They say, ‘travelling shapes your personality’. Even though not intentionally, but owing to the reasons which cannot be ignored and are considered important in life, like my father’s transferable job, higher studies and marriage, I am unable to identify myself with any one particular place. And, as I have mentioned earlier too, I owe these places to a great extent for shaping my personality.
Fortunately, for being a food lover, these places have also influenced my appetite and broadened my possibilities of exploring varieties in the kitchen. I have inherited my palate from each place I have travelled, and consciously or sub-consciously the effect is realised with the sudden desire to eat or create some particular dish native to those places. So, just like I have mentioned in one of my previous post ‘Roti Upma With Leftover Rotis’, that I owe my skill and my appetite for Upma from my current city ‘Bangalore’, similarly, I owe my culinary and my devouring ‘paratha’ skill from the last resided city ‘New Delhi’. And, such is the impact that I am able to imagine to create ‘parathas’ beyond my experience. Yes, I have begun to understand ‘paratha’ to quite an extent and have successfully made few varieties of parathas, which I have not even tasted before I made them.
One such paratha is ‘Sweet Banana Paratha’ Or ‘Banana Flavoured Indian Flatbread’. Although I would have loved to put up this dish as my signature creation yet to be realised by the larger audience, but the internet has broken my notion by introducing the harsh fact, that ‘Sweet Banana Paratha’ is a popular street food in North India, already loved by huge chunk of homo sapiens 🙄. The fact also made me realise, that I have missed out on couple of delicacies, irrespective of staying in a place for more than seven years.
Coming to Sweet Banana Paratha, the paratha is unusual in itself owing to its sweet taste that is different from the other spicy parathas popular in the region. Also, unlike other stuffed parathas, the process of making ‘Sweet Banana Paratha’ is also different, where the bananas are not stuffed in the dough but are mixed with the flour to make dough. This paratha is comparatively easy to make as there is no added requirement to cook the stuffing, and as bananas are very easy to mash.
So, what more? With a hint of cinnamon, lemon, sugar and salt, you craft your masterpiece and soak your senses in the mesmerizing aroma of cooked banana.
Below is the detailed step by step recipe.
Recipe: Sweet Banana Paratha Or Banana Flavoured Indian Flatbread Recipe
Preparation Time: Around 15 minutes Kneading Time: 15 minutes Rolling & Cooking Per Paratha: Around 5 minutes Equipment Used: Grinding stone, grinder, a bowl to knead dough, rolling pin & board, tawa and turner Yield: 10 parathas (depends on the preferred thickness)
Ingredients:
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 4 over ripened bananas
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon 1 teaspoon and ½ cup refined oil
- 2 & ½ cup flour
Method:
- If you are using cinnamon sticks, take 1 and ½ cinnamon sticks of around 10 cm. Crush and grind them to powder
- Peel the bananas and mash them in a big bowl till no lumps remain
- Add cinnamon powder, lemon juice, salt and sugar, followed by 1 tablespoon refined oil to the mashed bananas
- Add flour little by little to the above ingredients and knead to get a smooth dough with the help of mashed banana
- Spread 1 teaspoon oil across the dough and keep the dough covered
- Heat a tawa and keep aside ½ cup oil in a bowl separately
- Simultaneously roll out small dough balls around the size of a lemon out of the prepared dough
- Take one ball at a time and flatten the dough with the help of a rolling pin & board to a round shaped paratha of around 15 cm diameter
- Put the flattened paratha on the tawa
- Take oil from the bowl kept aside, and spread oil around the paratha with the help of a spoon
- Flip the paratha when the edges on the other side turn golden brown
- Spread oil again around the paratha and fry the paratha for few minutes till the edges on the other side turn golden brown
- Repeat the process for rest of the dough balls
Crush & grind cinnamon sticks to powder.
Mash bananas in a big bowl till no lumps remain.
Add cinnamon powder, lemon juice, salt and sugar.
Add 1 tablespoon refined oil.
Add flour little by little.
Knead to get a smooth dough with the help of mashed banana.
Spreading oil on dough.
Heat a tawa.
Keep aside ½ cup oil in a bowl separately.
Roll out small dough balls around the size of a lemon out of the prepared dough.
Flatten the dough ball (one by one) with the help of a rolling pin & board to a round shaped paratha.
Put the flattened paratha on the tawa. Spread oil around the paratha with the help of a spoon.
Flip the paratha when the edges on the other side turn golden brown.
Spread oil again around the paratha and fry the paratha for few minutes till the edges on the other side turn golden brown.
Tips:
- If you are using cinnamon sticks to make powder, store the left-over powder properly for future use
- Add flour little by little while kneading, till you get a manageable dough
- To get a proper round shaped paratha, roll the dough balls nicely, so that the edges are smooth and move the dough in circular direction while pressing the edges of the dough with a rolling pin
- To avoid burning of parathas, fry the parathas on low flame
- Store the leftover oil. You can use it later
