Suji Paratha

Semolina Paratha

VegetarianOrigin AwadhPrep 30 minutes, plus standing timeCook 15 minutesMakes 8

Crisp, golden unleavened flatbreads made with a semolina dough. They offer a lightly textured, flaky crumb with a rich, toasted taste.

Ingredients

300 g

flour

81 g6 tablespoons

oil/fat

to taste

salt

Combine 300 g semolina, salt to taste and 27 g of the 81 g olive oil in a wide mixing bowl. Gradually pour in enough water to bring the ingredients into a pliable dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly dusted surface and work it vigorously for 5 minutes until supple and uniform.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, drape with a damp kitchen towel, and allow it to rest in a warm area for 30 minutes.
Cut the rested dough into 8 equal pieces, shape each piece into a ball, and roll each one out into a 20-cm flat round disc.
Warm a tawa or heavy skillet over medium heat and add about 7 g of the remaining olive oil, heating until faintly smoking.
Lay a rolled flatbread into the hot pan and cook for roughly 30 seconds per side until speckled with golden-brown spots. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining dough portions and oil.

Fine semolina

Semolina
Use the same weight and pulse in a blender until fine. If not fine enough, soak 10 minutes before cooking.
Coarse semolina
Use the same weight, grind finer or soak 10–15 minutes longer. Coarser texture; good for upma but not fine batters.
Cream of wheat
Use the same weight. Similar fine grain; cooking time is about the same, stir well to avoid lumps.

Olive oil

Peanut oil
Use equal weight. Provides a high smoke point with mild flavour, well suited for sautéeing spices.
Vegetable oil
Use equal weight. Neutral in flavour, making it a reliable all-round substitute for general frying and tempering.

Same: Both dishes use semolina as their primary grain and are seasoned with salt.
Different: Rava Bonda is deep-fried in vegetable oil as dumplings rather than griddled with olive oil as flatbreads, and it adds green chillies, ginger, asafoetida, and coriander leaves.

Same: Rava Dosa is also a crisp, golden griddled bread made primarily from semolina.
Different: Instead of being rolled from a simple dough with olive oil, it is poured from a batter containing flour, onions, green chillies, and cumin seeds, then cooked using vegetable oil and butter.

Same: Maddur Vada and this dish both use fine semolina and salt and are cooked as crisp, unleavened Indian foods.
Different: Maddur Vada adds rice flour, chana dal, green chilli, asafoetida, coriander leaf, ghee and vegetable oil, while this dish uses only semolina, olive oil and salt; Maddur Vada is shaped into patties and fried, while this dish is a semolina dough flatbread.

Same: Suji Halwa shares semolina as its main ingredient with this dish.
Different: Unlike this dish, Suji Halwa uses ghee, clotted cream, sugar, cardamom, raisins and nuts and is cooked as a soft pudding rather than a salted olive-oil dough flatbread.