Eggless Veechu Parotta Recipe

Veechu Parotta is one of the recipes that I have always seen street vendors make with such ease. Layers of thinly rolled dough make this very flaky and delicious flatbread that is a popular street food in Tamil Nadu.

Veechu Parotta was the first name that came to my mind when thinking of what to make for the letter 'V' for the A to Z International flatbread. I tried not to use any Indian recipe until I get to the part when I have no choice and that time I thought I will use my own cuisine.

Somehow, I could not shake off the Veechu parotta from my mind and stuck to it. I have always looked with a lot of excitement at all the parotta making people when in a Bus terminal. I used to be so amazed at their rolling and flipping and stretching.

Consider this somewhat similar to the experienced pizza makers who use their hands to show off their skills. The regular parotta is spiral and flaky, whereas this Veechu Parotta is square in shape. Other than the shape, the ingredients and the recipe is pretty much the same.

Veechu parotta usually has egg in it, but I have used yogurt in the recipe and have made it eggless. The stretching of the dough to make it as thin as possible is a challenge and will take a couple of tries before we get there. It is alright to have tears in the dough as we are going to be folding it up as an envelope and it would not matter.

Veechu parotta uses quite a bit of oil and is not so healthy when made in a regular run. No wonder, the boys loved it because of all the oil that made the parotta very flaky and flavorful.

My Other recipes in the A-Z International Flatbread Series –

A for Aish Baladi

B for Boulanee Katchalu

C for Chickpea Flatbread / Socca

D for Dhal Puri

E for Emirati Khameer 

F for Fruit Focaccia

G for Gozleme

H for Himbasha

I for Indian Fry Bread

J for Janta Roti

K for Ka’ak

L for Lepinja

M for Mahjouba

N for Norwegian Crisp Bread

O for Onion and Poppy Seed Pletzel

P for Pol Roti

Q for Qutab

R for Roomali Roti

S for Samoon

T for Taftan bread

U for Uyghur flatbread

Preparation time - 15 minutes plus about 1 to 2 hours of resting time
Cooking time - 30 minutes
Difficulty level - Intermediate

Ingredients to make Veechu Parotta - Makes about 12

• All Purpose flour / Maida - 2 ½ cups
• Yogurt - 3 TBSP
• Oil - 3 tablespoon + 3 TBSP
• Salt  -1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Water - as needed to make a dough

Procedure -

• In a wide bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, yogurt, and 3 tablespoon oil and mix to combine.

• Slowly add water to make a dough. The dough should be very sticky and very soft.

• Keep kneading the dough until is very smooth. The dough will be on the softer and stickier side.

• Coat with about 1 tablespoon of oil and let the dough rest for at least an hour. The longer it rests, the better it is. I let mine sit for about 3 hours.

• Divide the dough into 12 equal size balls and pour the remaining 2 tablespoon of oil over the dough balls and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

• Working with one ball at a time, roll it, and stretch it as thin as possible. Liberally use oil when stretching the dough. We don't use any flour when rolling, just oil.

• I used the oil that I soaked the dough balls in to roll them out.

• Now fold the opposite ends to bring it towards the center and then do the same to the other two ends making it a square.

• Cook the parotta on a hot pan until it is golden brown on both sides. I did not use any oil when cooking the parotta as it had enough.

• The parotta can get chewier as it sits. So it is preferable to serve it as soon as it is made.

Recipe