Mooli Parantha

Who hasn’t heard of Mooli Parantha in India? In Hindi movies when the son returns home (be it a prodigal son or an avatar of Lord Ram), what does the loving mother have waiting for him? That’s right: Mooli Parantha.
Mooli Parantha with its unique flavor, slightly crisp layer, shallow fried with ghee, is an absolute delight any time.  Here in California, Mooli is available throughout the year and I take complete advantage of it. This recipe uses very few ingredients for the filling but turns out yummy paranthas every time.

Mooli is aka Daikon and East Asian Radish

For the dough:
2 cups wheat flour
3 table spoon oil
1/2 tea spoon salt
Approx. 3/4 cup water

For the  filling:
4 moolis grated
4-5 hot green chilies, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro/hara dhaniya, chopped
1/2 tea spoon grated ginger
1/4 tea spoon red chili powder
1/4 tea spoon hing/asafoetida
1/2 tea spoon jeera/cumin seeds
1 tea spoon salt

To fry the paranthas:
3-4 table spoon ghee/butter

To make the dough:
Take wheat flour in a large bowl and mix in oil, and salt. Sprinkle water all over the flour and knead into a smooth dough.  (About 5 minutes). If at this point, the dough does not feel smooth, add some more water. The dough shouldn’t be too lost either. It should be soft with a medium firm consistency. Keep it aside for about 30 minutes.

To make the filling:
1. Squeeze out all the water from the grated mooli. To do this place a bunch of grated mooli between your palms and squeeze hard a couple of times. If the grated mooli contains water, the paranthas are likely to come out soggy. We don’t want that. Do we?
2. In a broad kadhai/pan, add a table spoon of oil or ghee. When the oil is hot, add grated ginger, green chilies, and cumin seeds.
3. Add grated mooli, cilantro/hara dhaniya, red chili powder, hing, and salt.
4. Increase the heat to high and mix mooli well with the spices.
5. Taste the filling and add more spices or salt if needed.
6. Keep mixing and stirring for about 2 more minutes and take the pan off the stove. Do not cook mooli for more than 3 minutes.
7. Let the mixture cool completely before making paranthas.

To make the paranthas:
1. Divide the dough into 8-10 balls (Depending on how big/small you want the paranthas to be)
2. Dust a ball with some wheat flour and roll it into a big  roti (about 7-8 inch in diameter)
3. Reapeat step 2 and make one more roti same size as the previous one.
4. Evenly spread 2-3 heaped table spoon of the mooli filling on one roti.
4. Moisten the edge of the roti with some water all around. (dip finger in a bowl of water and moisten)
5. Place the second roti on top of the first and seal the two rotis by pressing your fingers all around the top roti.
6. Gently lift the stuffed roti and place it on medium-hot tava.
7. After 30 seconds or so, flip it and apply half a tea spoon of ghee/oil/butter and cook for about a minute by pressing a flat spoon all over the roti. Flip it again, applying ghee on the other side.
8. When both sides have golden brown spots, and the layer looks crispy and golden, parantha is done.

Enjoy with Lassi and Indian pickle!