Ever since we moved to Bangalore , I find it hard to get good milk delivered at our home. The milk boy delivers milk by 4 am so I assume the stock arrives even earlier. By the time we wake up and make our first cup of tea sometimes it turns disastrous because the milk would have got spoilt. At first I used to cry over the split milk :) ( I literally did) but then one fine day my neighbour Manali suggested I see the whole situation positively and to make paneer ever time the milk got spoilt. And that was history. I made my own paneer and paneer parantha thereafter. There's something different about fresh paneer that distinguishes it from those that come in packets. I guess its the milky, non chewy texture and the softness that melts in one's mouth. I fell in love with texture instantly and kept playing with the paneer. The consistency was not lump like to get slices or cubes so paneer burji ( paneer scrambled) came about naturally and since I was lazy to make chapathis separately I combined the processes and eventually came up with paranthas. Hope you all love this recipe and also my lesson of learning from the disasters in kitchen.
Ingredients for paneer parantha
Milk- 250 ml
Tomatoes- 2
Coriander leaves- 1 sprig
Cumin seeds -a pinch
Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
Chilli powder- 1 tsp
Wheat flour- 1 cup
Water- 1 cup
Salt- to taste
Oil- 2tbsp
Directions
Since I had 250 ml of spoilt milk I let it hung in a strainer till the last drop got drained.
If you want to try with fresh milk that means you would have to add 5 drops of lemon juice to split the milk and then let it hang till the water content drains off. Once this process is over you will find a lump of paneer.
Meanwhile make the dough for rotis by mixing the flour and water. Knead the dough to a soft consistency till it becomes firm. Now for the paneer filling heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds followed by tomatoes. I have taken a liking for preparing veggies without garlic and onions these days inspired by my friend Shweta so this recipe has no onion and garlic. However, if you love the flavour of onion and garlic please add them after adding cumin seeds and add tomatoes thereafter.When the tomatoes are added sprinkle the salt this will aid in mashing the tomatoes making a good sauce. Now add the turmeric and chilli powder and saute for 5 minutes. Into this sauce add the paneer.
Since the paneer is not cubes and in a mashed form it makes an ideal filling. While making the paranthas we need mashed filling to fill between the layers of roti. In cases where we use potatoes and cauliflower or any other vegetable we mash them and spice them for the filling. In this case the home made made paneer has not solidified into a cube so it easily mixes with the gravy and becomes a fine paste. Garnish with coriander leaves and remove the filling off the fire.
Now make small balls of the dough. Make a depression in the middle wide enough to fill the stuffing. Once the stuffing is filled roll the ball into thin pancakes using a rolling pin. See to it that the stuffing does not come out from . So press the paranthas gently. Some people make two rotis and stick them with the stuffing and roll them. I have tried this too but I like the former method, the one I tried for this parantha. Once the panrantha is ready heat a girdle add some oil and cook it for 3 minutes on both side. By then you will see red spots like you see in the pic above which is in an indicator that your parantha is well done. Serve with dollops of butter on the parantha the Punjabi style. After all it's no sin indulging in such pleasures once a while. The same stuffing can be tried with potatoes, radish or cauliflower to make other paranthas.
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