Teen-kona meethi parantha

 

A teen-kona or te-kona or triangular paratha is nothing new in any Bengali household. Teen-kona as in triangular is as much Bengali as Tagore or Ray. The fact parantha can be round was surprising to me, when I visited the state respected by all as the wheat grannary of the country. I hope they soon get back the peace they deserve.

Seasonal eating is essential & esseantially a part of our culture. The great Vedas composed by learned men have always stressed on the benefits a body can get by following this simple rule. And I am happy to do as I am told. To the best of my memories, my household have never been too experimental. Mother would rustle up fewer new dishes once in a while, recipe taken from the glossy pages of magazines and cookery shows, to feed her hungry son, i.e, moi. But once I started going out & about, it was time for new exposure and all of these dishes getting cooked in our home kitchen happens to be a reflection of that.

The winters are essentially season for fresh methi saag or methi greens. I dry them during this time to make my stock of kasuri methi, you can do the same if you wish to. But as of now it's time for Methi Paratha, let's head to that direction :

1. 4 cups of atta or wholewheat flour + 1/2 tsp of salt + 1/s tsp of carom seeds or ajwain+ 1 generous tbsp of kasuri methi (crushed). Mix the dry ingrediants and keep aside.

2. Half a bunch of fresh methi leaves, teams discrded leaves torn and washed, Chop them roughly. Roughly I bowl of the elaves should do good.

3. In a mortar and pestle pound together: 3 fat cloves of garlic+ 2 green chilli + about half ahandful of spring onion greens. Make it into a paste. You can use a silbatta ( google will be of help, if you are unaware of the term) as well for this!

4. In a big bowl, pour the dry ingrediants+ chopped leaves and the pounded green goodness. Add in some warm water and make a tight dough. (Quantity of water difficult to mention, as it depends on the absorbency of your flour). pour about 1 tsp of oil and let the dough rest for about 10 mins.

5. Now what? The usual. Make roundels from this dough. Then roll it out. How to roll? Make a circle as always. Then fold it over, making it into a half moon. Time to fold, and make the two ends of the half moon meet. It's its a triangle now. Follow the same for all roundels.

6. Heat a iron tawa. First cook the rolled out parantha about 2-3 mins each side, on medium high flame. The colour changes from pale to darker wheatish.

7. Brush some ghee and flip them on the same griddle again. The black blisters are a sign of its yumminess and theat they are ready to be served.

Easy right? You can have his with aachar, aloo-dum or anything grav-sh. Should pair well with mutton or chiclen as well, should this be your lunch or dinner. My family prefers this for breakfast, so we had with dim kosha or egg curry cooked with loads of coriander and spring onion greens to echo the same spirit. The best part about this dough is it can be kept under refrigertion for about a week, and makes about 1 paranthas. So this can be your ticket to good food in the weekdays be it office lunch or cheats dinner at home. 

Now for some finer points:

a. Mother is a bit wary of adding too much methi leaves, as it might get bitter. So I refrained from adding more. Feel free to add more if you wish to.

b. Even though I used an iron tawa/griddle, please feel free to opt for a nonstick one, if that's what you have at home. It's all good.

c. Ghee isn't a mandate for parantha. You can skip the ghee. In such case cook it for a bit longer. But without ghee there is no fun either!

d. One advice: Pair something sweet along with the parantha and your side dish. To me that makes the meal complete.

So now I have securely and honestly bailed out all my knowings of this dish. The only job for you is to cook, eat, feed and be happy. oh yes! be safe. The world and the vaccine both needs some more time to show its magic.