The paratha cover/wrap is made of flour of two grains and the stuffing with whole (sabut) brown lentil (masoor) and split black lentil (kaali urad daal) so it contains plenty of roughage and protein.
The intent was to cook the flour with some water and then use it to make stuffed parathas but I was running out of time that evening as the recipe inspiration came quite at the last moment as I got back home from work. I also didn't have enough rice flour. So a usual dough was made, standard one for any paratha/roti. But without any oil :-) .
The stuffing needs some preparation - soaking and then cooking lentils. I had some mixed soaked lentil ready as the original plan for dinner that day was daal makhani.
The dough should be mixed just about a few minutes before you're ready to roll out parathas. As it has a higher proportion of ragi which isn't as sticky as wheat and also because no oil is used in it moisture evaporates pretty quickly off the dough and the paratha cover begins cracking as it is rolled out.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups of Ragi flour
2/3 cup of rice flour
Warm water for kneading
For the stuffing:
3/4 cup split black lentil
1/4 cup brown lentil
1/4 cup chopped red onions or spring onions
1/4 cup chopped coriander
2 small green chillies, slit, stem removed and chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice / 2-3 tsp dry mango powder
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp red chilly powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp carrom seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp asafoetida (optional)
2 tsp sugar
Salt
(The measure and proportion of spices really depends upon how strong/weak the spices you use are, and upon your taste.)
Making the stuffing:
The lentils are soaked for about 4-5 hours in water and cooked "dry" - take some water in a cooker/larger pot and on a ring/stand place in it the vessel with lentils. Add about 2 or 3 teaspoonfuls of water to the lentil but no more. Shouldn't take more than 5 whistles with a pressure cooker, or about 20 minutes cooking slow over a flame. Once cooked and cooled, mash the lentils. They should turn out a dry powdery consistency. This is important to be able to roll out the parathas with this filling inside.
Roast the cumin and carom seeds and lightly crush them but not to a powder. Mix in this crush and all the other ingredients for the stuffing with the mashed lentils. Don't add all of the lemon juice and onion at once - leave out some of it if the lentils feel a little moist as onion and lemon juice will release further juice when mixed with salt and the spices.
The dough:
Mix together the flours with some salt and add warm water to it gradually to make soft dough. It should be a consistency that allows being rolled out. The rice flour provides bonding to the mix. Dough can be covered under foil or wet muslin cloth to keep it from drying.
Parathas:
Roll out the dough in about 3-inch diameter circles.
Place a portion of stuffing upon it and close in the cover from all sides. Gently flatten at the top.
Sprinkle some rice or wheat flour on the rolling board and roll out the paratha gently. Rolling out by the moving the pin in relatively vertical or linear motion and not in a circular movements. Roast on a flat pan (tawa). This variant of paratha can literally go zero oil.
Miscellaneous Comments:
Even if the stuffing does make an appearance at a few places it does not quite ruin the paratha. As this is dry cooked lentil it begins to bond and form a layer once on the heat and catches up with the cover in terms of texture. The reddish colour given by ragi isn't very appealing, but the taste of the filling more than makes up for the looks.
Using a nonstick pan is recommended to roast/shallow fry these parathas to minimise risk of frustration and worse, delayed or missing dinner. Ragi in the covering is rather fussy and difficult and tends to stick if the pan is too hot as a cast iron pan might get.
Nutrition Facts:
The lentils are a little hard to digest being protein-heavy, so the carom, cumin, ginger, coriander and asafoetida are added to aid digestion. The paratha cover itself is very light to digest. Ragi and rice, rich in calcium and minerals and cooling. But the stuffing is a bit spicy and with the lentils used some people might not be very inclined to make this at the height of summer.
White ragi flour could be used instead of red, both have their own nutritional benefits.
The parathas do taste better when topped with ghee. Some things will never change.
