This week we had a special delivery of homegrown, organic fresh celery. This beautiful produce came from a friend’s garden. I adore people who have the green thumb and are generous enough to share it. So we have some good fusion recipes to use celery. The first one is the meal prepped celery leaf paratha with added dal in them.
Don’t toss the celery leaf.
The celery leaves are totally edible and carry the same flavour as the stalk that we are used to. The outer deep green leaves are a bit tough and carry a deeper flavour than the tender ones. You can add the leaves to pretty much any recipe that you would add celery. So, soups, stir-fries, pesto all can have the leaf added to them. We have added chopped tender leaves along with the stalk carrot celery soup and in the celery kootu curry recipe.
Prepping the celery leaf.
It is really easy to prepare the celery leaves to use in any recipe. Pluck out the tender leaves from the stalk, wash and chop them. Use the mince option in your food processor if you are preparing larger quantities of the leaves for recipes. Now it is perfect to use just like any other greens that you may be used to. The stalk stays longer in the refrigerator too so use up the leaves first. If you have a whole head of celery place the base in a small bowl of water so that the leaves can regrow.
Other ingredients you need to get ready with for this celery leaf paratha.
Whole wheat flour
Atta is the fine ground whole wheat flour we use for making chapatis and parathas. I love using this (check your local Indian grocery)or multigrain atta which has a mix of grains milled together. We hardly use Maida (APF)so will not recommend the same. The dough gets a bit more sticky as it lacks most of the fibre with APF and becomes tough to handle. If you are looking at your local grocery pick up fine-ground wholewheat flour and sift it a couple of times.
Cooked pigeon pea dal
The soft feel of the parathas come from the cooked dal knead into it. I love using tur dal or split pigeon pea that is cooked to make paratha. The parathas are tasty with masoor dal (red lentils) or split peas dal as well. The water quality required to knead the dough will change based on each type of dal. The main use of adding the dal is towards the protein factor.
The spices used:
Turmeric powder- a light yellow colour of the parathas is from the turmeric powder. It also aids in immunity and is a common addition to most Indian foods.
Salt- tasty parathas always need a bit of salt. You could add the salt to the chopped celery leaves and massage them to release a bit of water and soften them before adding the wheat flour. Basic table salt or iodized salt will do.
Pav baaji masala – the spice combo I liked for this paratha is a blend that we use to make the traditional pav baaji. it is an interesting medley of mild yet fragrant spices.
Red chilli powder- bland dal parathas are no good! The slight heat from the red chilli powder (cayenne or paprika) with the celery leaves tastes great.
To serve the dal parathas.
The dal parathas we made was for breakfast so we had it with chai or smoothie. You can pair this celery leaf paratha with some black currant chutney and green chutney. The dal paratha can be easily simple sabzis and raita to make a full meal. The paratha as such is great in the lunch box as it has all the needs of a balanced meal met. Add up some fruits to the box so the kids enjoy the lunch.
Celery leaf dal paratha
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup tur dal cooked and mashed.
- 2 cups celery leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp pav baaji masala
- 1/2 cup drinking water use as needed.
For rolling paratha
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for dusting the paratha
Instructions
- Clean, wash and chop the celery leaves.
- Into a mixing bowl add the whole wheat flour, masala powders and salt and mix well.
- Add the chopped celery, mix it well.
- Add the dal and water little by little and knead into a smooth, soft dough.
- Roll the dough into a ball, place a clean kitchen towel over it and rest the dough for 10 minutes.
- Pinch of lime sized pieces of the dough.
- Dust your hands with flour and roll them into a smooth ball.
- Roll out the paratha on a dusted board to about a millimeter in thickness.
- Place a flat pan on medium heat and cook the paratha.
- Once brown speck appears on one side flip over and cook the other side.
- Remove and place wrapped in a kitchen towel and keep it wrapped till you are ready to eat.
What other leaves can we use in this dal paratha recipe?
Pretty much all flat leaves will work well with the dal paratha mix. You can try, methi (fenugreek), amaranth, palak (spinach) is the first that comes to my mind.
Stay connected
As usual share, your thoughts and experiences with this celery leaf paratha recipe in the comments below. If you happen to make this dal paratha recipe, don’t forget to rate it.
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Now I have another recipe to add to the list where I can use up celery leaves. Never thought of adding them to a paratha dough. I usually use the leaves up in soups, bakes, and sometimes tender ones in salads.
That is how I began with celery leaves too. I add them to soups and salad, then realized how good they taste in Indian dishes and started adding them. infact now this is the favorite use for celery. so try it, very tasty.
This is a good way to use the celery leaves. Liked the use of dal in it, it makes it more nutritious.
We are trying out based on what all greens we get here and the dal helps to softening.
Celery leaves Paratha sounds fascinating and interesting. Also the idea of adding some cooked dal makes it even more healthier. Hot parathas and some pickle ..total bliss
The dal in the parathas makes them really soft. Yes, paratha and pickle always a superhit!
I need to rethink celery here. We do not like it much maybe because it’s too tough here. But I think I can use a few leaves to make parathas. Love the addition of dal too.
Celery is not a regular ingredient, I agree. once you cook the leaves it gets really soft so do not fear it is good one
Celery leaf dal paratha looks so irresistible. So nutritious and filling . I would love to try it sometime.
I bought a whole bunch of celery (quite pricey too) for a different dish but didn’t get to make it. Now I know to use it .. great looking parathas