Nutritious Doodhi Paratha

Nupur's "N of Indian Vegetables" for A-Z of Indian Vegetables allows a very few dishes to choose from. The options were either Nimbu(Lemon) or Naaral(Marathi word for coconut) which are used in selected few common recipes like Nimbu ka Achaar(Lemon Pickle), Nimbu Paani(Lemonade), Narali Bhaat(Cocumut Rice) or Naralachi Burfi(Cocunut Fudge) etc. Navalkol (mini version of cabbage) is one N vegetable cooked in Maharashtra, India, but its next to impossible to find it here. So I decided to try something Namkeen or Nutritious and finally settled for Nutritious Doodhi Paratha.

Doodhi (Bottle gourd) is one vegetable most people don’t like. Children usually make excuses to avoid eating Doodhi. Doodhi Paratha is one bread my mom used to prepare to make me eat doodhi without me realizing what it is made of. This paratha is tasty and nutritious as it is prepared by combining various grain and lentil flours. I served the dish with Tomato Chutney and Nimbu Pickle.

Nutritious Doodhi Paratha

What you need:

1/4 kg Doodhi (bottle gourd)
1 cup Wheat Flour (Atta)
1/4 cup Jowar Flour
1/4 cup Bajra Flour
1/4 cup Chikpea Flour (Besan)
1/4 Cup Coarse Corn Flour
2-3 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Corriander Powder
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
A pinch of Turmeric
1 tsp chopped Corriander
Salt to taste

Oil for roasting

How to Proceed:

1) Grate Doodhi when ready with other ingredients at hand (to avoid grated doodhi from changing color to black)
2) Mix all the flours and other ingredients with grated Doodhi and knead into a soft dough.
* Combination of other flours can be used in prop of 1:4 to wheat flour
3) Divide the dough into balls of 2 inch diameter
4) As the dough is soft, its difficult to roll he paratha. Place a wet cloth/ plastic sheet on the rolling pin and then roll the paratha using oil to the size of roti/chapati.
5) Put a tsp of oil on hot girdle and place the paratha. When cooked, turn and roast on the other side.
6) Serve hot with chutneys or pickles.