Another lovely flatbread to eat on its own, rolled up with filling, stuffed or eaten with a curry or raita. Paratha is made with whole wheat flour, like chapatis, but layered so that it is soft and flaky. For this first post, I have made plain paratha two ways, in a normal circle and in a triangle shape.

Ingredients
2 cups atta or wheat flour (or 1 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat — Whole Wheat flour makes these dry so I use a mix or recommend Trader Joe’s White Wheat flour if you can’t find Atta flour)
about a cup of room temp water
salt to taste
a tbs or so of olive oil or melted ghee

For trianglular paratha
1) Mix the flour (for this version I used half white, half whole wheat flour) with the salt and oil or ghee.
2) Don’t just dump in the water! Add in a little at a time and mix with your fingers till it comes together as a nice soft dough. You may not need all the water.
3) Knead for a few minutes, then cover so the dough stays soft and leave to rest about 20 minutes.
4) Tear off pieces of dough and roll into balls. Keep them covered while you are working so they don’t dry out.
5) Take one dough ball, dip it in plenty of flour and roll out to a large flat circle.
6) Brush olive oil or melted ghee, then fold in half. Brush a little more oil on the half circle shape and then fold one more time to a triangle.
7) Pat down with your fingers to help seal the sides. Then sprinkle more flour and gently roll the triangle out to a large, thin triangle shape.
8) Heat up a cast iron skillet or frying pan with a little oil or ghee and fry the paratha on medium to medium high heat.
9) The paratha will start to bubble up. Flip the paratha to cook the other side.
10) Add a little more oil to the pan and push the paratha into the oil. Turn the heat down if it starts to burn. Keep flipping and cooking until you have a nice golden brown spotted look.

Serve warm with anything you want like a raita, chutney, curry or eat on its own.

For circle-shaped paratha

1) Mix the flour (for this version I used only whole wheat flour) with the salt and oil or ghee.
2) Add in the water, a little at a time and mix with your fingers till it comes together as a nice soft dough.
3) Knead for a few minutes, then cover tightly and leave to rest about 20 minutes. Tear off pieces of dough and roll into balls. Keep them covered while you are working so they don’t dry out.
4) Take the first dough ball and roll out to a medium small oval shape.
5) Brush with oil or melted ghee. Sprinkle with flour.
6) Pinch the middle of the oval to form a number 8 shape. Then fold over.
7) Gently roll out, using more flour if need be, to a large, thin circle shape.
8) Fry in the same manner as above. Repeat for the remaining parathas.

Serve warm. These are as versatile as any flatbread and they even make good quesadillas as they are softer, flakier and tastier than whole wheat tortillas.

Triangle paratha:

Circle paratha: