Easy Cabbage Paratha | Cabbage Chapati

My usual weekday dinners would be either roti-sabzi-dal or paratha-pickle-raita-salad combos. While I plan the menu ahead most of the time there are few instances that I would be lazy enough to either plan or do the preparations ahead.Then comes these kind of easy peasy parathas like cabbage paratha,bottle gourd paratha,methi paratha and onion paratha based on the availability of vegetables in my refrigerator.
If your kids are fussy about these vegetables,this is the best way to make them eat those healthy vegetables.These piping hot parathas when paired with an achaar and dahi makes a wholesome meal.

This is a very simple recipe as it does not involve any stuffing business;grated veggies are added inside the dough which makes our job easier.My mom used to make a similar version of cabbage chapati and onion chapatis for breakfast while I tweeked it a bit to give a typical North Indian touch to them.My mom always add sesame seeds to onion chapatis saying that they give a nice taste to it and it is true,even I like the taste of sesame seeds while eating the paratha.There are no hard and fast rules about the ingredients in this paratha,you can actually play with the ingredients and make it according to your family preferences.I have mentioned a few variations to the recipe to give you few such ideas.
Cabbage Chapati | Cabbage Paratha Recipe:
(makes 10-12 parathas)

Ingredients:
2 cups Wheat flour
1/4 cup Besan(Chickpea flour)
3/4 cup finely chopped or shredded Cabbage
1/4 cup finely chopped Onions
1/4 cup finely chopped Coriander
4-5 Green chillies,finely chopped
1/2 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste or 1/2 tsp grated Ginger
2 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 tsp Coriander-Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Amchur powder
1/4 tsp Garam masala (optional,I did not add)
2 tbsp Curd
2 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
Oil for frying parathas

Method:

• Finely chop or grate the cabbage and drop it in a bowl.
• Add finely chopped onion,chopped green chillies and coriander, all the masala powders, salt and sesame seeds to the chopped/grated cabbage and mix well.
• Add chickpea flour and wheat flour and now mix again.
• Add curds,oil and add little water to the dough and knead into a smooth and pliable dough.Take care that the dough should not be very sticky,it should be bit stiff while kneading so that it would become little soft when we start rolling.Leave it aside for 10-15 mins.Do not leave the dough for longer time as the cabbage leaves water.
• Take a big lemon sized ball and roll into a thin paratha(as thick as chapati or slightly thicker than chapati) and fry it on tawa on both sides applying either oil or ghee over it and roast until you see the brown specs on both sides.

Serve them hot with North Indian style Aam ka Achaar or Stuffed Chili pickle and masala raitha.
I made alu-spinach raita with lots of walnuts to go with the parathas.The combination was truly divine and yumm.
Notes:

1. Always make dough just 10-15 mins before making parathas,otherwise it would be difficult to roll the parathas.As cabbage leaves water the dough would become sticky which is difficult while rolling them .
2. Addition of chickpea flour is optional but I like to use it in theplas and these kind of parathas which are not stuffed.
3. If you feel that cabbage smell is dominating in your parathas you can even saute them in a tsp of oil for a couple of minutes before making the dough.
4. If you are making this for kids,try to replace chopped green chillies with 1 tsp of red chili powder in the recipe.You can even avoid garam masala.
5. They stay soft and good up to 3-4hrs and so it is ideal for lunch boxes.
6. These parathas will not give clean edges and hence I used a round cutter to give a clean shape to cabbage parathas,but it is optional to follow this method.
7. For a Vegan version avoid curd in the recipe.

Variations:

1. You can add grated carrots or chopped methi along with cabbage to the same recipe.
2. You can easily replace cabbage with grated bottle gourd or grated radish and follow the same recipe to make Bottle gourd parathas and Radish paratha.
3. If you do not like cabbage ,replace cabbage with onions in the above recipe and make Onion chapatis.

I just love to eat a meal like this..in short it is a simple and wholesome meal for me..How about you ??