Nani Amma made chinni (sugar)paratha for me everyday. I was four and the school bus made a stop to drop me to Nani’s house at 12:30pm Sunday through Thursday, and there she was waiting for me by the gate, with open arms and a warm chinni paratha.
Nostalgia takes us to a beautiful place in our minds, and an enchanting way to relive the past is to live it in the present, hence I embarked on the journey of making parathas for my family, aloo (potato), keema (mince meat), mooli(white radish), cheeni (sugar) and the plain paratha; with simple goodness like no other.
Also read: Exploring Delhi’s underbelly: Parathay Wali Gali
In the subcontinent, wholesome homemade chappati (whole wheat Tortilla) is a staple at every meal, hence when the household wants to add oomph the morning breakfast; a wide variety of parathas are served. Paratha is a variant of the chapatti and the phrase, 'bread is the staff of life' holds much more meaning for the desis of the world than any other demographic.
It is unclear as to when the paratha came to be. When exactly was it thatghee (clarified butter) was lavishly spread on the chapatti before being put on the tawa (a slightly concave cast-iron frying pan) we will never know, but it definitely originated in the northern part of the subcontinent, also alleged to be from as far north as Afghanistan.
Also read: In praise of parathas
The stuffed paratha is a delicious variant of the plain paratha and it may simply be that the abundance of vegetables inspired the cooks to make all kinds of delectable fillings, ranging from the spicy white radish, to mince meat paratha and simple sweet goodness of sugar and jaggery.
Another legend suggests that during pre-partition India it was the norm that cooks added ghee (clarified butter) to almost everything, and when they fried the chappati in a wok full of ghee the end result was the fabulously rich puree (deep fried tortilla).
