This is the second paratha recipe on my channel. The first one was a delicious aloo paratha stuffed with a spiced potato filling. They’re both great in my eyes and even better in my belly.
If you enjoyed the other one and if you eat meat, then this one is definitely not to be missed! A thin dough filled with fragrant spiced beef and served with a raita style yogurt sauce, onion and herb salad, and spicy pickle. The flavours are super complex, and they work together amazingly.
You can change the spices to your liking and adjust them to your taste. It’s all up to you.
The dough is made with atta which is a type of whole wheat flour. If you cannot get a hold of it, then you could use regular whole wheat flour. I would suggest sifting it to remove some of the bran.
In India beef would not be commonly used as a filling because in Hinduism cows are sacred animals. Saying that, beef is eaten in some states by other religious groups. You can certainly swap the beef for lamb, and it will be just as good.
This recipe makes 8 parathas.
Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.
Ingredients
For the dough –
250g (8.8oz) atta
5g (0.17oz) salt
180g (6.35oz) water
Sesame and nigella seeds to roll the flatbreads in
Ghee (clarified butter) for cooking
For the filling –
400g (14oz) minced beef
50g (1.75oz) finely chopped onion
15g (0.5oz) finely chopped garlic
10g (0.35oz) finely chopped ginger
7g (0.25oz) finely chopped coriander
7g (0.25oz) finely chopped chilli
4g (0.14oz) ground coriander
4g (0.14oz) ground cumin
6g (0.21oz) garam masala
5g (0.17oz) salt
2g (0.07oz) ground black pepper
For the raita –
Full fat yogurt
Chopped onion
Cumin
Salt
Coriander
Lime juice
For the onion salad –
Sliced red onion
Mint leaves
Coriander
Fresh chilli
Salt
Lime juice
Pickle to serve alongside. You can find these pickles in any South Asian store.
Method
- Make the dough. In a large bowl combine the water and salt. Mix to dissolve. Add the flour and mix to a dough. Tip the dough out on the table and knead for 3 minutes.
- Divide into 8 equal pieces and shape into balls. Cover and refrigerate.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients and mix well. Divide into 8 equal pieces and shape into balls. *You can leave the dough and the meat balls in the fridge for a whole day and continue whenever. Or you can start shaping them right away.
- Fill each dough ball with a meat ball. *See video.
- Cover and refrigerate. Cold dough is easier to work with.
- While the stuffed dough balls are chilling make the raita and the salad. Mix all ingredients and leave in the fridge.
- Roll out the dough balls. Coat them in four and press into a disc shape using your hands. Continue with a rolling pin. You can make them thinner or thicker to you liking. Towards the end of the rolling process sprinkle the table and the bread with seeds and roll the seeds into the dough.
I would suggest rolling them and cooking them one by one. As the first one is cooking you can roll out the next one. If you do what I did and roll all of them at once and stack them on top of each other, then there will be a risk of them sticking together.
- Cook the paratha. Lay it down in a pan on high heat. Leave to cook for 1 minute. Flip the bread and brush it with ghee immediately. Cook for 1 more minute. Flip again and brush the other side. Cook for 1 minute. Flip and cook for an additional 30 seconds if need be.
- Stack the breads on top of each other. Get the toppings out and enjoy!
Watch the video here