Palak Paratha or Spinach Paratha

Palak Paratha is an Indian flat bread, one among many healthy dishes of its category. Palak Paratha is made up of spinach (palak) and wheat flour. These Palak Parathas are known for their healthy nutritious values. Kids who hate to have spinach also enjoys Palak Paratha, as they taste similar to their favorite chappathis (the head of the flat bread family). 

Palak Paratha

Palak Paratha Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour or Atta -2 cups and 1/4 cup for rolling

• 2 cups finely chopped Spinach

• 3 tsp finely chopped Coriander

• 2 finely chopped Green chilies

• 1/2 a tsp Red chilli powder (Optional)

• 1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste (Optional)

• 1/2 a tsp Coriander powder (Dhania Powder)

• 1/2 a tsp Cumin powder (Jeera Powder)

• Salt as per taste

• Water as required (for making dough)

• Oil or Ghee for frying parathas

Cooking Directions:

1. Clean spinach and coriander leaves with water and chop them finely. 

2. Make Ginger-garlic into coarse paste.

3. Chop green chilli into very fine pieces.

4. Take a large bowl and add whole Wheat flour, salt, finely chopped spinach or palak, coriander leaves, chopped green chilli, ginger-garlic paste, dhania-jeera powder and red chilli powder. 

5. Add water as required and knead it to a smooth dough.

6. Add little oil to coat the dough and knead well again. 

7. Cover the dough and set it aside for 30 minutes.

8. After 30 minutes, divide the dough equally and make balls out of it. 

9. Take  the balls and press between palms slightly. Dust the flattened ball with dry wheat flour and roll out into a circle using rolling board and rolling pin.
10. Place the paratha. on the preheated tava and cook the parathas in medium flame. Cook both sides of the palak paratha with some oil or ghee till they turn crisp and brown from both sides.

11. Serve palak paratha hot with raitha and or mango/lemon/tomato pickle.

NOTE: Rolling and folding of the dough helps softening of the parathas.

Palak Paratha Recipe Video (How to Make Palak Paratha):

Easy to follow Video on 'How to make Palak Paratha'.

Variations:

Instead of adding the raw ingredients mentioned in step 4, we can grind all of them before adding to the wheat flour. This way the palak parathas get a nice deep green color. We can also use blanched palak (spinach) for the preparation of Palak Paratha.

Nutritional Values of Palak Paratha: 

As spinach has almost 0 cholesterol and 0 fat, it is good for all age groups. Spinach being the main ingredient, Palak Paratha becomes a good source of Iron and calcium apart from Vit-A, Vit-C and other vitamins and minerals. Though India is not in top-ten spinach producing countries, we consume spinach on a regular basis, on a day-today diet.