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Sunday, June 05, 2011

Kerala style porotta - Step by step pictorial

Nope....it is not a spelling mistake. We are not talking about a paratha here. Nor is it called barotta. If you want to say it mallu ishtyle, please say po...ro....tta. In some parts of Kerala, it also goes by the name parotta.
A parotta is a layered flatbread usually made with maida and lo.....ts of time and patience. If you plan on visiting Kerala, please do try this out from a thattukada. A thattukada is God's own country's version of a fast food joint. It is simply a food cart on wheels and the food served is fresh, hot, made to order and always delicious....as long you don't really ask questions to find out where the water is from and how well the plates are washed.
As long as I lived with my parents, I didn't visit a thattukada......simply because thattukadas operate only at night, and at that time, you don't see girls/women standing around these places and eating. So, even though we had one very close to our home and I was always tempted by the tantalizing smells, I have never gone there. The place would always be crowded with mundu(dhoti) clad "gentle"men. This changed when I moved to a different town for my higher studies and started living in a hostel. One of the first things I did is visit a thattukada at night. The sense of freedom and daring I experienced is something that cannot be described with mere words. To date, the best parotta and peas curry I have had is at these thattukadas.
I tried recreating a healthier version of parotta using multi grain flour instead of maida, and the result was good, though I missed the camaraderie of my hostel mates and the luxury of having someone else make this for me.

What you need:
Multi grain flour - 2 cups, heaped (Can be substituted with maida(APF)/whole wheat flour)
Oil - 3tbsp+1tsp+1tbsp
Salt
Water

Mix together the maida and salt. Add water little by little and knead into a smooth, pliable dough. Add 3 tbsp of oil and knead well. Rub one tsp of oil all over the dough to prevent it from drying out. Cover and let it stand for atleast an hour.
Take 1 tbsp of oil in a flat/shallow plate.
Pinch out a ball of dough. Flatten it slightly between your palms and then roll it out. Do not dredge in flour while rolling. Instead,dip your fingers in the oil and spread it over the rolled dough and continue rolling it out. The idea is to S-T-R-E-T-C-H the dough as much as you can and make it as thin as you can. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle at this point.

If you look at the pic above, you will see that the counter top is visible through the rolled out dough. That is how thin you have to roll it out.
Next, we start folding the dough into pleats from one end to the other. It is similar to making pleats on a sari.The picture will explain how it is done.

After the pleats are made, start rolling the pleated dough into a ball, starting from one end.

Once rolled, keep it covered until all the dough is rolled up similarly.
When I had rolled up all the dough into balls, I kept them on the plate in which I'd taken oil so that the oil wouldn't be wasted, plus, my dough wouldn't dry out.

Now, take one ball at a time and flatten it out into a thick circle.

Heat a tawa. Cook both sides of the parotta on it, until it develops brown spots on both the sides.
Once you have cooked a few parottas, hold them between your hands and crush sideways. Do this gently, as our aim is only to separate the layers, not to break the parotta into pieces.

Serve hot with peas curry.

28 comments:

Indian Khana said...

One of fav ...that platter looks yum

Dhanya Ganesh said...

Porotta looks delicious.This is in one of my "must try" lists.Thanks for the step by step instructions:)

Vimitha Durai said...

Looks soft and delish

Unknown said...

this and vegetable kurma is the best combo ..i love it this way..nice pics..

AswathiBabu said...

Thanks for the detailed description..will try it soon

AswathiBabu said...

Thanks for the detailed description..will try it soon

Samira said...

Wow!!! this is the simple version and i loved it... I had a video of some malabari paratha and it was very tough and lenghty process. Loved your version,, thanx for sharing.

chef and her kitchen said...

Love this one...healthy tooo wid d addition of mixed flour

Sushma said...

nice step by step photos of the recipe. i always loved it. Howver how much ever i try this paratha doesnt come so well with me..

Quay Po Cooks said...

Nice step by step picture tutorial! Thanks for the effort.

sra said...

I don't remember hearing anyone say porotta, but have often seen it spelt that way. I love watching the roadside vendors coil and uncoil the dough. LOL @ 'gentle'men

lata raja said...

Neither have I eaten from roadside shops until well into my twenties, but have allowed my daughter to indulge in roadside parottas (as they are pronounced in TN highway thattukadas). Bookmarked your version, the layers showing in the porotta are reason enough for anyone to try the recipe.

Unknown said...

this parotta also called lachcha paratha. Porotta looks crispy.......

Suparna said...

hey jaya,
I love kerala parotas :P
your detailed post is damn good !

Priya Suresh said...

Thats sooo inviting and great looking porotta,thanks for the stepwise pictorial..

Pavani said...

What a lovely pictorial of yummy porotta making. Looks flaky and delicious.

Jayashree said...

Thank you all, for your kind words.
Samira, it is lengthy......takes up quite a bit of time,but not at all tough.
Sra, the po is quite subtle....if u don't listen carefully, you could easily think that it is pa.
Lata, Dhanya.....do let me know how it turns out if you make it.

KrithisKitchen said...

My favorite eat-out food in India... lovely preparation..
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com
Event: Healing Foods - Banana

Finla said...

Looks so so perfect, love parotta especially from the thattu kadda.

Unknown said...

wow, that process looks interesting, lovely and worth trying. Thanks for step by step pics.

Bharathy said...

Perfect parathas!
Nice step by step illustrations!

oh! you get chuvanna cheera in chennai? how come i had never seen it!!

Sensible Vegetarian said...

This looks so good and delicious. Lovely step by step pictures.

AJ said...

Nicely made!! I have made them occasionally - but I do remember eating them quite often when our uni had a chef from Kerala!!

Unknown said...

looks like they turned out perfectly! YUM

Sanctified Spaces said...

Beautifully rolled porotta's ,love the layers in it.

Archana Vivek said...

Superb. Looks like a long work but looks delicious.

Ash said...

Thanks for the easy recipe . Now that school has opened I am keeping my eyes, ears , hands, and evry thing open to new snack recipes.

What you said about thattukada is very right . But the water and plates does matter . escpecially when you have kids along with you :(

Hurrying to check the green peas recipe :)

Jayashree said...

Aswathy, true....I wouldn't dream of letting my daughter eat from a thattukada(purely from a hygiene perspective) at this point.....but once she's older and hopefully more resistant to germs and infections, it's up to her.