Paratha

Paratha

A parantha/paratha/parauntha (Urdu: پراٹھا‎) is a flatbread that originated in the Indian subcontinent. It is quite prevalent in the Pakistan and Indian region of Punjab, Northern India and Bangladesh. Parantha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough. In Burma, it is known as palata (ပလာတာ; ), while it is known as farata in Mauritius and the Maldives. However, in areas of the Punjabi region, it is referred to as '"prontha, parontay"'.

It is one of the most popular unleavened flat breads in Punjabi North Indian cuisine and Pakistani cuisine and is made by pan frying whole wheat dough on a tava. The parantha dough usually contains ghee or cooking oil which is also layered on the freshly prepared paratha. Paranthas are usually stuffed with vegetables such as boiled potatoes (as in aloo ka parantha), leaf vegetables, radishes or cauliflower and/or paneer (South Asian cheese). A parantha (especially a stuffed one) can be eaten simply with a knob of butter spread on top, with chutney, pickles, and yogurt, or with meat or vegetable curries. Some roll the parantha into a tube and eat it with tea, often dipping the parantha.

The parantha can be round, heptagonal, square or triangular. In the former, the stuffing is mixed with the kneaded flour and the parantha is prepared as roti is, but in the latter two, the peda (ball of kneaded flour) is flattened into a circle, the stuffing is kept in the middle, and the flatbread is closed around the stuffing like an envelope. The latter two also vary from the first in that, while the former is like a thick (in terms of width) version of the roti with filling inside, the latter two have discernible soft layers if one "opens" the crispier shell layers.