My first encounter with a Raw or Green Papaya dish was in the form of stir fry (Thoran) at my in-laws. Umma had her little kitchen garden in the backyard and most of the time she cooks from her small harvest. Raw papaya was one of them and trust me when she brought the raw papaya to the kitchen - I thought they fell off the plant as it was too young to be plucked. In my head, papaya was a fruit that has to be eaten when ripe. But she asked me to chop them for thoran and I was like WHAT??? I went ewwwww... and just followed her instruction. The stir fry was good and did not have any strong flavour of papaya even though she had added almost nothing than just tadka.
I have not had fully ripe papaya for some time now though it is seen here in Yanbu. Recently, I saw a whole line of green papaya at the supermarket here so pick just one medium-sized papaya that was not ripe nor too raw. One half of the papaya went into a salad and the other half into this delicious stuffed paratha. I am yet to make Umma's stir fry, InshaAllah!
The process is very similar to any stuffed flatbread. Roll, stuff, close, punch out air and roll again. Roast on hot Tawa with some ghee and serve hot with raitha, pickle and potato etc. As I have leisure time, I make the stuffed balls and keep them aside until needed. I make the parathas close to the time F would arrive home so we can have fresh out of the tawa parathas with cold yoghurt and spicy pickle and some aloo masala for the man! 🙂 Yum!
The rule of thumb in making stuffed parathas is the reduce the moisture of whatever you are filling it with. So here we are removing the excess juice off the grated papaya with the help of a little salt. Make the filling, prepare the dough, fill the dough and then cook the rolled-out parathas one by one.
As the raw papaya does not have a distinctive taste, I have added dill leaves to bring out the flavour. You can replace the dill with mint too. In the absence of dry mango powder, you can use chaat masala too.
Green Papaya Stuffed Flat Bread | Raw Papaya Paratha
Yields: 9
INGREDIENTS
For the dough
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- approx. 1 cup of water to knead
For the stuffing
- 2 cups grated green/raw papaya
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 green chilli, finely chopped
- ½ cup loosely packed fresh dill, finely chopped (can replace with coriander or mint leaves)
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1 teaspoon dry mango powder or ½ teaspoon chaat masala
- ½ teaspoon fennel powder
METHOD
Prepare the dough
- Mix the flour, salt, and oil in a wide bowl
- Add the squeezed-out papaya juice and enough water and bring together
- Knead for 5 to 8 minutes or until you get a soft dough
- Cover the dough and keep it aside for 20 minutes.
Prepare the stuffing
- Add a little salt to the grated papaya and keep aside for 10 to 15 minutes (this is to make it release the moisture)
- Squeeze the grated papaya by taking a handful and pressing it or use any equipment you have and get rid of the moisture/water.
- Mix in the finely chopped green chilli, dill leaves, garam masala powder, fennel powder, and dry mango powder or chaat masala
Prepare the Raw Papaya stuffed dough balls
- Divide the rested dough into equal-sized balls (I got 9)
- Dust and roll the dough ball into a 3-inch disc
- Keep approx 2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle Bring together the ends, pinch it to close, twist it, and then gently stuff that portion in the middle of the dough ball
- Use a fork to punch out the locked air. You will find air bubbles if you lightly press the stuffed dough ball. Doing this will help you to roll the stuffed parathas neatly.
- Keep it covered and stuff all the other remaining dough balls similar way.
Prepare the Raw Papaya Paratha
- Keep the pan on medium flame - so it is ready by the time you roll one
- Dust your rolling pin and board with some flour and gently roll to make approx. 6-inch disc.
- Place the rolled-out papaya paratha on the hot tawa on medium to high flame (you can start rolling the next one while this gets cooked, but keep an eye)
- drizzle about 1 or 2 teaspoons of ghee on both sides and flip and cook till the paratha is evenly cooked on all sides.
- Serve hot with pickle, any yoghurt-based dip/raitha, potato masala
I served this for weekend lunch along with potato masala and we loved it. As you can see the papaya I have used has a slight ripeness which gave a good blend of sweet and cucumber flavour. Raw or green papaya is an excellent source of Vitamin C and has too many health benefits that it would be foolish to avoid this for unknown unproved reasons. Both raw and ripe have almost similar benefits but green has more minerals and enzymes, so go Green! 😛
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