Hi folks! Today I’m going to show you how to make a real classic Pakistani breakfast dish. I would describe it as a layered, flaky, soft and crispy flatbread (that is a lot of adjectives and I mean every one). They’re also known as Lachha paratha’s — the word lachha, I learned, means loop or coil, which is what you do to the dough before cooking; however, I’ve only known it as chai paratha. This name comes from the fact it is often served up with a fresh, steaming cup of chai. Chai paratha’s are a real crowd pleaser, but it’s definitely not a dish you would make every morning before work or school, besides the fact they’re a rather self-indulgent way to start the morning they are a little more labor intensive than you would hope to subject yourself to on a Tuesday morning. I would rather take the time to make this on a Saturday family breakfast or a lazy Sunday brunch. Heck, you could serve this for a fancy dinner any day of the week! But for your own sake…skip the Tuesday mornings. Anywho, let’s get started with the recipe, shall we?
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon oil or ghee
- 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
- 1/2 cup water, more or less
- vegetable oil for frying
- flour, to dust paratha
Directions:
First things first, I’m the realest (realest)…whoa wait, sorry, wrong recipe. First things first, lets make the dough. Dough’s are fun to make, dough’s are fun to form in bowls, chai paratha dough. And that was my Haiku about doughs. Please, please, hold the applause, but also you may go ahead and clap. It was art, I know.
Now, let’s actually make this dough. It’s fairly easy with very few ingredients, technique is just important. Start by adding the flour into a bowl along with the salt and oil (or ghee). Although ghee is more traditionally used, it is not as readily available to people and can be an acquired taste so using oil is more than acceptable. I, myself, prefer oil because it has more of a neutral taste that doesn’t interfere with the simplicity of the fried paratha. But, if you have ghee or have never tried it by all means give it a go because you won’t know what you like until you try! Ghee is a clarified butter that has a bit more of a nutty flavor to it. Not bad at all, but you get to decide what you like best. That’s called independence, woot woot #adulting.
Now onto the most important dough ingredient, water! You can’t have dough without water. This is the time to execute recipe directions with some self control. As much as you would love to just dump the entire given water amount, you mustn’t. Just start with pouring it little by little, gradually mixing the water into the flour by hand. Using your hand is the best way to feel how the dough is forming. Sometimes it will seem dry but with a little more mixing it will actually come together to form the dough. Anyways, what you want to see to know the dough is done is that all the flour is mixed in properly. While you knead with your hand it should form a soft, supple, and smooth dough that bounces back slightly when you poke it with your finger. When you get to this stage and you know you have enough water just knead it for a minute or two. This will help the gluten form and make the dough more elastic. You don’t want to knead too much or too little. So, 5-10 minutes will be enough.
I ended up using about a 1/2 cup of water but it really will depend on your flour. So take it slow and even when it looks too dry mix thoroughly before you splash in some more water. I stored mine in a plastic bag (an airtight container will work too) overnight in the refrigerator until I was ready to work with it but you can definitely use it that same day. Allow the dough to rest for 20-30 minutes before using. When I was ready to use it I cut it into 6 equal pieces and then rolled each piece into a ball. Just to make it easier to work with.
And now, you are ready to roll 😎. On a lightly floured surface, flatten one of the dough balls with your hand and then using a rolling pin, roll until you get a flat, thin rectangle. This is where things get crazy! Drizzle some oil (or ghee) on the rectangle of dough and rub it all over to the edges and then sprinkle some flour on top. Just a sprinkle. Now, you roll it up. Yup, just roll it all up, like a cinnamon roll. But no, this is not a cinnamon roll, don’t get confused.
Now you’ll have a short roll of dough but this won’t do. You need (knead 🤣) a long snake of dough. So just roll the roll under your finger starting from the middle and rolling outwards until it is *about* twice as long and half the thickness, just about, it’s okay if it’s not exact. Once you have this you will spiral it around itself. Starting from on end and coiling it on itself. Now you know where the name “lachha” comes from. It’s a little difficult to explain so please do see below!
Do this to all your balls of dough and you’ll be left with six cute little coils of paratha dough. And its just about time to fry. Which is the step right before eating so you can imagine just how excited I was to be on this step. Place a large, dry frying pan on medium heat. While it heats up you can roll your coil dough ball into a circle paratha. It takes a little practice and my first one was definitely wonky but after a few I got the hang of it. But don’t worry the shape doesn’t affect the taste so don’t be discouraged if yours don’t come out as circles on your first try. Oh, what that? Yours did come come out as a circle?
Wow, okay. It took me years to semi-perfect my roti/paratha circles. But there are some truly skilled people in this world. Kudos to all you who manage on their first try.
Once you have a thin circle (about 6-7 inches in diameter) you can place it in the frying pan. It will shrink a little in the pan so roll it thinner than you think you need. Let it roast on both sides for 1-2 minutes until dry to the touch and slightly golden in color. Once roasted, drizzle with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil on both sides and fry until it is golden brown and crispy on both sides. This will take about 2-3 minutes per side. While it is frying it will start to puff up and then you can use some tongs to flip it over. Once it cooks put it on a paper towel lined plate just to catch the excess oil. Repeat these steps for the remaining dough balls.
After just a little bit of time you will have six beautiful fresh chai parathas! 🤗🎉✨Oh, what a time! Fresh, homemade parathas are like nothing else. They can’t even compare to store bought. These parathas are warm, flaky, and you can just pull them apart. All those layers you rolled and coiled can be seen and felt in the flakiness of it all. Truly well worth the work involved. They can be served as is with a fresh cup of Pakistani chai. Or if you feel like adding some more pizzazz eat it alongside some chutney or a salaan dish (like potato, paneer, or chicken). Oh, so many options!!
Chai Paratha
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon oil or ghee
- ½ cup water, more or less
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste
- vegetable oil for filling and frying
- extra flour to dust paratha
Instructions
- In a bowl mix together flour, oil, and salt.
- Slowly add in water, little by little, mixing by hand with each addition. Continue adding water until all the flour comes together in a ball. If dough seems dry still, before adding in more water, knead a few times with hand and if it still seems dry add in a splash of water. When dough has formed completely and is soft and supple to the touch knead for a minute or two until it is smooth and bounces back slightly when poked.
- Once dough is done you can use after letting it rest for 20-30 minutes or store in zip-lock bag or airtight container for few days in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Once ready to use divide into four (if you want larger parathas) or six equal pieces and roll each piece into a dough ball to easily work with.
- On lightly floured surface flatten dough ball and using a rolling pin roll into thin rectangle.
- Drizzle a little oil onto rectangle and spread evenly all over the rectangle of dough. Sprinkle with a little flour and rub it in slightly. Then, proceed to roll into cylinder from long edge to long edge. You will be left with roll of dough.
- Roll this between your fingers and surface starting from middle and working your way out until it has almost doubled the length and halved the thickness of dough to make a long snake of dough. Coil this snake of dough starting from one end and rolling it inwards until a small circle (coil) of dough has formed.
- Do this with the remaining dough balls. Until you have 4 or 6 coil/balls of dough.
- Heat up a medium sized or large frying pan on medium-low to medium heat.
- While pan heats up, take coil of dough and on lightly floured surface use a rolling pin to shape into a circle. Roll until thin (about 6-7inch diameter) and place in heated pan.
- Roast on each side for 1-2 minutes flipping with tongs. Each side should be light golden in color. Once roasted drizzle both sides of paratha with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil and fry.
- Wait a few minutes until dough starts to bubble and puff and using tongs flip over. It should be golden brown with dark brown spots where it had bubbled up. Cook for a 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Once cooked place on paper-toweled lined plate to catch excess oil.
- Follow the above steps for remaining coil dough balls.
- Enjoy!
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