South Indian Parota

South Indian Parota

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 10 min
Ready In: 2.5 hours

Ingredients:

• Maida [all-purpose flour] - 1/2 kg
• Salt - 2 tsp
• Curd - 3 tbsp
• Water - approx. 1 cup
• Oil - 3 tsp and for soaking and frying

Directions:

1. Take the flour in a basin and mix the salt into it evenly. Add the oil and the curd. Mix this into the flour. Then add water little by little to form the dough as shown in the picture below. The dough should be a bit soft, not hard. 
2. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. 
3. Make 16 balls and keep them in a container. Add enough oil to the container to soak the dough balls. Let it sit for 2 hours at least. The oil used for soaking can be reused for frying the Parota later.
4. To make the parota, take a dough ball and roll it out as thin as possible as shown in the picture. The thinner it is, the more layers you will get and that will make the parota much softer and fluffier. It doesn't need to be a perfect circle. You can add some oil to roll out the dough if needed. It's okay if there are a few small holes created while rolling out the dough.
5. Once the  dough is rolled out, scrunch it from the top and bottom to form a thin line as shown in the picture. 
6. Roll this inwards from both sides to meet at the center. Put one roll on top of the other and press down to make the parota ready to be fried. Flatten it into the desired size before putting it on the tawa. You can use the rolling pin for flattening it as well. Ideal size is the slightly larger than the size of your palm. Make sure it is not too thick otherwise it will not cook fully when being fried.
7. Add some oil to a tawa and heat it. Put the parota on the tawa and fry until it is golden brown on both sides. Keep the stove on medium flame. Add more oil for crispy parotas. For soft parotas, use less oil and a slightly reduced flame.

Adding salt to the flour. Adding oil, curd, and water to form the dough. Knead for 15 minutes and make 16 balls.

Soak the 16 dough balls in oil for 2 hours.

Roll out the dough as thin as possible. The circle is around 9" diameter in the picture above. Scrunch the rolled out dough as shown in the second picture and roll inward from both sides. Put one roll on top of the other and press down. Repeat for all the balls. Press down and flatten and fry on the tawa. 

Parota is ready!

Serving Suggestions:

• The parota can be deep fried for the true Virudhunagar parota experience.
• To be served with chalna [mushroom/chicken/mutton].
• To make veechu parota, put the rolled out dough directly on the tawa. 
• To make egg parota, add salt and pepper to 1 tbsp of water and mix evenly. Beat in the egg. Add chopped onion and keep aside. Roll out a ball of dough. Make sure there are no holes in the dough. Put the rolled out dough on the tawa, holding 2 sides. Add the egg mixture as shown below and close the parota by folding inwards. Cut in between to ensure the egg cooks inside. 

Making the egg parota

Egg Parota Ready!