Bathua Paratha

Cooks in: 30 Minutes Serves: 2 People

Chenopodium album is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India as a food crop, and in English texts it may be called by its Hindi name bathua or bathuwa (बथुआ) (Marathi:चाकवत). It is called pappukura in Telugu, paruppukkirai in Tamil, kaduoma in Kannada, vastuccira in Malayalam, and chakvit in Konkani (from Wikipedia). These are available in plenty during winter. I used jowar flour for this recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 Cups Jowar Flour
  • 1 Cup Bathua Leaves (packed)
  • 1/2 Cup Water
  • 6 Chopped Green Chillies
  • 1 Tsp White Sesame Seeds
  • 1 Tsp Amchoor Powder
  • 3/4 Tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
  • 1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder
  • Oil for making Parathas

Directions:

  1. In a 2 Ltr cooker add water, leaves, chillies, amchoor powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt in the same order. Cook for a whistle and release pressure manually.
  2. Blend the cooked leaves to a smooth paste.
  3. Add jowar flour, sesame seeds and mix well. Keep covered for 15 minutes.
  4. Grease fingers and knead the dough briefly. Divide them into lemon size balls.
  5. Roll them into parathas and cook them on a tawa on medium heat using oil.
  6. Serve with pickle/curd.

Note:

  1. Wash and dry the leaves at least for 3 hours.
  2. Blend the cooked leaves preferably with a hand blender immediately after opening the cooker. Add the jowar flour when the blended mixture is hot.
  3. This is necessary to get the dough in perfect consistency.
  4. If the dough is sticky, add some more flour so that it will be easy to roll.