Thursday, December 01, 2005

Avocado Parathas

It's true. You can make parathas of anything if you just put your mind to it.
We bought some avocados from our local wholesale retailer last week, which we have been trying to incorporate into our diet in many ways. We tried them sliced or mashed stuffed in sandwiches, which was a great lunch sandwich. Then the legendary guacomole. But anyone familiar with wholesale shopping wouldnot be surprised to know that we still have plenty of avocados to consume, but we are running out of ideas.

Avocado is actually fruit (like tomato), which is in season in the winter. It was first discovered in Mexico and then taken to the English. It is actually pretty versatile. It is used in salads, soups, breads, appetizers, maincourses even desserts believe it nor not. For more interesting food history of avocados and interesting recipes, visit http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa012698.htm . You should buy avocados that are fresh, just picked but not ripe. Ripen them at home by keeping them in a brown bag away from direct sunlight and the refridgerator. Ripe avocados are fleshy and yield to touch. Just word about nutrition. Avocados are known to have high fat content, but it is mono saturated, so it is good for you in LIMITED quanity and they say it can control cholesterol. It is said that you can avoid using butter altogether by spreading creamed avovados on your bread. hmmmmm...

So, when I got home last night and looked at the fridge for any quick options and my eyes landed on the avocados. Immediately I ran out and checked if hubbie was in a whacky, i-don't-mind-trying-new-stuff-today mood. So then I set to work...

1 ripe avocado, pitted and fleshed (remove skin like an orange or cut lengthwise and scoop out flesh)
2 cups of chappati flour
1tsp salt (to taste)
1tbs corriander pow
1tbs any other masala you fancy (chaat masala, jeera pow, garam masala etc)
1 tsp chilli pow
water as required (small quantity)

In a large bowl, mash avocado pulp with a fork. Add flour and all masalas. Rub the mixture together and use the moisture of avocado to knead a smooth dough, adding water only if necessary (I needed to add about 2-3 tbsps of water). The dough usually is pretty smooth due to the above stated fat content. Then, break into even sized pieces (about 10). Roll out into ~6 in rounds and slap it on to a hot tava/griddle. It was a weekday dinner, so I didn't spend time folding the rounds over and rolling them again to obtain layers. But I bet you would get nice flaky layers, again due to the above state (good) high fat content. When small bubbles appear, flip and slap the other side on the tava. When that side bubbles up and shows some color, flip again and apply slight pressure with a folded paper napkin or a clean kitchen towel to cook it through. Serve with dal or other vegetable for a complete meal.


The results, well hubbie didn't complain as much about experimenting on him, so I think they were good. I liked them too :-)

No surprise again, but we still have more avocados remaning, so if you liked this one, stay tuned for more recipes. May be I will try the avocado bread over the weekend. Lets not get our hopes up just yet.

In the mean time, let me know some of your whacky creations...

23 comments:

Gini said...

Somebody is creative! I would never have thought of avocado paratha....

GourmayMasala said...

Thank you for your kind words gini! I wish some of my creations tasted as good as they looked though :-)

Anonymous said...

What a cute blog you have here. I tracked you from Gini's.:)

Say something is good for your health, Vijay(my husband) is in line to buy that thing.And he likes avacados for that reason, though I think of them as face mask:)

I am going to try your recipe, GM. I like it and I think Vijay is going to love it. Thanks for sharing.

GourmayMasala said...

Thanks for coming by Indira! I have been to your blog too and I love all the pictures!!

Wish my husband kept a 'more' open mind towards healthy food! Can't completely blame him though, some times I do take the health factor too far (like last night's veggie burger scramble):)

A Motley Tunic said...

Hey GM, first time here over from mahanadi. Very innovative recipe!!

Anonymous said...

I usually will make a salad with avocado, red onion, dunia, mango chunks spiced with salt/pepper and jeera powder. Very tasty! I'll have to try this creative concocation out one day!

yum said...

I like avacado but never know what to do with them and have even had to throw some when they became to ripe just sitting around....

I really like this idea!!
Thanks

Priya said...

i made this today and it was tasty and different from the usual stuffed parathas, but it was not green as seen in the pic, is it bcoz of the flour , i used golden temple durrum atta, can we make this using all purpose flour. And the other thing is it was not oily either. Do u have any idea why. And thanx for the recipe GM .

GourmayMasala said...

HI Priya,

Thanks for giving this recipe a try. Hope you liked the results.

The ripe avocados are green in color. I used the Haas variety which is pictured in this post. The riper that the avocado gets, the greener it gets. May be the ones you used were not as ripe?

You could use maida if you wanted. That may give you a more pronounced color.

The paratha in my case was not 'oily' per say, but you could tell by the way it was cooking that you didnot need to add extra oil to crisp it.

Hope this helps. Thanks once again for trying out the recipe.

Jag said...

I know it's not original - but our most often cooked paratha is with leftover gobi:

http://www.route79.com/food/stuffed-parathas.htm

Must try avocado at some point!

Anonymous said...

Nice innovation!
you can make some juice with avocado: mix avocado with milk and honey or sugar, makes a thick healthy yummy drink!

We also like avocado salad, with red onion finely chopped and carrots finely chopped also.
enjoy

BDSN said...

Wow your avocado chappathis look green and fresh......and green is my favorite color.......I definitely have to try this and your Lemon Rasam...Thx for posting this...

appalam vadaam said...

Hi,

I tried this today. When I had it hot, it tasted yummy. While I prepared the dough, the amount of water needed was reduced and it came really soft. However, mine being an electric stove, I'm yet to get the kind of softness that I used to get in India, but, adding avocados made it really softer than otherwise. What an innovation! Great work! I'm hooked on to food blogs now, thanks to Indira (of Mahanandi) and all of you. Hoping to try many more such wonderful dishes.

-Vasundhara.

GourmayMasala said...

Hi Vasundhara, I am so glad you liked these rotis. I know what you mean about the electric stoves! It can never give same results as gas stoves.
You can also try adding tofu to get soft chappatis, although I would definitely not recommend having those cold...

Thanks for leaving your comments here. I am glad you are into these blogs too :)

Anonymous said...

HI,
I got this recipe from one of my friend. I tried it and passed this recipe to many of my friends. Everybody liked it. I just wanted to thank you for sharing a great, Healthy recipe with us.

Thanks :).
Rama

Anonymous said...

Hello,
Thank you for sharing your creative idea about Avocado Paratha. Instead of paratha, I made puri's out of it as my 15th month old loves puris. I think now avocado puris is his favourite snack so far.
Take Care
Priya-Nikhil

Adhi Potoba said...

I tried this today and had it with mutton kheema fry. The Avocado really puts it over the edge. It was delicious and a great way to score some cheap points with the girlfriend. Thanks for the great recipe.

Anonymous said...

Hello Garam,

Thank you for posting this recipe. I have tried it for the first time a few dsys ago and am very pleased with the results. Half of the dough I made into little mini breads or parantha and the other half froze to have later. Maybe as a base for pizza or a rollup.

I was also experimenting around with avocado and used it in a carrot soup, and smoothie.

Thanks for the info on avocados and inspiration.

Nora

KonkaniBlogger said...

Hi GM,
I made these rotis today and they were really good. I have posted the recipe in my blog and linked to your recipe. Is that Ok with you ? Please let me knw ..And thanx for the recipe :)...

Unknown said...

Hi GM,
I was lead to your recipe from the Mahanandi blog. This idea of adding avacado to the roti dough is a stroke of genius. It needs to be patented if you ask me. I have never managed to make such soft rotis and paranthas :)..thanks so very much for sharing your innovation with us. Makes huge difference to me...until this attempt I was never quite happy with my rotis.
Cheers
Akhila

Dibs said...

Congrats on such a cool idea! Came here from Mahanandi...

Anonymous said...

this sounds great! will for sure try Avacado Dosa and Akki Rotti (Rice Roti), sounds like an interesting option! :))

Sonia said...

Hi GM,
Hope you are at your best. I tried your Avocado paratha and have posted in my blog. I tried twice actually...came out so good. Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe. :)