More Than Paraatha

There may be a thousand culinary affairs in the life of an average Indian (Divided by states, united in taste) but every Indian can vouch for the gratifying effect of this flat and round tawa-toasted legend called PARAATHA!!!. Wheat dough layered with love, affection, and an essential adhesive called ghee – wrapped in its aroma- is super enticing to eat equally for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The word Paraatha is somehow more than just a dish – a mere mention of this word ignites beautiful old memories of the kitchen in the parental house where the breakfast choice was binary – Parraatha - Sabzi or Paraatha Anda-bhurji) The baked breads were in the juvenile stage of adoption and food meant kitchen-cooked only. There were so many express formats like chai paratha and ajwain Paraatha – that it ultimately doubled up as a quick bite and meal. The aroma of simmering pan laced with ghee was an instant trigger for hunger pangs and then the delivery of crisp and hot parathas with a dollop of butter straight from Mom’s own hands was bliss… and yes we never used to count neither the calories nor the number of parathas!!- Age made us count everything 😊

 The urban slaughter on calories has made this delicacy an occasional affair in homes now and more designer in restaurants and dhabas. The guilt of loading oneself with calories reduces when accompanied by zero calory mate –like Dahi or Chhaach – The menu is exhaustive. Ordering food goes in fantasy with the world of vegetables – eggs, dal, and even keema. United we taste -Parathaas are just great!!! The secret of this recipe sustaining all the headwinds of health enthusiasts and fast food is primarily the widespread acceptance across geographies and continents – from North India to South India – Paraatha, Paronthi , Parontay , Choor Choor Parontha, Keema Paraantha, Egg Paratha, Muglai Paratatha- you name it and it will be served with same rigor and passion and may be in variants too Lachha Paraatha and Malabar – and people in North India will certainly relate to Moorthal Paraatha and midnight service – Moolchand Paraatha .

Earth is flat and so are the parathas! We as mortal beings can only see the flat part of it 😊 The current age Paraathas would have gone through historic changes to look round and innocent as it is now!!  The evolution of Paraatha goes back to the times when there were no refrigerators (pardon me for not mentioning the year ..AD or BC ) and earthen stoves in every kitchen were busy early morning dolling out food that would endure the odds in the fields to fill the stomachs anywhere in shade or the sun. Then came the convenience of making it portable in a combo version – where it amalgamated with the world of vegetables to become loaded and all the more addictive – the most common type of veggie doing stunts with paratha is potato and then there are as many avatars as one can imagine – Mooli Paraatha, Gobi Paraatha. Onion Paraatha, aloo Pyaaz paraatha, Paneer paraatha , Sattu paraatha and the list is endless actually. The Mughals invading the country from the western part of the map brought their own desert recipe in the form of Naan, Tandoori Rotis, and Khameeri Rotis which were made to survive for days but Indian Paraathas were too smooth for them to ignore – They finally succumbed to the Indian taste and came out with all the more legendary form factor  – The Mughlai Paraatha –  white wheat dough- layered and baked on ‘ulta tawa’ with flaky and crispy exteriors and then we have legends as great as Tunde Kebabi and many more of the same magnitude across different cities and lanes in India. Take for example-Paraathey-wali Gali in Old Delhi – Imagine the stature of Paraathas is higher than any human in the Gali 😊.

Dominos or Pizza Huts were late to bring in the crispy thin-crust pizzas. Our mothers have been serving us such delights by folding layers of dough into crunchy flatbread of uniform thickness, pan toasted. The toppings used to be all the remaining veggies of the previous night, with homemade chutneys and paneer. That’s of course replaced with exotic veggies, pizza sauce, and cheese now…huh!

There was also a cheat code for dessert long back in our childhood days – Shakkar Paraatha.