Spinach Paratha flatbread. Palak Paratha. Blended Spinach in the dough makes moist green flatbread. Vegan Yeast-free Indian Recipe. Use as Spinach Tortilla or stuff with favorite fillings.
Parathas are thicker flat bread which may or may not be stuffed. These are spinach parathas where the greens are kneaded into the dough. Parathas can be made in several ways. There is the flaky lachha paratha, circle paratha, square paratha, and many more.
The spinach dough can also be used to make stuffed flatbread. Stuff it with cauliflower or potato filling (find the filling recipes in my book). And use it as a side, use these as Spinach tortillas, or use to make burritos. Use other greens for variation. These parathas are a great breakfast stuffed with scramble or a side to saucy Indian Mains. This recipe was in the book too, but luckily for you all, we had to bump a few to fit the book in the pages 🙂 . If you are looking for gluten-free flatbreads, find 3 gluten-free, yeast-free flatbread recipes in my book –Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen. You can use spinach puree in any of them instead of the liquid used. Or use half spinach puree and half sweet potato in this gluten-free Sweet Potato flatbread.
Also find steps to make circle and laccha parathas on this post.
More flat breads from the blog
- Vegan Pita Bread Recipe
- Vegan Yeast free Flatbread and Pita bread
- Whole Grain Seed Bread Recipe
- Whole Grain Za’atar Tomato Flatbread for Virtual Vegan
1 day to go! Keep an eye on this page for reviews by bloggers and book giveaways!
Steps:
Roll it out like a simple Flatbread and cook on the stovetop. Or..
Roll it out into a Laccha paratha. (unstuffed paratha). Apply oil or melted vegan butter on the rolled out flatbread. Pleat it from one side to the end. Roll it up and seal. Roll it out until flat.
Roll it out into a stuffed circle paratha. Roll out a 6 inch or larger flatbread, Add filling of choice like grated cauliflower, mashed potatoes etc with spices like cumin, or use this broccoli chickpea filling). Gather the edges together like a dumpling. Press to seal, then press down to flatten. Use a little flour to roll the ball into a thick flatbread.
Cook on the stove and serve! Pictured simple spinach flatbread, stuffed square spinach paratha and laccha paratha.
Spinach Paratha flatbread
This recipe is soy-free, nut-free, easy and kid approved
Makes 7 to 8 parathas or 10 to 12 rotis
Prep time: 20 minutes, Active Time: 45 minutes
1 cup packed chopped spinach or other tender greens
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup unbleached white flour or all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon carom (ajwain) seeds or coarsely ground cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon safflower or coconut oil
2 Tablespoon warm water
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour, for dusting
Safflower or melted vegan butter, for cooking
Method:
1. Bring 3 cups of water to a rapid boil in a deep pot. Blanch the spinach for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain well, blend with 1/2 cup water and keep aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt and carom seeds. Add 1/2 teaspoon oil and the spinach puree and mix well. Add more water and knead into a slightly sticky soft dough. Do not knead for more than a minute. The dough will be sticky and soft.
3. Spray or brush oil on the dough, cover with a kitchen towel and let the dough sit for 15 minutes.
4. Oil hands and knead for a minute. Add tablespoon of flour if needed. Divide dough into equal parts and shape into balls. Keep the balls covered by the kitchen towel.
5. Flatten a ball and dust completely with flour. Roll the ball into a flat round. Brush the paratha with oil or melted vegan butter. Fold the rolled dough into a square or laccha style. Roll it out and proceed to cook. You can also stuff this paratha with potatoes, cauliflower or radish.
6. Heat a thick bottom skillet at medium high heat. When the skillet is hot, place the rolled out dough in the skillet. Cook the flatbread for 45 seconds to a minute per side.
7. Flip and cook the other side. Brush oil on the paratha and flip and cook for 30 seconds.
8. Brush oil on the current side as well and flip and cook for 30 seconds or until nicely browned. Serve hot. Keep lightly covered with a towel until ready to serve. Store in paper towel lined container. Do not overcook the flatbreads. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the flatbread, so adjust accordingly.
Variation: Add a 1/2 teaspoon garam masala to the flours
- 1 cup packed chopped spinach or other tender greens
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- ¼ cup unbleached white flour or all-purpose flour
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon carom (ajwain) seeds or coarsely ground cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon safflower or coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoon warm water
- ½ cup whole-wheat flour, for dusting
- Safflower or melted vegan butter, for cooking
- Bring 3 cups of water to a rapid boil in a deep pot. Blanch the spinach for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain well, blend with ½ cup water and keep aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt and carom seeds. Add ½ teaspoon oil and the spinach puree and mix well. Add more water and knead into a slightly sticky soft dough. Do not knead for more than a minute. The dough will be sticky and soft.
- Spray or brush oil on the dough, cover with a kitchen towel and let the dough sit for 15 minutes.
- Oil hands and knead for a minute. Add tablespoon of flour if needed. Divide dough into equal parts and shape into balls. Keep the balls covered by the kitchen towel.
- Flatten a ball and dust completely with flour. Roll the ball into a flat round. Brush the paratha with oil or melted vegan butter. Fold the rolled dough into a square or laccha style. Roll it out and proceed to cook. You can also stuff this paratha with potatoes, cauliflower or radish.
- Heat a thick bottom skillet at medium high heat. When the skillet is hot, place the rolled out dough in the skillet. Cook the flatbread for 45 seconds to a minute per side.
- Flip and cook the other side. Brush oil on the paratha and flip and cook for 30 seconds.
- Brush oil on the current side as well and flip and cook for 30 seconds or until nicely browned. Serve hot. Keep lightly covered with a towel until ready to serve. Store in paper towel lined container. Do not overcook the flatbreads. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the flatbread, so adjust accordingly.
- Variation: Add a ½ teaspoon garam masala to the flours
these look marvelous! I adore parathas, will def try the spinach ones!
can’t wait to try this as a fajitas!!! sounds delicious
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This looks delishhh! Love your recipes–I love flatbreads, especially naan!
Love the idea of adding spinach to flatbread! There is never enough greens and this might convert even veggie haters 🙂
The parathas look beautiful just before being rolled!! I love parathas (especially the flaky one!). I can’t wait to purchase your recipe book for the GF version! =)
These look so good, I am a huge fan of flat bread and can’t wait to try. Thanks!
Ooh, yum! And I love your ideas of stuffing it like a burrito or with a vegan breakfast scramble! Thanks for your always beautiful recipes!
Did you say that you have a gluten-free version of the Spinach Parathas in your new book? Can’t wait. I ordered the book some time ago from Amazon. I love Indian food, and long for vegan versions of the recipes. (That’s how I found your blog.) Thanks for your recipes and handy hints!! I’m a fan, for sure.
There are 3 gluten-free flatbreads in the book, in which you can substitute the water or non dairy milk with spinach puree!
They look fabulous an yummy. Nice and a healthy filling for a paratha.. Love it
Could this dough be mixed up in a food processor? This recipe looks amazing.
yes you can make it in a processor.
I’ve tried this recipe now, and I must say I am a very, very happy girl! Thank you! I was keeping my eyes open for a yeast-free bread (in stores and recipes I come across on the Internet). I’m healing from a brain tumor and operations, so ingredients are very important to me and health. Anyway, I was keeping my eyes open, but not looking very hard. Then you advertised this as yeast-free AND it is made on a burner not in the oven (also important to a brain tumor survivor) AND I don’t like and/or I choose not to become good at spending too much time kneading! So this is the perfect recipe for me now that I’m eating bread and increasing my oils. I’ve been macrobiotic since November 2013, so I used baby kale and no seeds (this time)…I would say to other novices like me in the cooking world, make sure to get that flatbread as thin as possible when it is rolled out. It will make you able to stick to the short cooking time, which I love! My first “ball” was rolled too thick, but afterwards I hearted the texture, the taste, the flatness. Thank you very much!!
Hope your recovery goes smoothly. so glad these worked out for you. Because of my brain tumor surgery and tbi during, i have balance issues and have a hard time with the rolling. so i try to reduce it wherever possible. 🙂
mmmm.. these look so soft and doughy. and i love the green. they’d prbably taste awesome smothered with hummus.
we make methi rotis at home all the time, and they look so pretty and speckled. in india, my nani makes methi rotis and they are green like yours, which look so pretty! ahh i miss it.
I recall you use a dedicated skillet to make flatbreads, pancakes, crepes, etc. Can you or your readers recommend a good one? Should it have walls or no walls? I’d like to buy one but there are many choices.
In other news, just got your book in the mail and cannot wait to try the recipes! I have most of the ingredients, although still am missing a few. Thanks for pouring your heart and soul into what I know will be soon be a well-worn friend in my kitchen!
I use one with shallow walls for flatbreads, no walls for thin crepes and a high wall for pancakes and thick crepes 🙂 . I use cuisinart green gourmet line and wearever ceramic , both are pfoa and pfoe free.
Thanks! Will go with the shallow wall for now and maybe add as needed. Will review your cookbook as soon as I make a few of its recipes!
I can’t do wheat, rice, corn, etc. Have to stick with gluten free. Can this be made with Bob Red Mill’s All Purpose Gluten Free flour? Thanks.
i think bob’s ap flour has rice flour. If ot, then you can use that. or use chickpea flour. Add enough to make a soft dough. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then roll it out using more chickpea flour. You will have to use lighter strokes to avoid breaking. make smaller and fatter flatbread.
I have made these tonight. I often make enchiladas from the oh she glows cookbook, but I strive to only eat stuff I have made myself. So when I use store bought tortillas, it bothers me. I read that you wrote that you can use these flatbreads to make burritos and I thought hey why not use them for the enchiladas. And it worked. I love them and I love the spinach added to them. And easy to make! 😀 😀
ooh so awesome!
I just live off these flatbreads! I sub wheat flour with chickpea, or amaranth or coconut/almond flour mix (I suppose that is completely wrong but it works).
I have my burgers, do the lazy pizza, a huge raw salad sandwich and have some with vegetable or my ever favourite lentil soups, or dhals.
I wonder though if I should use other… I now have access to buckwheat flour, rice flour, teff, gf sr and plain, and I do love to add last night’s vegetables shredded quite often with a spice or two and voila! So versatile. I never used to believe that having gf could be such a pleasure so I go a bit mad in the kitchen!
I do find some a bit tough and add a spoon or two of my yoghurt and that makes thing so soft and creamy. My home is a madhouse!
I should like to know also if you do a Indian spiced type version of this life changing bread so many are talking of, I should just love that and will give it a go as I think it may suit me well.
gorgeous recipe.
easy to make and ridiculously flavourful.
with gratitude,
rachel
xx
I love the green color!!!
Hi this flatbread looks super yummy!!
do you think it is possible to do it without all purpose flour ? I would like to avoid this too refined flour.
thank you for your work!
yes you can u se all whole wheat flour.
Can these be frozen easily?
Yes. I prefer to freeze them uncooked between parchment, or partially cooked. If you freeze them fully cooked, then they might dry a bit on reheating. The uncooked, rolled out flatbreads can be put directly fromt he freezer onto a hot skillet to cook and they taste just like freshly made.