Minty Cottage Cheese Paratha

This recipe is adapted from Neelam Batra's 'From Chilis to Chutneys' - its a great book of contemporary recipes, combining Indian cooking with American ingredients. I particularly liked this paratha, since the dough does not need any water, but is made with non fat cottage cheese instead. Cottage cheese is an excellent source of protein and Calcium. Just one cup serving gives you 15% of your daily calcium needs and provides 15g protein, that is almost as good as a non-meat protein could get. Plus, it made the parathas super moist and tender.

Using a food processor, mince the ginger, chillies, onion, cilantro and mint. Add the flour and pepper powder and pulse until it resembles crumbs. Add the cottage cheese and pulse until the dough comes together. Remove the dough into a bowl and knead by hand for a couple of minutes, adding more flour if dough is sticky. Form it into a smooth ball, smear oil all over the dough, cover and let it rest from 1 to 4 hours.

Divide the dough into small balls and roll out into a small circle of even thickness. Heat a griddle over medium high heat, and cook the paratha on both sides until cooked and dotted with little golden spots. Smear ghee while parathas are still hot. Serve!

Verdict: The parathas were soft and silky smooth and also extremely flavorful from the addition of mint and cilantro. They tasted even better the next day and became even more tender. Most parathas tend to become hard and brittle if kept longer, so I was surprised at the texture of it the next day. It would be a perfect make ahead paratha recipe.

I am sending this paratha to 'Global Kadai: Flat Breads' event, hosted by Sandhya and originally started by Cilantro and to Also sending this to 'Herbs and Flowers - Mint' event.

I am also sending in one of my archived entries for this event: Rosemary Scallion Parathas