Thecha Paratha

Today, I made thecha paratha and served it with a side of sweet and spicy dahi. Utterly lip smacking breakfast it turned out to be ;and I knew that I had to share this simple and delicious recipe with my readers! 🙂

‘Thecha’ stands for ‘pounding’. It is a relish popular in the rustic regions of Maharashtra. A spicy relish that evokes the bold flavours of peppers and garlic hand-pounded with the mellow down tastes of peanuts and herbs.

Thecha has many variations in terms of the chillies used, be it red or green; or in terms of other spices like addition or omission of sesame seeds, coriander seeds, so on and so forth. However, the fieriness of the chillies and the garlicky flavours are the highlights of this dish.

Nowadays, thecha has become a household name. Thanks to celebrities like Malaika Arora and the social media cooks, who have glorified thecha in the form of thecha paneer. However, the real reason for thecha’s popularity is that it is a tangy, spicy and utterly flavourful dish that is super easy to make.

So without much ado, here is the recipe for Thecha Paratha:

Ingredients for Thecha:

4-5 green chillies. Use the less spicy ones which are light green in colour.

5-6 garlic cloves

Peanuts – 1/3rd cup or around the same quantity of roasted peanut powder. (Peanut powder is preferred to make parathas)

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves with stalks

A spoonful of peanut oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a small pan. Add the roughly chopped chillies and garlic to the pan. Lower the heat to a low flame and let it get seared in oil for 3-4 minutes.

If you are using whole peanuts, then add it to the pan at this juncture and roast it for a few more minutes on a low flame till they change colour. There is no need to peel the peanuts. If you are using roasted peanut powder, then just keep it aside for adding it later to the mortar.

Switch off the flame and add the chopped coriander leaves, salt and mix it well.

Transfer the entire mixture to a mortar and pestle and hand pound it to a coarse paste. If you are using the peanut powder, add it to the mortar now and pound it to mix it well together.

Adjust the salt as per your liking and Ta-Daaa…the thecha is ready.

Ingredients for Paratha:

1 cup atta or whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp ajwain/carrom seeds

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp peanut oil

Water to knead the dough

Salt to taste

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Heat the oil and add it to the flour and mix. Add water in small quantities to form a nice, smooth and firm paratha dough. Cover the dough and let it rest for 10- 15 minutes.

Take small portion of the dough and make small roundels from it to suit the size of the paratha to your liking. Roll the roundel or the pedha to the size of your palm and put a small spoonful of thecha in it. Spread it on the flat paratha leaving some space from the border.

Pull up the ends of the dough from all sides to make a small potli/bag and then seal it at the centre. Basically you stuff the thecha in the flattened dough roundels and now they are ready to be rolled into parathas.

Roll the dough evenly and with a soft hand into parathas and cook on a hot tawa with generous dollops of ghee on both sides.

Serve it hot with a side of yogurt or a sweet pickle of your choice.