Paneer Capsicum Paratha | Stuffed Indian Flat Bread

Parathas are a category of unleavened Indian flat breads made of whole-wheat flour. Every household has their own method of making parathas. Once you know the basics, you can make it even more interesting by filling it with your favourite stuffings. The stuffing can be made as per your taste and flavour. Paneer Capsicum Paratha is a healthy, nutritious and wholesome breakfast or a snack with all the goodness of vegetables and herbs. I’m not missing out the potato/aloo, which is used to bind the stuffing. These parathas are very simple to make and a tad bit of practice will yield you perfect parathas.

In Punjab, parathas are made with generous quantities of ghee and then served with dollops of butter, which is heavy on stomach and calories. Just to cut a few calories, I make Paratha only with a little oil but feel free to use what you like. Paratha is a treat with any meal and can be served with any gravy. They also make a perfect breakfast or Lunch box snack as they stay soft even hours later. There is no need for any special side dish for Paneer Capsicum Paratha as it is very tasty on its own. If required, you can have it with ketchup, yoghurt or pickle or just a simple raita.

I think we should be thankful to the person who invented the method of stuffing such delicious combination of  ingredients in these bland dough balls. The best part about Paneer Capsicum Paratha or any paratha for that matter is it’s flexibility. Just add in the quantities of any ingredient as per your taste and you still can never go wrong. This is one of those recipes where it doesn’t matter even if you don’t have the listed ingredients! Substitute with what you have and it is still going to be delicious!

You can stuff less or more as per your liking. I would suggest, stuff generously if having alone with yoghurt or pickle and stuff less if serving with a side dish. The key luring feature of this delicious paratha is its subtle blending of all the ingredients. It has perfect texture in its outer covering and doesn’t break while rolling them.

So keep this in mind, to make perfect Paneer Capsicum Paratha, make sure that your paneer has not too much moisture and the consistency of dough should be right and soft. If dough is hard then it will break while rolling. If it is too soft then you are not able to roll the parathas properly.

So, let’s see how to make this amazing variation!!  I’m pretty sure you wont be disappointed with this Paneer Capsicum Paratha recipe!!!

Step-by-Step process in making Paneer Capsicum Paratha:

The process has 3 main steps-

1. Preparing the dough
2. Preparing the filling
3. Assembling and making parathas.

1. Preparing the dough:

• In a wide bowl add whole-wheat flour, yoghurt, oil, salt, and mix well till all the ingredients get incorporated into the flour.

NOTE: The addition of yoghurt is optional and it helps to get soft parathas.

• You can use hand or a food processor to knead the dough. I prefer to use my hand.
• Now add water little by little and knead into pliable and soft dough.
• Cover the dough and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

2. Preparing the Filing:

• Boil potatoes with some water in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles and peel them.
• Mash potatoes without any lumps in a bowl. I’m using potatoes to binding the rest of the ingredients. You can also make without potatoes. It’s personal choice.

• Chop capsicum, ginger, garlic, green chillies, chives, coriander and set aside all the dry ingredients. I chose to use tricoloured capsicums since I love those vibrant colours. You can also used single coloured capsicum. The herbs give good flavour and taste to the parathas.
• Grate or crumble paneer.

• Mix all the ingredients under the section “For the Filling”  to a smooth and pliable mixture. There should be no lumps. Finally adjust salt if required.
• Now take some mixture in your hands, shape them into even sized balls and set aside.

3. Assembling and rolling the Parathas:

• After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, knead the dough once again for a minute to smooth it out.
• Now pinch a medium sized ball of the dough.
• Roll with a rolling pin and flatten it. Dust with some flour and roll it to a circle of about 4 to 5 inches in diameter.
• Place the stuffing in the centre, keeping about 1 to 1.5 inches space from the sides.

• Take the edge and start pleating while bringing the pleats to the centre.
• Join the pleats together. There should be no gaps otherwise while rolling the filling may come out. In case you do see the filling coming out, then just take a small piece of dough and cover the gap. Press the pleats from centre.
• Sprinkle some flour and roll the stuffed paratha to about the same size as that of a chapati or roti.

• Heat a griddle over medium heat and place the rolled paratha. The griddle should be hot because cooking parathas on low heat will harden them.
• When the base is partially cooked, flip the paratha.
• Smear some oil/ghee on the partially cooked part.
• Flip again. You will see brown spots on the paratha. Press the edges of the paratha with a spatula while cooking so that they are cooked well. Sometimes the edges may be thick and may not cook properly.
• Spread some oil/ghee on this side too. A perfectly made and roasted paratha will puff up.
• Flip again till both the sides are cooked properly. You should see crisp brown spots on the paratha. and then it’s done.

• Make all parathas this way and stack them up in a roti basket or casserole. Or just enjoy them directly from the griddle straight in the serving plate.
• Serve the paratha as a whole or you can cut it into pieces like how I did and serve.
• Serve Paneer Capsicum Paratha with a dollop of butter on the side, it’s optional though. Have it along with tomato ketchup, mango pickle or lemon pickle or just plain yogurt.
• Today I’m serving with serving homemade spicy sweet and sour tomato chutney and Coriander mint green chutney. I just love this combo!!

Print Recipe

Paneer Capsicum Paratha | Stuffed Indian Flat Bread

Paneer Capsicum Paratha is a category of unleavened Indian flat bread which is healthy, nutritious and wholesome breakfast or snack with the goodness of vegetables and herbs.

Prep Time40 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Indian Flat breads

Cuisine: North Indian

Servings: 4 to 6

Author: Padma

Ingredients

• For the Dough:
• 2 cups Whole wheat flour atta
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Yoghurt optional
• 1 to 2 teaspoons oil or Ghee
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup or required water to knead flour
• For the Filling:
• 2 to 3 Potatoes boiled peeled and mashed
• 1 cup capsicum tri coloured, finely chopped
• 1 cup grated or crumbled Paneer
• ½ inch ginger minced
• 4 garlic pods minced
• 3 to 4 green chillies
• ½ cup of spring onions finely chopped
• ½ cup coriander finely chopped
• ¼ cup chives finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder optional
• 1 teaspoon amchur powder or dry mango powder
• ½ teaspoon chaat masala
• ¼ Cumin/jeera powder
• ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
• Required salt
• Other Ingredients:
• Little wheat flour for dusting while rolling parathas
• Oil or Ghee for roasting parathas
• Butter for serving Parathas optional

Instructions

• Preparing the dough:
• In a wide bowl add whole-wheat flour, yoghurt, oil, salt, and mix with water, adding little by little to knead into pliable and soft dough.
• You can use hand or a food processor to knead the dough.
• Cover the dough and let it sit for at least 30min.
• Preparing the Filing:
• Combine all the ingredients under the section "For the Filing" and mix everything to a smooth and pliable mixture. There should be no lumps.
• Finally adjust salt if required.
• Now take some mixture in your hands, shape them into even sized balls and set aside.
• Assembling and rolling the Parathas:
• Again knead the dough to smooth it out and pinch a medium sized ball of the dough. Make smooth ball and flatten it out.
• Dust with some flour and roll it to a circle of about 3 to 4 inches in diameter.
• Place the stuffing in the centre, keeping about 1 to 1.5 inches space from the sides and seal it by gathering the edges into the centre.
• Sprinkle some flour and roll the stuffed paratha to about the same size as that of a chapati or roti.
• Heat a griddle over medium heat and place the rolled paratha. The griddle should be hot because cooking parathas at a low flame will harden them.
• When the base is partially cooked, flip the paratha.
• Smear some ghee/oil on the partially cooked part.
• You will see brown spots on the paratha. Press the edges of the paratha with a spatula while cooking so that they are cooked well. Sometime the edges may be thick and may not be cooked properly.
• Spread some ghee/oil on this side too. A perfectly made and roasted paratha will puff up.
• Flip again till both the sides are cooked properly. You should see crisp brown spots on the paratha.
• Make all parathas this way and stack them up in a roti basket or casserole or just enjoy them directly from the griddle straight in the serving plate.
• Serve some extra butter on the side, though it’s optional. Enjoy parathas with tomato ketchup, mango pickle or lemon pickle or just plain yogurt. Today I have served with with homemade spicy sweet and sour tomato chutney and Coriander mint green chutney.

Notes

1. Adding oil or ghee while kneading the dough makes the parathas soft. Including yoghurt too will yield soft parathas.
2. Adjust spice levels with green chillies. Red chilli powder is optional though.
3. You can skip green chillies and add a little red chilli powder when serving to kids.
4. Quantities of all the ingredients are purely personal choice, so feel free to adjust to suit your taste.
5. Always chop all the veggies and herbs very finely.
6. Aloo must be mashed well leaving no lumps.
7. You can also sauté the ingredients in a teaspoon of oil and then add to the mashed potatoes to prepare the filling.
8. In case the mixture is slightly lose, add some breadcrumbs to remove excess moisture.

We Culinary hoppers have been putting our efforts into collecting fresh inspiration and creating recipes on selected themes for the past one year. Yes..It’s our HOPVERSARY celebrations!!…How fast time flies!!….

As an honour to this celebration, we bring to you TWO INDIAN THALIS representing our influences on both the cuisines. Each of us bringing one delicacy towards each THALI. My first contribution towards NORTH INDIAN THALI is Paneer Capsicum Paratha and an authentic Dosakaya Pachadi Recipe towards SOUTH INDIAN THALI.

We love the challenge of working as a team, it’s a fun learning journey and blog hopping just keeps getting better. I’m so thankful for YOU for coming here and reading.

Do check out other North Indian delicacies from us!!

• Vani’s Bhatura with no yeast 
• Anu’s Punjabi Chole Masala 
• Piyali’s Badami Paneer Pasanda 
• Swati’s Kale Aloo Pakodas 
• Shobana’s Soy Chunk Pulav 
• Jayashree’s Vegetable Croquettes 
• Parvathy’s Panchmel Dal

Happy Cooking 🙂

Cheers!!!

Padma.