Monday, November 8, 2010

Weightloss and the Stuffed Paratha Trick

One of the greatest pleasures of life is stuffed parathas. The yummy hot flat bread stuffed with different stuffings and eaten with cold curd and melting butter. The sensation is pure divine. Its very very sad and seriously very sad that weight loss and stuffed parathas don't go hand in hand.

I am a great fan of stuffed parathas specially during the winters and my husband needs them atleast twice a week. Giving up on the stuffed parathas for the sake of weight loss was way too much a sacrifice that I was not willing to make.

Lets see why stuffed parathas are bad for weightloss.


1. The dough used to make the parathas is bigger in size because we do not want the stuffing to spill out. So 1 paratha dough is equal to almost 2 chapathi dough. A fat stuffed paratha not only looks delicious it tastes delicious too.

2. Because its a paratha oil/ghee is used while grilling it.

3. Its either eaten with butter or pickle.

My Take of Stuffed Parathas.

Stuffed parathas actually make for a very filling meal. If we take care of the carbs and the fat that goes into making this paratha, this dish can actually give you a chance to eat lots of veggies. Moreover, its very easy to carry. So all those of you who do not want to take roti and sabji to office, can actually take a vegetable stuffed paratha wrapped in an aluminum coil. For office goers its a great way to avoid outside food.

2 of my favorite stuff parathas are cauliflower and white radish parathas.

The trick.

1. I take a dough ball which is big enough to make 1 chapathi and divide it into too. I dust the dough balls nicely with dry what flour and roll out too thin roties. Make sure that the dough is firm.

2. I lavishly put the filling on 1 roti and then seal the filling with the second roti. It becomes a packet. The cauliflower and white radish filling is raw and it is cooked inside the sealed paratha packet, which gives a tasty crunch to the paratha.

3. Grill the paratha with less oil. Because of the heat of the pan, even less ghee (1/2 tsp) is more than enough to grill the paratha beautifully.

The idea is to have more of vegetables inside and less of dough outside.

Because we are aiming for weight loss aloo parathas are not made this way. It will increase the carb load. If you want to have aloo paratha, make it the usual way and grill it in less ghee and have for breakfast. Aloo paratha should be limited to once a week (or even less) but other vegetable parathas can be eaten more frequently.

Cauliflower Paratha


1. Grate the cauliflower (avoid the stem.).

2. Add finely chopped green chillies, grated ginger, coriander leaves.

3. Add roasted cumin powder and garam masala powder. DO NOT ADD THE SALT.



4. Roll out the doughs. Take out the filling that you require for one paratha separately and add salt to it. Spread the filling nicely on top of one rolled out dough and cover with another one.





5. Grill and serve hot.




White Radish (Muli) paratha.


Its my favorite.

1. Grate muli and add salt to it and keep aside for half an hour.

2. After half an hour squeeze the water out nicely. Press firmly so that no water is left.

3. Use the muli water to make the paratha dough. If there is lots of water, you can use it to make cucumber raita.

4. Now, in the grated muli mixture, add green chillies, coriander leaves and red chilli powder. I like it with this mixture, you can go ahead and add more spices.



5. The stuffing process of the paratha is similar to cauliflower paratha.








Vegetable Stuff Paratha

1. You can use any cooked vegetable. French beans and cabbage are the best.

2. Lavishly fill the sabji in the paratha and grill with less ghee.




These parathas even taste good when cold and they freeze beautifully.

Enjoy!!!

13 comments:

  1. Is exactly how I make it too..and I usually make cauliflower..and second on list would be mooli though it needs grating and I am lazy. Love stuffed paranthas and dahi ..yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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  2. loved the parathas...I have used all my left over sabji too this way Shiva..works well and utilize left over also..

    i really liked the raddish paratha..looks yummy..

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  3. Dear Rads,

    Wow, no wonder you are the fitness girl :). I started making this way during my weight loss, they are very thin and crisp but they taste damn good. Now this is the way I make them.

    Love

    Shiva

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  4. Dear Anamika,

    Radish paratha is my favorite. When we make the dough with the squeezed out water it enhances the taste of the paratha. Give it a try, I am sure you will like it.

    Love

    Shiva

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  5. Dear Sccribbles,

    How are you my dear friend?? Long time no see. How is the weight loss coming up???

    Love

    Shiva

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  6. WOW! I am gonna try this this weekend.

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  7. Wow! I am definitely gonna try this recipe over the weekend!

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  8. Dear Girl,

    Thanks for liking the parathas. You can also carry them to your office :)

    Have a great day ahead.

    regards

    ReplyDelete
  9. Shiva, I never knew these were made any other way until I started reading food blogs. Everyone I knew used to make it this way only - my house, all my friends houses - so its better put as I know a lot of fitness moms :D :D

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  10. Hi Shiva,Its been so long.. couldnt drop by earlier.. lovely post and a great idea.. winters and stuffed paranthas go hand in hand.. and it seems good for kids too.. will try soon. you take care.
    warm regards

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  11. Dear Souls Speaks,

    Nothing beats the combination of winter night and a hot stuffed paratha. I am already drooling thinking of it.

    Thanks for liking the recipe. Hope you are doing fine dear.

    Have a great day ahead.

    regards

    Shiva

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  12. Hi There,
    so how many calories does 1 parantha has?

    ReplyDelete

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