Gur ka Paratha: 3-Ingredient Jaggery Flatbread

The answer to "What have you put in it?" seems almost incredible when the dish in question is gur ka paratha. Surely something as delicious as this MUST have a long list of ingredients mixed in careful proportions? Plausible as that sounds, it really, truly does not. Gur ka paratha is one of those goodies that produce far greater output effect than input effort. Hardly any effort, and only 3 ingredients.

You Need:

[For 3 parathas]

• Atta (whole wheat flour) – 3/4 cup
• Jaggery powder – 6 teaspoons (I use 24 Mantra organic jaggery, which is already powdered)
• Ghee – about 2 teaspoons

In the picture above: Atta (whole wheat flour), jaggery powder, ghee

How To Make Gur ka Paratha:

Knead the atta as you would for regular chapatis.

Let the kneaded dough stand for 15 minutes, wrapped in a moist cloth.

Pluck equal-sized lumps of the dough and use your palms to roll them into balls.

To make each paratha, slightly flatten a dough ball, give a light sprinkle of dry atta and roll it into a circle of close to 3-inch diameter.

Place the rolled dough in your palm, place two spoons of jaggery powder in the center.

Pull the sides of the dough around to ball it up again and seal the jaggery in.

Place the ball back to roll into a flat round shape. Don’t roll it too thin – when the surface starts to show specks of jaggery,  stop.

When you seal the jaggery in, as well as when you roll, be careful not to leave holes on the surface. While toasting the parathas, jaggery seeps out from vents and caramelizes, and too-big holes can lead to a burnt taste.

The paratha has been rolled out and is now ready to toast.

Heat a flat tava or griddle. Place the paratha on it on medium heat.

When the side facing the heat turns slightly brown, flip it over. Spread some ghee on this side. Repeat with the other side.

While the paratha toasts, use a flat spatula to press it gently down – this helps in cooking it well.

A little bit of jaggery might ooze out while the paratha cooks and caramelize – this tastes pretty nice. But after you are done with one paratha, wipe the remnants of the caramelized jaggery off, or else the next paratha might taste burnt!

Take the paratha off the heat when toasted on both sides.

Continue this way till all parathas are done.

Tastes best hot, but is pretty good even at room temperature. And it stays good too for a couple of days at room temperature – you can make a batch of jaggery parathas and carry it with you over long-distance flights.

Notes:

The rolling of gur ka paratha needs a bit more care than other stuffings like gobi or sattu – just a bit of practice will get you there.

Another classic recipe with the whole wheat-jaggery combination is gur atte ka halwa – check it out!