Agretti Parathas

The CSA season is in full swing. Every week the bag brings us just-harvested, lovingly grown, organic vegetables. A recent bag contained, amongst other things, bok choy, cilantro, broccoli, baby carrots, kale and agretti. While reading the newsletter that accompanies the produce, I mentally made plans for each item; but at the last one I hit a major speedbreaker.

Each year we get introduced to a couple of new vegetables/ cooking greens. Last year it was lamb's quarters. This year it is agretti. More about agretti here.

When presented with a new cooking green, I usually try them for the first time in a daal or in parathas. Both don't need a recipe per se which make them ideal for experimentation. If the green is not welcomed in the daal or paratha avatar, it is unlikely we'd like them prepared any other way. But so far we haven't met a cooking green we didn't like.

This time I made agretti parathas. Here is a picture of the parathas and a spring (bunch?) of agretti.

We were quite happy with the results. The inherent sourness came through quite well.
The only herb/ spice I used was chopped garlic and some mirchi powder. Next time I can load up on the spices as this is quite a sturdy green. Owa (ajwain, carom) with agretti already sounds good.

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
1 cup chopped agretti
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp mirchi powder
4-5 stalks of cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method
Heat the oil over medium high heat, add garlic. Don't let it brown.
Add the mirchi powder, salt, and agretti.
Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the cilantro.
Let cool slightly before adding the flour.
Add water as need to make a soft dough. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into about 20 pieces.
Roll each piece into parathas of even thickness.
Use a little oil and cook both sides of the parathas on a heated pan.
Enjoy with yogurt!

These parathas go to Srivalli's Roti Mela.

Parathas for Breakfast

Parathas for breakfast? Who has the time or the inclination for the work involved (cleaning and chopping the veggies, kneading the dough, rolling the parathas etc. etc) especially on a weekend morning? Certainly not me!
Though I had heard that parathas can be rolled ahead of time and cooked/ fried just before serving them, I hadn't tried making them this way.
So, yesterday I made the parathas and stored them between layers of wax paper.
Today morning, we had ta-da parathas for breakfast.

'Thap' that is the sound of me slapping my forehead...why did I not try this earlier?
They were good, so good.

I used spigarello (an Italian cooking green related to broccoli and sometimes also called broccoli raab), but any any other cooking green, such as chard, kale, spinach, dandelion greens, or methi will work just as well.
Sprigarello is a sturdy green which can handle quite a bit of seasoning; which explains the quantity of ajwain I used.
A milder green like spinach will need a much lesser quantity.
Garlic can be added as well; especially when if you don't plan to have the parathas for breakfast.
Next time I'd like to make the parathas using toasted cumin and fennel seeds.

Here is how I made the parathas...
Ingredients
4 cups cooking greens, packed
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp owa (ajwain)
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp (or more) mirchi powder or 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
2 tsp amchur (optional)
1 tsp sugar
salt, to taste
4 tbsp oil + extra for cooking the parathas
2 cups whole wheat flour

Method
Heat oil in a large kadhai (wok) , add ajwain, sesame, mirchi, turmeric, and salt.
Cook for about a minute.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Add the cooking greens and the cilantro.
Cook till the greens wilt and then turn off the heat.
After the greens have cooled slightly add the flour and mix well.
Adjust the salt and heat levels keeping in mind that we have yet to add the flour.
Add water as needed to make a soft dough. Use more flour if needed.
Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
Divide the dough into about 20 pieces.
Roll the parathas and store them in a box, adding a piece of wax paper between parathas like this:

Store the parathas in the fridge.
When ready to make the parathas, heat a pan, add a touch of oil and cook both sides of the parathas till small brown dots/ spots appear.
Serve immediately.
Enjoy with dahi (yogurt), pickle; or both!

I'm sending these parathas to Trupti who is hosting WBB#12. The theme this month is Spice It Up.