I wanted to make some bread to go with the leftovers from the last recipe and the Spinach Bread from the Indian Vegan Kitchen cookbook sounded perfect. Here’s my take on the recipe:
2 cups of whole wheat flour (plus a little extra for rolling & flattening the dough)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, chopped and loosely packed It came out to about a handful for me.)
3/4 cups water
2 tbsp OVOO (plus a little extra while cooking, but not much!)
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, cayenne pepper, and spinach. Make a well in the center of the flour and gradually add the water while mixing. (The moisture of the spinach and the type of flour may vary the amount of water needed.) The dough should be soft and easily roll into a ball. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes or longer. (I messed up a bit and almost forgot to add the spinach, so it was a little bit sticky for me.
Dough meet rolling pin...
When I added just a teeny bit of flour to the cooking panel and the rolling pin, I was able to roll out some nice pieces. One looked like this:
A small palak paratha
An example of a small palak paratha.
Heat tava (iron griddle or a pancake griddle). Adjust the heat and add a little oil. Take each ball and gently roll with a rolling pin (Good for shaking at husbands-to-be and chasing them).
As you gently roll the dough into a flat blob of bread, take your time, then gently brush them with a little oil and pop them on the griddle. Let them them get a little brown with a few dark spots on both sides and it will look like you got them from a good Indian restaurant.
You can serves this bread with any curry dish or eat it plain. JOY!
When I was finished, the flavorful spinach bread looked like this:
A plate full of palak paratha with a teeny bit of dough on the side.
