Popular Indian flatbread stuffed with cauliflower, coriander and green chillies.
As a kid, I grew up in a family where breakfast was never just a bowl of cereal or a slice of toast. My mum often treated us to much tastier breakfasts that could also be packed in a lunchbox (more colloquially called ‘Tiffin box’) and taken to school. One of the regular savoury breakfasts/lunches was this ‘Gobi Paratha’ which we could practically eat any time of the day.
It is typically served with yoghurt or a generous spoonful of ghee or butter in India. But depending on whether you want it to be vegetarian or not, you can even dunk little bites of this paratha into the runny yolk of a boiled egg. For a vegan option just serve it with pickled vegetables and keep it low calorie by skipping the butter/ghee altogether – take your pick!
Mine is a simple recipe because I don’t like adding too many spices.
Stuffed cauliflower flatbread – Gobi Paratha
Course: Starter, Main, BreakfastCuisine: Indian, PunjabiDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes20
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- For the dough
100-150 gms of whole wheat flour
½-1 glass of water
½ a teaspoon of ajwain or carom seeds
Salt to taste (optional). I tend not to season the dough.
- For the filling
50g of grated cauliflower
1 or 2 chopped green chillies as per your taste or none at all ☺
Chopped coriander leaves according to taste. I normally use 1-2 tbsp.
Salt to taste.
- And…
Vegetable oil for frying
Directions
- To make the dough
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and ajwain (carom seeds) together before adding water to the mixture in small quantities, bit by bit to make a soft dough. The best dough is kneaded by hand on a flat surface dusted with flour until it becomes smooth and elastic.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- To make the filling
- Squeeze out water/moisture from the grated cauliflower by pressing it between your palms. Make sure the cauliflower is dry enough.
- Add coriander, chillies and salt to the cauliflower and mix well.
- Cook the parathas
- Divide the dough into 4-5 golf-ball sized balls.
- Take one ball of dough and roll it into a very small-sized flatbread using a rolling pin. If it sticks to the board, dust it with flour.
- Take a small portion of cauliflower filling, in a slightly smaller proportion to the ball of dough, and place it on top of the half-rolled dough.
- Cover and seal the cauliflower filling with the dough by bringing the round edges of the half-rolled dough together. Once sealed, dust your hands with flour and try to flatten the dough by hand.
- Now start rolling the dough gently on a flat surface until it’s just 2-3 mm thick taking care to ensure that the cauliflower filling gets evenly spread but doesn’t burst out of the dough.
- Put the rolled paratha onto a hot flat-pan (or tava).
- Once it gets cooked on one side, flip it to cook on the other side.
- Brush the top of paratha with oil or ghee.
- Flip it again to brush the other side with oil or ghee.
- Let the paratha cook until it’s light brown on both sides.
- Place the cooked parathas on a plate and serve with yoghurt, butter or pickled carrots, chillies or lime etc.
Notes
- Ensure the cauliflower stuffing is dry and all the water is squeezed out. You can use the cauliflower water to make the dough if you like to follow zero-waste cooking practices in your kitchen.
- Do not leave the seasoned cauliflower filling in the fridge. The salt in the filling releases water which doesn’t help with rolling parathas.
- Don’t knead the dough too soft otherwise the stuffing may break out of the flatbread whilst rolling. The dough should be neither too soft nor too firm. To this end, only add water little by llittle whilst kneading the dough.
- Don’t press down too hard when rolling the flatbread otherwise, the stuffing may get squeezed out.
- Dust the board well before rolling the dough to prevent sticking.
- Also, avoid using a blender or food processor for shredding the cauliflower to prevent it from getting too mushy. I just use a manual grater.
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