Tiffin/snack Box Idea - Bi coloured Paratha and Chequered Paratha

 Hello Everyone, 

How are you all doing??  Here everything is going on great. M’s school has started and I am off my lazy mode.

Packing healthy food is what I look for. I try adding up veggies in paratha,idli or even dosa. Sometimes yes she gets to eat her favorite fried food i.e Baby corn fingers. I don’t go searching for recipes to pack for her Tiffin box as she is not a fussy kid. Lovely girl I am bless with, but sometimes she demands for something colourful or her favorite juice or sometimes her favorite candy which I do not give as its not allowed to pack in her snack/tiffin box.

One fine day as I was just browsing I found Pari’s chequered paratha and it caught my eyes. I make palak parathas as well as beetroot parathas but this one was eye catching so I decided to make it as soon as possible. I was so excited to make this paratha, not because M would be eat it happily but the excitement on her face looking at something new could never be explained.

Unfortunately I had to rush on and make these paratha’s as the small sister woke up just at the crucial time. I did not bother much about perfection as I had to finish of the cooking , pack it get M ready and entertain the little girl who was just rolling near my legs without crying like a pussy cat.

 Pari has got it perfect. Mine looks amateur. Nevertheless M loved it saying Amma tu kitle chanda khan pura kartha(you make such beautiful dishes). And the smile on her face paid for the little effort I took J.

For our lunch I made simple 2 coloured parathas.

Without much a do lets get on to the recipe here is what we need:

INGREDIENTS

For Green Dough

A  handful of spinach leaves

A little coriander leaves

A tsp of roasted jeera powder *

2cups whole wheat flour (add more or less as required)

Salt to taste

For Pink dough

1 beetroot washed, peeled and chopped roughly

2 tsp sugar *

A tsp roasted jeera powder

2 cups whole wheat flour (add more or less as required)

Salt to taste

Other Ingredients

 Cooking oil or Ghee for roasting

Wheat flour for rolling

Above is M's tiffin box which has dahi,chequered paratha,and guava

 Method:

Wash the Spinach, blanch it and puree it into a fine paste along with coriander leaves without using water. In a large bowl add in the paste, salt to taste, jeera powder and first add about a cup of flour mix  in rest of the flour with the paste making sure the dough doesn’t stick to your hands *.Cover the dough and rest it for about 15 minutes.

Make the pink dough in the similar way as the green dough*.

Now to make the chequered paratha:

Take equal sized pink and green dough and smoothen them to make balls.

Roll a green and a red ball separately using wheat flour not a thin* flatbread.

Place the two coloured flatbreads over each other and cut around the edges to give a square shape. Remove the cut edges* and place them over each other.

Cut equidistant strips of the flatbreads.

Remove the top horizontal strip.( I made a mistake here is what I realized after clicking the parathas for sure I will correct my mistake and post it here soon J.)

Put one horizontal strip of green colour on the vertical strips of pink colour. Place one end of the horizontal strip under the first vertical strip and apply water on it so that they stick. Now push the horizontal strip under the alternative layer and finish up with all the strips.

Complete the entire flatbread in the similar way.

Place a Tawa/griddle on the stove to heat.

Lift the flatbread gently and transfer to the hot griddle/Tawa. Roast it on the hot griddle on both the sides using some Ghee(I used ghee as it is for my little girl you can use oil too), till it’s cooked and brown spots are seen.

Pack them for your Kids tiffin and make them happy J.

Serve it with raita,pickle or sabzi of your choice J.

To Make Bi coloured Simple Parathas:

Roll in both the dough length wise and twist one with other and pinch small balls out of it and roll into parathas like we make normal parathas.

Notes:

In the actual recipe it calls for green chilli but I have skipped it completely and replaced it with Jeera powder.

I have added sugar to beetroot mixture you can skip it over.

Actual recipe has carrot in the pink dough which I have skipped as i ran out of carrots in my pantry.

I have blanched the beetroot and then pureed it and this step is completely optional you can grind the beetroot just as it is but I felt the parathas had a sweetish texture because of cooked beetroots.

This needs lots of patience and takes time. So make sure you have both of then ;).
For step wise recipes check Pari's blog from where i tried this.

Till then,

Happy Cooking,