BEET ROOT PARATHA

BEET ROOT PARATHA

Many people don’t like Beet-root, they don’t like the color, the look of it or even the taste of it, but Beet root is a it is a healthy food which is a rich source of natural sugar along with containing sodium, potassium, phosphorus, chlorine, iodine, iron and various important vitamins. The high nutrient value of beet root makes it an invaluable food in terms of health benefits it provides and it is thus used for therapeutic purposes.

Benefits of Beet Root

• Drinking beet root juice every day can help reduce one’s blood pressure.
• Beet root has natural property of cleaning the kidneys and gall bladder.
• The potassium present in it helps in providing nourishment to the body for daily functions while chlorine organically cleans the liver and kidney.
• In addition, it has positive effects on one’s digestive system as it helps in the treatment of digestive disorders and problems like jaundice, nausea and vomiting due to dysentery or diarrhea.
• Beet root combined with carrot juice can prove extremely beneficial in building the red corpuscles thereby helping in treating low vitality and anemia.
• Being an excellent solvent for inorganic calcium deposits, beet juice helps in the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular disorders.
• It is also extremely beneficial for women as it aids in the regulation of menstruation.

Along with having numerous health benefits, beet root is also beneficial for the skin.

• The water in which beet roots have been boiled proves effective for the treatment of boils, inflammation and even for skin breakouts like pimples.
• Similarly, the decoction of beets mixed with little vinegar can be used for the treatment of dandruff.

Though beet root has various health benefits, it should be avoided by diabetic patients since it is high in sugar content.

With so many benefits that the humble beetroot has, we should be including it in our diet shouldn’t we?, but it wouldn’t be fair for me to advice as I myself am not a beetroot lover, so I looks for ways to include beetroot in my food and getting the nutritious benefits out of it without feeling yucky about eating it.

Beetroot paratha is one such recipe, which is so tasty that we won’t be realizing how many parathas we are gobbling and enjoying the inherent qualities of beetroot at the the same time. So do try this recipe and enjoy it.

Ingredients

Wheat flour - 3 cups

Gram flour(Besan) – 1 tbspn

Beetroot - 2 (peeled, boiled and grated)

Fresh ginger -1 tspn of each

Green chillies - 2-3 (finely chopped)

Red chilli powder - 1 tspn

Turmeric powder- 1 tspn

Coriander powder- 1 tspn

Cumin powder - 1 tspn

Asafetida – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tspns

Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Method

Peel the beetroot and pressure cook it with a little salt upto 2 whistles, grate the cooked beetroot in a bowl. Make a paste of ginger and green chillies and add this to the grated beetroot, add 2 tbsps of oil, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, asafetida, coriander powder and Cumin powder, sesame seeds and salt and mix well with the grated beetroot, allow this to marinate for 10 minutes. After this add the wheat flour and gram flour and mix well, add some more salt at this point as salt added before may not be enough. Mix without adding water so that the flour and beetroot becomes one mixture. Then slowly add about 3/4 cup warm water, just enough to form a firm dough, and knead till smooth. (like chappati dough). Cover, let rest at least 1/2 hour, and knead again briefly. If resting more than 1 hour, punch and knead dough again before rolling out.

Divide into small balls about golf-ball size, and roll out into 12" rounds on a smooth surface. You can roll and keep on a newspaper in the picture and cook one after the other. This works out faster for me.Heat a tava(flat non-stick pan) on medium flame, cook the paratha on one side first then flip to the other side after 2 mins. Flip one or two times more on either sides, adding vegetable cooking oil until you see brown spots on either sides. Serve hot. This dish can be eaten with vegetables or with chutney and sauce as well. It can be served as a nutritious breakfast or a main course for lunch or dinner. This dish is not only healthy but also tasty.

I would like to send this recipe to Raks "Cooking for Guests" Event as I made these when my friend had come over for breakfast and served it with a dollop of butter and chutney and hot masala tea.