Masala Palak Pulka

Stuffed chapathis or parathas are much more enjoyable than the plain ones. No matter what you put inside the dough, it goes in without making much of a fuss on you palate :-). Now that's an excellent way to push in the green veggies, beets, and all the other veggies you normally don't like.Not that I don't like spinach, I am infact one of those palak-loving humans. But the idea of anything green appeals to me and hence this masala palak pulkha. Sauteed and blended palak with some spices mixed with the chapathi dough to make very tasty and yummy pulkas :)

Ingredients

Serves - 15 pulkas
Spice Level - Mild
Prep Time - 15 min
Cook time - 20 min

Wheat flour - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 Tsp
Oil - 1/2 Tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Palak/Spinach - 1 bunch, 250-300 gm, washed , picked and chopped roughly
Green chilli - 1
Jeera - 1/2 Tsp
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup, loosely packed
Oil - 1 Tsp
Water - 1 cup +/- few tbsp

How do you do it

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Add jeera, let it roast. Add the green chilli and saute for a minute. Add the chopped palak leaves and saute until they reduce in volume and are cooked - takes 3-4 minutes. Add the coriander leaves now and saute for a minute more.Switch off flame and keep aside and let it cool.

2. Once cooled blend into a smooth paste with few tsp of water of needed.

3. Take the 2 cups of flour, add salt,turmeric,garam masala, 1/2 Tsp oil, the palak/spinach paste and mix well, add water little by little to make the dough. I use my food processor for the above step and I get a smooth dough in a couple of minutes :)

4. When making dough for chapathi/pulka, the dough surface has to be very smooth in texture and should be soft to press and should easily roll into a circle. I use 1 cup water plus 1 tbsp for 2 cups ashirwad flour and that works perfect for me. If you find it hard to roll the pulkas, they will not be soft when made, the easier to roll, the softer the pulkas.

5. Once the dough is made, let it rest for 20 minutes in a bowl. I cover the bowl with a damp cloth.

6. Pinch a small lemon sized dough, roll it into a circle. Have some flour by your side, to sprinkle, if the dough sticks.

7. Heat a dosa pan , add the rolled pulka on top of it, After a few seconds, flip it, when you start seeing small dots on top of the pulka, remove the pan from flame, place the wire mesh seen in the picture, increase flame to high, transfer pulka to the wire mesh. The pulka will puff up, use a tong to flip it to the other side, when you have black/brown spots on both sides , the pulka is done. [ See the picture]

8. Transfer to a hot case, apply a few drops of ghee.

Enjoy these super soft pulkas with your favorite curry.

Notes

1. Its important to use enough water to make a smooth dough. Usually wheat flour:water ratio is 2:1. The texture of the dough should not have cracks and they must be soft to touch to get soft pulkas.

2. For the pulkas to puff up, roll them evenly with the same thickness all around.