Spinach is such a kind and flexible vegetable that it will take any form you wish it to and not only enhance the flavor of the dish but also improve its looks. I love adding spinach whenever possible; it is a sneaky trick I incorporated when my daughters were little and we needed to increase the amount of greens in their diet. Spinach can be chopped, sautéed, pureed or just cut in ribbons and added to salads. I have recently also started combining it with chard to increase the fiber and nutrition content of dishes.

Spinach parathas are a family favorite and often travel with us on long journeys. One of the reasons is that they store well, stay soft and are very tasty just on their own and therefore easy to eat as we go. Also they can be made ahead of time and refrigerated till you need them. Just warm them up in a microwave or on a griddle before eating.

As a mother, I would often think of ingenuous ways to add greens to parathas, rice, pastas, savory pancakes, you name it. One of my daughters had really weak eyesight and the doctors had instructed us to increase her intake of vitamin A, this was good enough for me. For the next few years, broccoli and spinach were found in the strangest of dishes but the girls accepted their fate with equanimity.

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Step by Step

1. Boil one large potato, peel and grate it. Set aside.
2. For the spinach puree: wash the spinach, a few sprigs of cilantro and 4-5 green chillies. Peel 3-4 cloves of garlic. Put all into a pan, add 1/2 cup water, cover and steam till the spinach is wilted. Drain the water and blend when cool. Set aside. Save the water.
3. Take about 2 cups of atta or whole wheat flour. Add salt, 1 Tbsp oil, and dried spice powders–turmeric, red chili, roasted cumin, and chaat masala.
4. Gently knead the spinach puree, grated potato and flour into a soft dough. You will not require any additional water but if you do need to use some that you drained, it should be ok. Cover the dough with a bowl and let stand for 15 mins.

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5. Heat a tawa or a griddle and pour some oil in a bowl to spread while cooking the parathas. Roll out the parathas in a single layer like you would roll out a phulka. There is no need to add oil and fold it while rolling out.
6. Put the rolled out paratha on the hot tawa and cook on both sides briefly, till pale brown spots begin to appear. Then spread 1/2 tsp oil on the top surface and flip it. Spread another 1/2 tsp oil on the other side and allow them to cook on both sides till dark brown spots appear.
7. Remove from heat and set aside. Allow them to cool completely if you are packing them for travel purposes. When completely cooled, place them in a ziploc bag between wax paper.

If you are making them for brunch, serve hot with ghee pickle and raita.

Some Tips

You can use a fresh green chutney instead of pureed spinach for these parathas. See my recipe for Chutney Parathas.

The boiled potato ensures softness and you can eat the paratha without any pickle or raita as the spices and spinach add a delicious taste and flavor to the paratha on their own.

When traveling with small children, you can spread each paratha with ghee and roll it up so it can be easily eaten with one hand.

You can make the spinach puree ahead of time and just mix it with the dough when you get ready to make the parathas. I usually make these the day before and place the ziploc in the fridge as things can get pretty hectic on the day of travel.

Use the drained water after steaming the spinach in a soup or lentils instead of throwing it away.

I served them with a fresh grated cucumber raita for brunch on a snowy day recently.