Paratha

The fresh, handmade paratha my grandmother would make was buttery and flaky, with tender inner layers and crisp outer layers that would shatter as you tore it. The way it’s smeared with ghee or butter (or, in my grandmother’s case, Crisco!), layered, and rolled by hand creates a distinct taste and texture, unlike that of its store-bought counterpart. And unlike the round paratha from the grocery store, hers were always square. Seeing that plate of square paratha meant we were going to be eating well.

Paratha has been a staple in my family for as long as I can remember. Open the freezer and you could always find a big pack of them — the round kind in the green packaging from the store. We grew up loving and devouring all those flaky layers, being sure to eat them every opportunity we had. 

Paratha, at least to me, always seemed like such an important part of the Bangladeshi food I grew up with. It made appearances often, like at breakfast or at dinner with beef curry. While we often relied on the store-bought version for convenience, it was always the biggest treat when my grandmother would make her homemade paratha. 

Paratha comes in many different forms — square, round, triangular, filled, made with different flours, and so on — and each culture and person has their own take. For this recipe, I took inspiration from the paratha my grandmother made and leaned on some of her techniques for making them at home.

Paratha is a type of flaky, layered flatbread common throughout South Asia. They can be simple — layered with your choice of fat (such as ghee, butter, or shortening) and rolled into a variety of shapes (such as square, round, or triangular) — or they can even be stuffed or filled, such as in aloo paratha or Mughlai paratha. 

While my grandmother and many expert paratha-makers use maida (a type of all-purpose flour commonly used in South Asian cuisines), atta (a whole-wheat flour), or a combination of both, this recipe uses my go-to flour: all-purpose. The more neutral flavor from the all-purpose flour acts similarly to maida, in that it really allows the ghee or butter flavor to shine through. Folding and rolling them into squares (alternate directions for that below) is quicker and I employ it when I’m feeling especially nostalgic, but the technique for creating round paratha (similar to the technique often used for scallion pancakes) creates even more layers and greater contrast in texture between the tender inner layers and crisp, golden-brown outer layers. 

Paratha is made from a simple dough of flour, salt, oil, and water. The dough is divided and each piece is rolled out and smeared with a generous amount of ghee, butter, or shortening, and sprinkled with flour to help provide definition between the layers. It’s then rolled or folded in a specific way depending on the end shape you want, and then given a final roll. The paratha is then cooked. First, the paratha is cooked part of the way in a dry pan to ensure the inner layers are cooked through. Then, ghee is added to the pan and the paratha is cooked in the ghee until golden-brown. 

• Eat it right from the pan while it’s still extra hot.
• Dunk it into a mug of chai or coffee.
• One of my grandfather’s favorite ways is with sooji (also spelled suji) for a sweet, buttery treat.
• Serve it alongside a spicy Bangladeshi beef curry (my mom’s favorite!).
• Or serve it next to vegetable bhaji.