Meetha Paratha (Sugar Stuffed Paratha)

When I was small, I used to love eating hot sugar parathas with ghee, especially during winter. Make it more rich by adding more nuts of your choice.

Ingredients:
To prepare dough:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Warm water to knead

To prepare stuffing:

• 7-8 tbsp powdered or granulated sugar
• 7-8 tbsp grated carrot
• ¼ tsp cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp Cashew nut powder (optional)
• 2 tbsp finely chopped raisins (optional)
• To pan fry:
• ½ cup ghee (clarified butter) or cooking oil to pan-fry parathas

Method: (Method VI: Making of Paratha)

• Put the wheat flour, cooking oil in a bowl and gradually add water to bind the mixture into soft dough. Keep the dough for 15-30 minutes at room temperature covered with moist cloth.
• Divide the dough into 8-10 equal sized small balls. Flour a clean surface and roll each ball out into a circle (like pancakes) about 2-3" in diameter.
• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for stuffing.
• Spread about 1 1/2 tbsp of sugar mixture on one circle of dough and cover with the other circle. Press gently around the edges.
• Carefully roll out the stuffed circle into paratha, sprinkling whole-wheat flour on the surface, so that the filling does not come out. If this is difficult, then roll out two thin rotis and spread the stuffing evenly and thinly over one roti and cover it with the other, pressing the edges together.
• Heat a griddle (tawa) and place a paratha on the griddle. Flip the paratha when tiny bubbles rise on the surface. Drizzle a bit of ghee/oil on the top and spread well over the surface of the paratha. Flip the paratha again after few seconds and drizzle ghee on this surface too. The paratha is done when both sides are crispy and golden brown. Remove from the griddle and repeat with the other parathas until all are cooked.
• Serve with Flavored yogurt / Cheese / Fruit Jam / Dates Chutney.

Do You Know?

The word "sugar" principally refers to crystalline sugar – a white solid disaccharide, also called as “table sugar” or “saccharose”.

In culinary terms, the foodstuff known as sugar delivers a primary taste sensation of sweetness.

Indians discovered how to crystallize sugar during the Gupta dynasty, around AD 350.

The English word "sugar" originates from the Arabic and Persian word shakar, itself derived from Sanskrit Sharkara.

Commercially produced table sugar comes either from sugar cane or from sugar beet. Manufacturing and preparing food may involve other sugars, including palm sugar and fructose, generally obtained from corn (maize) or from fruit.