Paratha Rolls Stuffed with Sardines

1. Making the paratha dough: in a large bowl sift the Atta flour, then add salt, oil or ghee and nearly all of the warm water and start mixing it to a smooth and pliable dough, this process shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. If more water is needed, add the remaining water for a smooth pliable dough. Let it rest covered with a tea towel while making the filling.
2. In a large fry pan add the oil on a medium to high heat. Add the onions and the chilli flakes then stir fry until the onions soften and take on some colour, roughly 5 minutes. Now add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Now add the tinned sardines, the tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste and stir fry for a further 5 minutes. The mixture is now ready, put it aside while you make the paratha.
3. Take 100g each of the dough and roll it into a ball. Flour the work surface and roll the dough out into a circle. Brush some ghee on the circled paratha then fold side to side into the centre, brush with a little more ghee and then fold the ends to the centre to make a square. Place a large heavy flat pan (aka ‘tawa’, in this case a heavy-based fry pan) on the stove and heat the pan till smoking point. Now, roll out the square paratha to make it into a larger square. Once it’s ready place it onto the hot pan and wait for some bubbles to appear, roughly 30 seconds. Then turn it over and apply some ghee onto it, then flip it over and apply ghee on the flipped side. Wait for a minute or two in total and the result will be a golden brown colour on both sides.
4. Repeat the process until all the dough has been used and set aside.
5. To assemble, place some sardine mixture on top of each paratha and spread it out. Top it with chopped or sliced red onion, cucumber pieces, some fresh chillies and fresh coriander if desired, with a squeeze of lemon juice.
6. Roll each paratha into a long roll, cut in half or serve as you wish.

How you place the filling on top is an individual preference. By rolling the paratha with the filling is an easier way to eat, but paratha can be very flaky because of the folded layers so be gentle. It can also be eaten folded with the filling inside. At home my husband and I can’t wait to fold or roll, we simply use our fingers and break the parathas into pieces and dunk into the filling! Yum!