Woodfired Dahl & Paratha

Woodfired Dahl & Paratha is one of our favourite mid-week lunches; nutritious, delicious and quick to rustle up.

During our travels around Rajasthan in India we had dahl and flatbreads at least once a day – spiced up it’s a great snack and mellow & flavourful with yoghurt and pickle it’s a fantastic breakfast.

Dahl can be thick or soupy so you can make it the consistency you want and the parathas can be stuffed with a whole variety of veggies so it’s a different experience every time.

Woodfired Dahl & Paratha – Ingredients

For the dahl –

2tbsp sunflower oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

4cm piece root ginger, peeled and chopped

1 fresh red chilli, chopped

1tbsp ground coriander

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp dried turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

120g red lentils

Vegetable stock

Salt and pepper

For the paratha –

150g plain flour

50g wholemeal flour

2tbsp sunflower oil

100ml warm water

Ghee

For the filling –

150g cooked mashed potatoes

One fresh green chilli, finely chopped

1 small onion, peeld and fienly chopped

A level tsp each ground coriander, cumin and turmeric

Large handful greens – we used beetroot tops but you could use spinach or kale; washed, dried and shredded

2tbsp chopped fresh coriandere

1tbsp sunflower oil

Salt and pepper

Woodfired Dahl & Paratha – Equipment, oven state etc

2 Mississippi

Door off

2 flat frying pans and 1 medium saucepan (1 frying pan is fine – it will just take longer)

Woodfired Dahl & Paratha – Method

Doing the prep

1. For the paratha filling, heat the oil in a large heavy pan in the wood fired oven. Add the chilli and onion and cook them gently for 4-5 minutes or until they are soft. add the greens and cook until wilted. Add the ground coriander, cumin and turmeric and fry for another 2 minutes. Stir this onion mixture into the mashed potato with the chopped fresh coriander and season well with salt and pepper.
2. To make the dough, put the flour into a large bowl and add the oil. Stirring with a spoon or a dough scraper, slowly mix in enough of the warm water for you to be able to form a fairly firm dough.
3. Knead the dough on a clean work surface until you get a soft and smooth, non-sticky dough. If it’s sticky, add a little bit more flour and continue to bind.
4. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces of and shape into balls. Divide the potato mixture into 4 equal pieces and shape them into balls as well. If the mixture is sticky put some flour on your hands to stop it sticking.
5. Roll the dough balls out to about 20cm/8” diameter and place the potato balls on top of each disc of dough.
6. Using your thumbs and forefingers, pinch the dough closed around the filling until the filling is fully enclosed with no gaps or holes. Gently flatten the paratha using the palm of your hand and dust them with flour on both sides.
7. Roll the parathas out on a floured surface until they are 3–4mm/ ¼” thick.

Starting the cooking

1. Heat 1tbsp ghee or butter or sunflower oil in a frying pan in the oven and carefully slide in the parathas, cooking one at a time. If you do have 2 frying pans you can cook them 2 at a time. Cook them on both sides until golden brown all over and rotate the pan during cooking so each side of the paratha gets an even burst of the flames.
2. Brush a little melted ghee on to the finished parathas and keep the cooked ones warm whilst you cook the rest. Serve at once with a curry or some pickles and yoghurt.

Woodfired Dahl & Paratha – Alternatives

• Ghee is clarified butter which is great for cooking as it doesn’t burn. You can get it readily in supermarkets – it come in a tin and we just keep it in the fridge like regular butter. If you want to keep the recipe vegan, just use sunflower oil.
• Use spinach or kale instead of the beetroot tops which we used as we had them in the garden.
• Try roast mashed pumpkin instead of the potato but make sure the mixture is dry otherwise the flatbreads becomes too soggy.
• Experiment with the spices in the dahl – add more chilli for a perkier dahl.
• Serve with different chutneys and pickles – we love lime pickle.
• A little Greek yoghurt on the side is a great accompaniment – it will also cool things down if your dahl is a bit too spicey!
• Lots more flatbreads in our Woodfired Flatbreads & Pancakes – just click here to get your copy!

 

 

• Tweet