Modest Miss.Slender: Zucchini/Courgette Parathas

Zucchini/Courgette Paratha served with Dal and Baby Corn & Green Peas Curry

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
Jim Davis, 'Garfield'

And zucchini bread is what I made, but dressed up in Indian ishtyle! Zucchini or Courgette is something I was introduced to after coming here. First time I bought it from Farmer’s market thinking it was Cucumber only to realise later it being a vegetable from a family of gourds. Although in culinary context it is treated as vegetable and cooked in savoury dishes, it is in fact an immature fruit being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower. It is called as Courgette (diminutive of courge, French for squash) here in UK, France and Ireland.

It being a water-based vegetable, I often use them in Dals or simply grilled with other vegetables and served with Guacamole, a safe bet me thinks. This time around I wanted to try it in a different way and used it in making stuffed Parathas. My obsession with stuffing the Paratha is not diminished even a bit since I made those Aloo Parathas. With no potatoes (can you believe that??? No potatoes in my pantry for one whole day), cauliflower or radish in my well stocked refrigerator and pantry, I just thought of giving up making parathas in the end.

Then my eyes fell on modest Miss. Slender, Courgette, I bought from farmer’s market. She was sitting there looking not that happy. May be the male counterparts were giving her hard time. I stared at her, she stared back-neither of us blinking for long. She seemed to be pleading to take her away from cold shelf and all male attention she was getting. Well, it looked like it was just Miss. Blush-y Cheeks, Tomato, who enjoyed all male attention. I decided to take away all her misery by using her in stuffing the Parathas. She happily obliged and transformed herself from almost-tasteless self to savoury delight. She beautifully blended with other ingredients and turned herself into a perfect treat for our weekend meal. This stuffed Zucchini Paratha is my entry for Valli’s Roti Mela and Archana’s One D events. Ladies I hope you like my entry.

Print This Recipe

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Zucchini/Courgette Paratha (Indian Flat Bread Stuffed with Spiced Courgette/Zucchini )

Prep Time: 20 mins (Excluding Resting time)
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Makes: 10 medium sized Parathas

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Ingredients:
For Dough:
3 cups Chapatti Atta/Whole Wheat Flour (I used Pillsbury Chakki Atta)
2 tbsp Yogurt
Salt to taste
Warm water to knead

For the Stuffing:
2 medium Corgette/Zucchini, trimmed and grated
1 medium Onion, very finely chopped
2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped (adjust acc to taste)
1 tsp Garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp Amchur/Dry Mango Powder
½-1 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Jeera/Cumin Powder
Salt to taste

Other Ingredients Needed:
Oil/Ghee to brush while cooking the Paratha
Little Atta/flour for dusting

Zucchini/Courgette Filling for Parathas

Method:

For the Filling:
Add salt to grated zucchini/courgette and keep it covered for about 10 mins.
Take handful of courgette at a time and squeeze out the water (which can be used while kneading the dough) as much as possible. They should be as dry as possible or else the moisture content will make it difficult when rolling the stuffed paratha.
Mix in chopped onion, chillies, dry mango powder, garam masala, chopped garlic, and roasted jeera powder and keep it aside.

For the Dough:
Sieve atta and mix in salt, yogurt.
Slowly add the squeezed water from zucchini/courgette and warm water as and when required and make stiff dough.
Cover and keep it aside for at least half an hour.

For the Paratha:
Knead the dough again for a minute and make equal lemon sized balls.
Roll this dough ball in flour and roll them using a rolling pin into thick poories of 4 inch in diameter.
Place about 1 tbsp of filling in the centre. Cover and seal the ends and roll again, dusting flour if necessary, into ½ cm thick roties using rolling pin.
Mean while, heat a griddle at high flame and lower it to low-medium flame.
Gently dust off the excess flour and place Stuffed Paratha on griddle and cook on both the sides till its cooked and brown spots start to appear on top. Apply little ghee/oil if desired.
Serve hot Zucchini/Courgettes Parathas immediately with any curry or with plain yogurt and pickle of your choice and enjoy.

Zucchini/Courgette Paratha

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Note:

Squeeze out as much of water as possible from courgette/zucchini to avoid from getting soggy parathas. If the water is not squeezed well then there is high chances of it getting difficult to roll them with out the stuffing oozing from the dough and breaking them.
If you are a beginner, start with small amount of stuffing/filling and roll into parathas. Once you learn the technique and are comfortable with the process, you can gradually increase the amount of filling.

Other Stuffed Parathas posted in Monsoon Spice

• Aloo/Potato Paratha
• Double Decker Paratha
• Gobi/Cauliflower Paratha
• Mooli/Radish Paratha
• Tofu Stuffed Kulcha

Many thanks to dear JZ (Good Chat Blog Award), Alka (Rocking Girl Award and Inspiration Award) and Vandana (You Make My Day Award) for passing me these awards. Thank you ladies.

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Reminder (Just 8 more days to go):

MBP-Street Food ends on 24th of June, 2008. Start patrolling the blogs and cook your favourite Street Food that your tummy begs and heart desires and spread link love.

Deadline: 24th June, 2008

Please go through the guidelines and include all the required information in your post and mail when sending me your entry. Don't forget to add Your Name, Your Blog Name, Name of the Dish you cooked, Perm Link of the entry, Perm Link of original recipe along with the gorgeous Photo of final dish.

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