I had a whole tub of Ricotta cheese sitting in the Fridge. This is not one measly tub , mind you! One whole big tub of this equals to nearly 3 cups of cheese… Sigh ! Costco shopping can be quite dangerous to me. And to the Fridge ! And to the waistline.. I mean there is only so much kalakkand and caramel cheese fudge I can make..
So there I was staring at the fridge and literally looking at the tub of Ricotta cheese and thinking – I did not buy that ! But you do what you have to do. And dinner was calling in a couple of hours . And necessity is the mother of invention ! With a little help because of the near bare contents of the fridge and little chemistry and more of if-you-are-hungry-you-can-eat-anything-, this one was made.
In any case , this one thing I created on the whim became a huge – I mean it guys… HUGE, HUMONGOUS hit at home !
Ricotta cheese is a bit like the modeling clay you can get in your hands. A blank slate to create what strikes your fancy. This time the tub of cheese became wonderful stuffed Parathas.
This one was awesome and the recipe is a sure shot keeper…
Prep time : 30-45 min Dough resting time: 1 hr Cooking time : 45 min Serves :6- 8
Ingredients:
For the Stuffing:
- Ricotta cheese : 3 cups cheese,
- Boiled Potato : 2-3
- Grated ginger : 1 tsp
- Turmeric : 1 tsp
- Salt : 1-1.5 tsp
- Green Chillies or Chilli powder : Added to taste and spice level
- Coriander – Jeera powder : 1.5 tsp
- Garam masala (Optional) : 1.5 tsp.
- Kasuri Methi : 1 tsp. Crushed well.
For the Dough:
- Whole wheat flour: 3.5 cups
- Ajwain : 1 tsp.
- Turmeric powder / Haldi : 1/2 tsp
- Kashmiri Chilli pwder : 1/2 tsp
- Salt : 1/2 tsp.
- Oil : 1-2 Tsp.
- Very warm water : 1.5 cup + as required
Prep work :
For the stuffing:
- The ricotta cheese I used, was very very moist and there fore I emptied it out on a wide Corelle bowl, whisked it well and microwaved it for about 7 min initially. The idea is to get rid of the moisture in it, if not we will have a soggy mess on our hands. Since the quantity was nearly 3 cups to begin with, it took me an additional 7 min in intervals to achieve the granular structure of cheese. Now remember , you don’t want it turn brown at all. So keep an eye on it and cook it in stages. Soon you will have very soft and granular cheese. Objective achieved!
- Boil or pressure cook the potato.
- Mash them all together with the spices and make 16-18 round big lemon sized balls/globes out of these.
For the Dough:
- Knead the flour to get a nice soft pliable dough. Oil the surface of the dough and rest it for atleast an hour.
- Make about 16-18 sized big globes out of these and keep them covered.

Making the stuffed Parathas:
- Roll out the dough globe ( by dipping it into the flour if required . Usually dusting the surface of the workspace does the trick ) to a about 5 inches in size or so.
- Place the smaller globe of stuffing mix in it and cover it . The idea is to tent it beautifully and seams need to be overlapping .
- Roll it out gently to get a nice big sized disc of about 10-12 inches of size.
- Heat a flat griddle, and shallow fry it with a tsp of oil on both sides.
- Serve the sizzling hot brown flat bread stuffed with yummy goodness of cheese, potatoes and spices with a dollop of butter, a side of yoghurt and some delish mixed veg pickle.
- Pack on the yummy power!
