Mughlai Paratha

Image courtesy: Wikipedia

If you have read my previous posts you would already know about Gajenda and his cooking prowess. One of the items that he excelled at was Mughlai Paratha. While in US there were days when we had those sudden cravings for some Kolkata-special delicacy. My first attempt at Mughlai paratha happened on one such evening, on a whim!

That day, after office, I had to visit a colleague’s house – his wife had given birth to a beautiful baby girl and we were supposed to go and meet the little one. The ‘we’ in the visiting party was not my hubby and me though 🙂 .. I went along with two of my female colleagues with a small welcome gift for the baby. My mister headed home – and was wondering what was for dinner – as I would be coming home late and we had no leftovers in the fridge either. I remember calling him up and asking him to make a dough of equal parts atta (wheat flour) and maida (all purpose flour) and keep it covered. Although he seldom cooked, he used to (and still does) put together the smoothest softest dough. He tried to ask me what I was planning for dinner but I thought I will keep it a secret.

I reached home around 7.30pm that evening, freshened up and headed straight for the kitchen. The very idea of making Mughlai paratha had me energized! For the uninitiated, Mughlai Parathas are, well, parathas 🙂 (flat breads) stuffed with a mixture of egg, onion, green chilli, cilantro and even some meat mince (time and enthusiasm permitting) and shallow fried. I started off by making the egg mixture – which resembles an omlette mix at best. The tricky part is not putting the raw egg mixture in the rolled out dough and folding it like an envelope – but picking up that envelope and placing it in the frying pan.I had never done that before and was a tad nervous whether I would be able to pull it off. To top it, I knew the end product would be compared to what Gajen da makes so flawlessly everytime – talk about pressure!! 🙂

Mughlai parathas are usually served with a spicy potato curry, ketchup and slicked cucumber and onions on the side. I had already put the potatoes in a separate pan to cook along with some spices and now I started putting the parathas together. The first paratha I put in the pan was a mini disaster, as the liquid egg mixture escaped from it’s ‘captivity’ and turned out to be an egg stuffed with paratha LOL! Having figured out where I went wrong with the rolling and folding of the dough, I tried perfecting the remaining ones. Each and every paratha fluffed up beautifully …and the chef in me was really satisfied with the outcome.

I served the Mughlai parathas as soon as they were done – my mister was pleasant surprised with the end result. That gave me confidence to invite my besties and their families over for a Mughlai paratha feast the following weekend. Through my food, I was able to introduce a bit of Kolkata to my friends. Through my kitchen, the mister and I had found an avenue to go back to our dinner table at our ancestral house at Behala where Gajenda would serve us his square pieces of perfection – the envelopes that held the promise of a burst of flavour with each bite!! My Mughlai parathas are many shades better than my initial attempts at the US- but that evening in Charlotte the way they satisfied our craving for a Kolkata-special dinner made my initial attempt worth the while!