Malabar parotha | Kerala Parotta recipe
Malabar parotha is a south Indian layered flatbread known for its flaky texture. This Kerala parotta is the ultimate bread for enjoying curry and gravy-based meals. This parotta recipe is perfect and never fails to make soft yet flaky layered paratha.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the dough
- 300 g all-purpose flour (2 ¼ cup)
- 2 teaspoon white caster sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 60 g Milk (¼ cup)
- 120 g water (about half a cup)
Ingredients for rolling and cooking the parotha
- ¼ cup of vegetable oil
Instructions
Step 1 Kneading the dough.
- In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder. Using a whisk or fork, stir and mix everything well. Add oil and milk. Combine using the back of a spoon or something similar.
- Then transfer onto a floured surface and start kneading with your hands. Use the heel of your hands to stretch the dough away from you. Then, bring it back and collect it. Keep repeating this motion to knead the dough until it becomes smooth and stops sticking to the hands and the surface.
- Then form it into a round and transfer it into a greased bowl. Grease the dough from the top and cover the bowl with a cling wrap or kitchen towel. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
Step 2 Shaping the Malabar parotha
- Now divide the dough into six equal parts. Then take each piece and shape it into a smooth round.
- Brush its top with oil and cover while you shape the rest of the dough balls. Cover all the dough rounds and let them rest for 15-20 minutes.
- For rolling the parotta, start by oiling the work surface. Now, take a dough ball and press it with your oiled hands to flatten it into a disk and a flatbread. Then stretch it outwards while moving along its circumference. Keep stretching until it gets super thin. Another way to make a thin dough sheet is by using a rolling pin.
- Now gather the thin dough sheet into a long ribbon-like strip with multiple folds. Roll it to form a round and tuck the edge under it.
- Cover and let the dough ball rest until you roll and fold the remaining dough balls. Let them all rest for 20 minutes before final rolling.
Step 3 Rolling and cooking
- Now, start rolling them into Malabar parothas.
- Heat a skillet over a high flame. Place a rolled parotha on a hot skillet and press it. Flip and cook on the other side. Using a pastry brush, spread a teaspoon of vegetable oil evenly on the parotha. Flip the parotha and brush with vegetable oil. When the parotha is cooked well from both sides, remove it from the flame. Cook the remaining Malabar parothas similarly.
- Crush the cooked parotha 3 to 4 times between hands while it is still hot. Doing this helps to open up the layers of the parotha and makes it super flaky.
- Serve hot with your favorite curry or sabzi.
Notes
- If possible, use high gluten flour for making the Malabar parotha. High gluten makes the dough highly extensible, and such dough will roll very thin without breaking.
- Adding a little bit of baking powder makes the layered paratha soft. • Resting the dough is essential as gluten needs some time to relax, as we worked on it so much while kneading.
- Use whole milk at room temperature for best results.
- If you are vegan, use vegan sugar and replace milk with plant-based milk like oat or soy.
- Knead the dough very nicely. Take a good 12 to 15 minutes. Do a window pane test to see if the dough is ready.
- Rolling the dough very thin is the key to perfect layers on parotha. Make sure that the parotha is super light, like paper. Do not bother about a few holes in the rolled dough.
- To store them for longer, freeze the partially cooked parotha.
📋 Nutrition Facts
Nutrition
Calories: 221kcal
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