Easy Palak Paratha
I got this recipe from the blog, Divya’s Indian Cookbook. I basically followed her recipe except I reduced the amount of spinach, called for. I think I may have over-reduced it but it tasted really nice, with a lovely cumin aroma and a kick of pepper.
If you’ve never made this kind of flatbread, then please follow the step by step photo instructions on the next page. I wish you a happy cooking. To see original recipe, click here. Thank you Chef Divya for this recipe.
- Ingredients for sautéing spinach
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 1-3 cups finely shredded baby spinach (add more spinach if you want).
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)
- Ingredients for Flatbread
- 450g (1Ib) chapati flour
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
- Salt to taste (1-1½ teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes or cayenne pepper, if you prefer
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ cups warm water
- ½-1 cup oil for cooking the flatbreads (olive oil, Canola, Sunflower oil etc)
Please gather all ingredients before you start
To sauté spinach: heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, let them sizzle.
Add the chopped spinach. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the cilantro, stir briefly then remove from heat and set aside to cool.
To Make Flatbread Dough: sift the flour, ground coriander, salt and chilli flakes into a large bowl. Add the spinach to the flour and stir throughly to mix in. Make a well in the centre, add olive oil and almost all the water and mix into a soft dough. (add the rest of the water slowly by slowly, only if required)
Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface
and knead for five minutes until soft and pliable. If the dough is too sticky add a little flour at a time as you knead it.
Divide dough into 8-10 pieces. Cover and let rest for about 10 minutes.
Roll each piece into an 8 inch circle then evenly apply some oil over the whole surface
Roll up each piece the way you would, a rug or carpet
Press the edge firmly in place
Roll the resulting rope tightly, into a spiral
Continue rolling up to the end
Tuck in, the tip into place, and press the top gently to ensure it’s fully tucked into place
Dust lightly on both sides, with some flour, cover with a towel or cling film and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes, (the longer the better). Repeat procedure with remaining dough.
Roll the rested dough into an 8-10 inch circle
Heat a heavy based non-stick pan to medium hot and drizzle some oil and cook the flatbreads ,
on both sides on medium high heat, until the golden brown spots appears. (make sure you oil both sides). Roll and cook the rest of the dough.
The original recipe suggests to serve hot with raita, yogurt or chutney. I just served mine as a meal with some dhal. They were spicy, delicious with a wonderful aroma.
Spinach and Cumin Flatbread
Preparation time: 40 minutes + 20 minutes resting time; Cooking time: 45 minutes; Makes: 8-10 flatbreads
Ingredients
For making spinach
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1-3 cups finely shredded baby spinach (add more spinach if you want).
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)
For Flatbread
- 450g flour Chapati Flour
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
- Salt to taste (1-1½ teaspoons)
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes or cayenne pepper if you prefer
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ cups very warm water
Instructions
- To sauté spinach: heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, let them sizzle. Add the chopped spinach. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the cilantro, stir briefly then remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- To make flatbread dough: Sift the flour, ground coriander, salt and chilli flakes into a large bowl. Add the spinach to the flour and stir throughly to mix in. Make a well in the centre, add olive oil and almost all the water and mix into a soft dough (add more water as required). Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for five minutes until soft and pliable. If the dough is too sticky add a little flour at a time as you knead it.
- Divide dough into 8-10 pieces. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll out each piece into an 8-10 inch circle and follow the step by step photo instructions. (If you’ve never made chapati, please follow step by step details above)
- To Cook the flatbreads: Heat a heavy based non-stick pan to medium hot and drizzle some oil and cook the parathas both sides on medium high heat, until the golden brown spots appears.
- The original recipe suggests to serve hot with raita, yogurt or chutney. I just served mine as a meal with some dhal (lentil soup). They were spicy and delicious with a wonderful aroma.
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My Favourite Pastime 
Oh gosh, these look so delectable. Keep the bread recipes coming, loving it! -Kat
Thank you. They were really nice.
Liz
Love the Indian direction you’re taking! Josh and I love Indian food, I’ll be watching future posts closely.
I want to start an Indian Food posting session. I hope to do some twenty recipe or so. Have a lovely day!
Liz
Liz, Wow Indian food on the table. It is so nice to see the food that is a regular in my house as your latest post.The pictures are superb, one just gets tempted to eat these piping hot straight from the pan, parathas are one of my favorite foods. I had packed these for school lunch today, son returned grumbling requesting to pack some other(read junk) food instead. Trust your family enjoyed eating them.
I love eating Indian food and my next project on the line is making at least 20 authentic Indian dishes. I shall be sniffing around your blog to see if there is anything I can make. Do you have any suggestions? Have a great week!
Liz
It is my pleasure to know that you enjoy Indian food. There would be plenty of dishes that you can possibly make, all depending on the taste and like. Do please go ahead and make if you like anything from my dishes/recipes. I cook but not all end up in the form of blog posts, but am making sure from now on to click snaps while cooking so that I can make posts. I love your baking posts, the pictures make me drool to eat those yummy baked goods.
You too have a great week, here we have a long weekend starting tomorrow, so plenty of family time.
Thank you. I look forward to cooking from your blog. We had a long weekend last week-Thanksgiving. We finished the last of the turkey last night. It was so good while it lasted.. I always take so many pictures but posting is my biggest obstacle. I can never keep up. Enjoy your long weekend!
Liz
Looks amazing! I’ll have to try making these soon!
Thank you, Anneli. I wish you a wonderful week!
Liz
These look fantastic!
Thank you, Sabrina.
Liz
I have changed the ids, hope it works now
Yes this works fine. Thanks and enjoy the rest of the week!
Phew! Thanks for pointing out so that I could correct it!
Have a great week 😊
You too!
I love, love, love the new look of your blog. I shall certainly cook a few things from there!
Yayyyy
Still working to make it more user friendly 🙂
All the best. You’re on the right track!
❤️
Lovely
Thanks!
Liz
Do you realize that this link here takes me to your old abandoned blog?
Gosh! How come!! Very strange.
This is the link on your message right now
simplifiedvegetarianblog.wordpress.com
You have to rectify…otherwise I have to google your blog in order to get there. Please check
Thanks, Liz
I will try to follow you from my new address
Ok please try. It will make it so much easier for me and others who might be having the same problem. Have a wonderful week!
Liz
Youbtoo
This looks so delicious! The step by step photos are really helpful. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you. Have a great week!
Liz
Mmmm! Looks delicious!!!
Thank you!
Liz
Holy Smokes! This looks so yummy! Can’t wait to make this one. Junior Deerslayer tried to make some flatbread (in my absence). The smoke billowed out of the door and windows upon my return. I’ll whip up the next batch myself!
Omg that was so scary. Thank God nothing serious transpired. The bread tasted nice. I hope you enjoy making it.
Liz
Paratha looks delicious
Thank you. How have you been?
Liz
Yummo!
Looks yummy and what an interesting way to shape the bread!
Thank you. I really hated slicing it. I would have just loved to keep it.
Liz
Wow, that looks wonderful!
Thank you.
Liz