Malabar Parotta (Flaky Layered Kerala Flatbread)
مالابار پروٹا (کیرالا کی تہ دار خستہ روٹی)
Kerala's parotta (also called porotta) is the South Indian cousin of lachha paratha: soft, chewy and made of dozens of paper-thin layers. The dough is made with , milk and oil, rested well, stretched almost transparent, pleated and coiled like a snail, then rolled and cooked. The final step is the fun part: you scrunch the hot parottas between your hands to fluff up the layers. It's the bread of choice with Kerala fish curry, Chettinad chicken and vegetable stew.
- ⏱ Total: 1 hr 5 min
- Prep: 40 min
- Cook: 25 min
- Hard
- Serves 6
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add the egg, milk, 2 tbsp oil and enough warm water to make a very soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy.
Coat the dough with oil, cover and rest for at least 2 hours (or up to 6). Divide into 6 balls, coat each in oil and rest 30 minutes more.
On an oiled counter, flatten a ball and stretch it with oiled hands (or roll it) into a very thin sheet you can almost see through. Small tears are fine.
Drizzle with oil, then pleat the sheet like a paper fan into a long rope. Coil the rope into a tight spiral and tuck the end underneath. Rest 10 minutes, then press and roll gently into a 15 cm round.
Cook on a medium-hot tawa for 2 minutes per side, drizzling oil on each side, until golden spotted and cooked through.
While hot, stack 2–3 parottas and clap or scrunch them from the sides between your palms to open the layers. Serve straight away.
Kitchen notes
The long rest is not optional: it relaxes the gluten so the dough stretches thin without tearing.
Use oil generously when stretching and coiling; it's what separates the layers.
Without the egg, add 2 tbsp more milk. The parottas will be slightly less soft.
The bread of Kerala’s roadside
Malabar parotta is everywhere in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, from roadside thattukadas (street stalls) to restaurants. Parotta makers are local celebrities, flipping and slapping the dough on a steel counter and stretching it into huge thin sheets in seconds. At home, with a little patience, you can get close using an oiled counter and your hands.
Layers from oil and air
The layering method is like puff pastry’s simpler cousin. A thin sheet of dough brushed with oil is pleated, then coiled. When rolled out and cooked, each oiled fold becomes a layer. Clapping the hot parotta breaks the cooked layers apart so they flake when you tear it.
Maida, milk and patience
Unlike North Indian plain paratha, made with whole-wheat atta, parotta uses white flour, a little sugar, milk and sometimes egg. The dough must be very soft and rested for hours. Rushed dough snaps back and won’t stretch.
Serving
Tear and dip into Kerala fish curry, Chettinad chicken, or appam with vegetable stew. Parotta with a salan is also the Kerala equivalent of the Pakistani paratha-and-karahi dhaba meal.
Questions people ask
Is parotta the same as paratha?
Related but different. Malabar parotta is made with maida and lots of oil and stretched into many thin layers; most North Indian and Pakistani parathas use atta (wholewheat).
Can I make parottas ahead?
Yes. Cook them lightly, cool, stack with paper between and freeze. Reheat on a hot tawa.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 340
- Protein
- 7 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Carbs
- 44 g
