Kerala Parotta or Malabar Parotta

Like I said before, I love parotta. I remember as a kid, at a function in my mom's house in Kerala, we called the parotta master who made parottas at home. I must have been 5 years old then, but I do remember standing in front of him, fascinated by this man, who seemed to throw, pull, stretch and then make parottas in like a few minutes. I think for a few functions after that I kept hoping we are getting a parotta master, but alas, disappointment. Another memory was from an overnight bus journey and I landed in a small town in Kerala at 7 AM. I was so exhausted from the bus journey and then my father saw a thattukada and suggested we get a cup of tea there. Guess what they were just starting to make parottas there and then I just had to convince my father to wait for a few more moments so that I got hot parottas. There was not even a side dish ready then, I did not care, I can eat it plain, I love parotta!

I do not have step by step pics, cos taking pics when your hands are covered in oil is just possible. So I will try and explain it as much as possible and don't worry it is quite easy to make. Ofcourse, I still don't think it compares to a proper thattukada version of a parotta, but what I get in most restaurants, and this, I think can be compared.

The only effort here is cleaning up your kitchen platform pre and post cooking. You need to nicely wash the platform before you set out to make parotta. I have tried using the chapati stone itself, but then it yields really small parottas. But if you are okay and prefer that over your cleaning effort, so be it.

With the lockdown, I have tried parotta twice. The first time I made it, I ate it cos I made it, but I don't think it was actually a nice texture or taste. Even the colour was too pale (see below). The shape was ofcourse even worse, but okay, let's not talk about losing interest half way through cooking. In the first version, I did not add egg or milk and I felt that made it dry and not so soft and that is when i decided, I am going to add eggs to my dough and see how it feels.

If egg is a no no, I would suggest adding some more oil and increasing the quantity of milk, this is the safest way I know. However, I am yet to try this, but in baking you replace eggs with curd, so maybe it would work here too, not too sour curd should work, but not tried it. So maybe next time.




Any hoo.....I think second time was better and so sharing what I did there

Ingredients: ( makes 4)

Maida/ all purpose flour: 2 cups
Egg: 1
Milk: 1/4th cup or slightly lesser
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tablespoon and 1/4th cup or so

Add eggs, salt, milk, 2 tablespoon to the flour and start kneading. Add water as needed to make a nice soft dough. It has to be softer than a normal chapati dough, even if it is sticky remember, it does not need to hold together when you roll it, so it can be sticky. But knead well, like a good 10 mins and now leave it for 4 hours minimum to rest. I did not rest the dough the first time, just rested it for 30 mins, like I normally do with chapati, but parotta needs more time and 4 hours is bare minimum.
When placing the dough to rest, cover the dough with a nice coat of oil so that it does not try out.

After 4 hours, divide your dough in 4 parts. Roll out a ball on your kitchen platform, as thinly as possible, it is okay if it tears, ignore that. Add oil to your dough to roll it better, however at this stage apply oil only to the topside of the dough. The bottom you will see might stick a bit to your platform, that's ok, infact helpful for what is to come next. The best way to roll out is that you keep one side longer than the other not rounded as you would in chapati.  Once you have rolled it out as thinly as possible, add about 1 - 2 teaspoon of oil on top and roll it evenly over the rolled out dough.

Now you can try either of the two methods below, whatever works for you

Method 1: Pick one end of the lengthy end and slowly start pulling it towards you slowly. Do this like you would pull apart a slice of cheesy pizza, slowly but surely. As you start pulling you will see automatically there are these layers forming, you can also use one hand to manipulate some layers and arrange them while your pulling. Use the other hand to slowly twist the pulled, layered end into a small swirly pinwheel. When you reach the other end, you can tuck in the end into the centre.

Method 2: Start making pleats lengthwise just like you would fold paper for say a fan origami. When you have finished rolling, start turning it into a pinwheel and the other end tuck it into the centre.

You can see some of the ends are tucked from top, some are below and hence you can see it. Ensure you have really added oil before doing the layers, cos that is what will allow the layers to come apart when cooking. 

Traditionally, you leave your dough to rest once you have created these knots as well, but I don't have the patience, so I just got into it and rolled it. If you do have time and patience, I would suggest leaving it for another 30 mins. 

To roll out your parotta, take one knot, and using the base of your palm spread out the dough. The elasticity of the maida will keep bringing your dough back, but if you push it well it will retain the shape. While pushing it and spread it, ensure you do not use too much pressure, where your layers will get fused again, you want to ensure spreading of the dough without really losing the texture. Which is why, rolling with a rolling pin is not the best of ideas. You should roll it to half a cm thick ideally.

Next heat up a nice pan and cook your parotta on medium flame with a generous helping of ghee. Cook all parottas and stack then on top of each other. Once stacked, use your hands to crush them from all sides towards the centre to open out the layers. You could cup your hands around the stack and just try clapping with the parottas in the centre. That works!

Serve with any accompaniment of your choice.