, and again roll to make a paratha. Bake this, on medium flame, on a griddle/pan, then smear it with oil, pressing on both sides and making the paratha crisp.

Now as you have reached the last snap, I am sure the snaps are mouth watering and you would love to try out the recipe to taste these irresistible Kheema parathas. These can be served with yogurt and mint chutney.

Note: We can sprinkle some chat masala too on the parathas as soon as we remove them from the tava.

Enjoy cooking.

ashu 🙂