Cabbage Paratha: Wholesome Patta Gobhi Paratha
17 Mar
Here’s a way to sneak in some leafy goodness into your meals: make cabbage paratha (patta gobhi paratha). This recipe fortifies the traditional paratha dough with a generous spiking of cabbage and spices.
With chutney, raita and pickle on the side, cabbage paratha is awesome for a no-fuss, wholesome weekend brunch or a lunchbox treat.
Ingredients:
- Atta (whole wheat flour) – 1 cup
- Besan (gram flour) – 1 tablespoon
- Cabbage – 100 grams (or 1 packed cup when shredded)
- Green chili – 1 or 2
- Red chili powder – 1/4 teaspoon
- Roasted cumin powder – 1/4 teaspoon
- Salt – to taste
- Carom seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
- Milk – 1 tablespoon (or as much as needed to knead the dough)
- Ghee – 1 teaspoon (for kneading) + 1/2 teaspoon per paratha for cooking
How To Make Cabbage Paratha:
1. Shred the cabbage
Grate or shred the cabbage finely,
2. Spice up the atta
In a large bowl, tip in the atta (whole wheat flour). Add to it salt, roasted cumin powder, red chili powder, carom seeds and besan (gram flour).
Using your fingers, mix the flour and spices very well with dry hands.
3. Knead it all together
Chop green chilies into tiny bits.
To the atta mixed with spices, add ghee, shredded cabbage and chopped green chilies. Rub in with the fingers again to form a homogenous mixture.
Important! Don’t add any water or milk at this stage: the cabbage gives off water and moistens the atta, you will need very little extra water for kneading to rolling consistency.
Now add milk – a little at a time – and keep kneading the atta till it forms a stiff ball.
Let the dough rest covered for 15 minutes.
When kneading, remember to add milk in small sprinkles, and to add no further after the dough forms a hard ball. Since cabbage releases water, extra moisture will make the dough sticky after resting.
4. Roll and toast
Make balls of dough about 2-inch in diameter (larger than the size you’d use for making a chapati – we will be rolling cabbage paratha thicker).
Flatten a ball of dough between your palms, dip it into the dry flour briefly and roll it into a disk of about 5-inch diameter. Don’t roll too thin!
Heat a tava or wide, flat, thick-bottomed pan. Place the rolled out paratha on it. Cook on medium heat, till the side facing the heat begins to show brown spots (about 2 mins).
Flip it over.
Shift the position of the paratha in the pan a couple of times (a 30-degree twist will do) – this helps in even cooking.
Spread a bit of ghee on the surface facing up, while the surface facing down gets toasted (another 2 mins). Flip it over again, and spread ghee on the second side that’s now facing up.
When both sides are done to your liking, take the paratha off the heat.
Continue the process of rolling and toasting for each cabbage paratha.
Serve cabbage parathas hot off the tava with a sweet and spicy accompaniment (such as mango chutney or peanut flaxseed chutney) on the side, and a dollop of butter.
Tips:
- When adding shredded cabbage to paratha flour, a key consideration is to ensure that the dough must not get soggy. Cabbage has high water content and it oozes its water into the flour as you mix and knead. Many cooks pre-cook or “salt and rest” the cabbage to prevent this – I don’t as I feel that these methods compromise on the fresh, crisp taste of the cabbage. The tricks I use instead are:
- to shred the cabbage really fine so as to give it more surface area for letting out water sooner than later
- to rub the shredded cabbage along with dry flour first for a few minutes, encouraging it to release moisture – only later adding extra kneading water as needed
- to incorporate besan (gram flour) with the atta – besan is more tolerant of moisture variation than whole wheat flour
- to knead the dough firmer than I do for regular parathas, knowing that no matter what, our cabbage WILL lose some water and loosen the dough
- You can make ahead cabbage parathas for multiple meals: let the extra parathas cool to room temperature, then wrap them in foil and stash them in the fridge for the next day’s lunchbox or another meal. When ready to eat, warm up the parathas on the tava / non-stick pan or with a few seconds in the microwave.
Related Recipes:
Want to try other types of parathas with vegetable-fortified flour? Check out our in-house recipes for lachha gobhi (cauliflower) paratha, lauki paratha, beetroot paratha. If the “filled” kind of paratha rocks your boat, take a look at the recipes for mooli paratha, sattu paratha, onion tomato paratha.
Keen on cabbage recipes? Try our home-style patta gobhi aloo matar, a South India-inspired side of cabbage coconut stir fry, or an experimental cabbage stir-fry with honey soy dressing.
Nyc way to consume cabbage
Thank you Kanchan!