Mooli paratha is a popular Punjabi whole wheat flatbread made with unleavened dough and filled with spiced grated radish stuffing. They are often made for breakfast or lunch and make for a filling and tasty meal accompanies with pickle, curd (yogurt) or white butter.
What is Mooli Paratha
Mooli paratha is another favorite paratha recipe from the land of Punjab. These delicious radish flatbread are usually served as breakfast in Punjabi homes.
Mooli is the Hindi word for radish. Paratha is an unleavened flatbread made with whole wheat flour. Since this paratha is made with savory radish stuffing, it is called mooli paratha. I share a family recipe that we have been making for ages.
There are two ways to make this paratha. Either the stuffing is encased between 2 layers of the dough. Or the stuffing is mixed with the flour and kneaded to a dough. I shared the first version which is how it is traditionally made.
As a homemaker, I only knew to make Aloo paratha before marriage. But now I can boast of making Gobhi paratha, Onion paratha, Paneer paratha and all kind of parathas.
To make this Punjabi Style Mooli ka paratha we use white radish or daikon. Ensure to use radish that is fresh and tender. If the radish roots are hard and fibrous then it will not be easy to grate them. The taste of the radish paratha made with fibrous and dense radish roots is not that great.
While making muli paratha squeeze the juice from the grated mooli. Otherwise, the paratha might break. You can also use this mooli juice to knead the dough for making paratha. Otherwise, the method to make this paratha is the same as we make any other stuffed parathas.
You can roast them with ghee (clarified butter) or oil. Just make sure to roast the paratha really well.
Usually, In Punjabi homes, mooli paratha is served with butter or curd or pickle of your choice. Since we add green chilies in the paratha so a cup of hot tea also goes well with them. They are not only delicious but also very filling.
How to make Mooli Paratha
Preparation
1. Make a smooth and soft dough with 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 to 2 teaspoons oil or ghee, ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt, adding water as required. Let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Cover with a lid or kitchen napkin and keep it aside.
Meanwhile, rinse, peel and grate 1 medium to large size white radish and keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes and later squeeze the water from it. You can also sprinkle some salt and mix well.
Later after 15 to 20 minutes, squeeze the radish gratings. This is done so that the paratha does not break while rolling the dough. This radish juice can be used to make the dough instead of water.
TIP: Finely grate the radish or it will be difficult to roll the paratha if you use shredded or larger gratings of radish.
2. Add chopped green chilies to the grated radish. This adds a lot of spice to the paratha and goes well as usually the paratha are served with butter or curd.
3. Take two lemon sized balls from the dough and roll them into a small circle, about 5 to 6 cms on the rolling board dusted with wheat flour.
4. Take a good amount of the mooli stuffing and place it on one of the rolled dough. Don’t use too much stuffing as in that case the paratha can break while rolling. Sprinkle evenly one or two pinch of salt, red chilli powder and garam masala powder.
Also note that the stuffing should not be less as then you won’t get the taste, flavor and texture of spiced radish.
5. Cover with the other rolled round and join the edges.
6. In the meantime, heat the griddle or tava or skillet. Roll the dough into the size of paratha or roti. Care should be taken while rolling the dough as the paratha may break. we have added salt to the mooli and thus as a result some juice will start oozing out from the mooli paratha. So don’t worry about it.
7. When the tava or griddle is sufficiently hot then fry the paratha on tava using ghee (clarified butter) or oil. When one side of the paratha is ¼ cooked then flip over and spread ghee or oil on this side. When the second side is half cooked then flip again and spread ghee or oil on this side.
Flip again a couple of times for even cooking till the paratha has got brown or black blisters and is crisp from both sides.
Make sure that the paratha edges are fried well. You can use a spatula to press the edges. Use a liberal amount of ghee or oil to fry the parathas. Well-fried muli paratha will have some brown spots and might puff up a little.
Make all parathas this way and stack them up in a roti basket if not serving immediately. Serve Punjabi Mooli Paratha hot or warm with white butter on top or with curd or with a pickle of your choice.
More Paratha recipes
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Mooli Paratha
Ingredients
For whole wheat dough
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 to 2 teaspoons oil or ghee (clarified butter)
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt or add as required
- water as required to knead
For radish stuffing
- 1 radish white, (mooli, daikon) – medium to large with or without leaves
- 1 or 2 green chilies finely chopped
- red chilli powder as required – or cayenne pepper or paprika
- salt as needed
- Garam Masala – optional
- Ghee (clarified butter) or oil for roasting
- White Butter to serve with the paratha
Instructions
Preparation
- Knead whole wheat dough with the flour, salt, oil adding water as needed until soft and pliable. Set it aside.
- Grate the mooli (white radish) and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes and later squeeze the water from it.
- This is done so that the mooli paratha do not break while rolling the dough. This radish juice can be used to make the dough instead of water.
- Add chopped green chilies to the grated mooli.
Rolling mooli paratha
- Now take two lemon sized ball from the dough and roll them into a small circle, about 5 to 6 cms on the rolling board dusted with wheat flour.
- Take a good amount of the mooli stuffing and place it on one of the rolled dough.
- Don’t use too much stuffing as in that case the mooli parathas can break while rolling.
- Sprinkle evenly one or two pinch of salt, red chilli powder and garam masala powder. Cover with the other rolled round and join the edges.
- In the meantime, heat the griddle or tava. Roll the dough into the size of a paratha or roti.
- Care should be taken while rolling the dough as the paratha may break.
- We have added salt to the mooli and thus as a result some juice will start oozing out from the mooli paratha. Its ok.
Making mooli paratha
- Heat a tawa (skillet) and place the paratha on the tawa. The tawa should be medium hot. Also keep the flame to medium-high to high. Don't roast the paratha on a low flame. Roasting paratha on a low flame can make them hard or dense and you won't get a good taste.
- Roast the paratha on a hot tava or griddle using ghee and oil. Keep the heat to medium-high to high.
- Use a liberal amount of ghee or oil to fry the paratha. A well-fried paratha will have some brown spots and might puff up little.
- Make sure that the paratha edges are fried well. You can use spatula to press them.
- You can flip the paratha a couple of times till you see brown spots and the paratha is cooked evenly. The paratha should become golden and crisp from both sides. Make all parathas this way.
- Serve Punjabi Mooli Paratha hot with butter or curd or the pickle of your choice. You can also pack them in a lunch box. I love to have these paratha with plain curd or as an evening snack with a cup of hot tea.
Notes
- The recipe can be doubled or tripled.
- Use soft and tender white radish without their leaves.
- For a spicy taste add more green chilies.
- Remember to knead the dough to a soft and smooth texture.
- For a vegan mooli paratha use any neutral flavored oil instead of ghee.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Mooli Paratha recipe post from the archives (first published in April 2010) has been republished and updated on 16 June 2021.
Thank you so much for the great recipe. You’re my secret friend and life-saver. My husband loves me for all the delicious recipes I learnt from you. May Maa Annapurna always shower you with prosperity and happiness. ❤️😊
Thanks so much for your kind wishes and thoughts. Truly humbled and thanks again.
I was beginner and all your recipes are instructions and measurements are in perfect way to guide a beginner. I was always waiting to write a comment and thank you so much for making me a confident cook.
I made mooli paratha which was yummy and delicious. I always eagerly wait to receive a new recipe from you through my email.
Thanks a lot. So glad to read your comment. Thanks also for the review and rating on this recipe.
Wish you all the best.
An awesome recipe which turned out so good that I asked myself – DID I REALLY MAKE THIS?
In fact, mooli is a vegetable I don’t use because I find its smell quite strong and unpleasant. As I was grating moolis and filling the parathas, the smell made me doubt how the parathas would turn out and if the kids would eat them. Like mentioned in the recipe, it is quite tricky to roll these parathas as they break out easily. With all the tips and warnings, it was not that difficult. I had not added salt to the grated mooli but added more salt to the dough to compensate. Even then, the moolis gave out so much water and I had to squeeze the water out. I didn’t add green chillies as kids would not be able to handle the spice but followed all other steps like sprinkling red chilly powder and garam masala. The final result was unbelievable. The parathas were so delicious!
A thumbs up from the kids too who were tasting mooli for the first time and loved the parathas.
Thanks Deepa for this awesome feedback on mooli parathas. glad to know that everyone liked them. we love to have these parathas during winters. you can try using green chillies which are not very spicy or hot. they add a good flavor in these parathas.
Hi, i am an ok cook but i have tried a lot of your recipes Dassana and they have all turned out beautiful. So thanks a ton, i have been wanting to thank you for a long time. All the best…. keep writing!
Welcome Kshama. Glad to know that recipes are helping you. Thanks for your positive feedback.
Can i blend mooli in mixer to make the parathas?
grated mooli tastes best in parathas. blended mooli won’t give that taste as well as texture. so i would suggest not to blend mooli.
Hi,
I love all ur recipes. I’ ve made chhole masala, dal makhani, aloo kofta curry, karela stir fry, lauki chana dal and many many more dishes of ur recipes and they all came out so well. I’ ll make this mooli paratha in tomorrow’ s breakfast. Thanks for sharing such wonderful and easy recipes.
welcome kavita. glad to know this. thanks for sharing positive review on recipes.
Thanks a lot for ur tasty dishes. They help me a lot in my day to day cooking. Every time I had to think now what n today what to cook..but now all my problems r solved. Thank you very much.
welcome roma. glad to know this.
nice recipes
thanks dipal
That’s a nice reciepe… I hate moolis.. and only dish I eat is mooli paratha.. What I do is instead of stuffing it, I mix all the ingredients like all the masalas to the grated mooli.. leave it aside.. After half an hour or so, when the mooli has separated the water, add flour to it and make it into a loose dough… I then roll them out as normal rotis.. ofcourse it needs more flour so that it doesn’t stick.. But I find it easier than stuffing the mooli… also mooli is equally distributed.. Another variation 🙂
thanks arathi for sharing your method. basically there are two ways. one is stuffing as shown in this recipe and second one is mixing method as you shared. the mixing method can be used for palak paratha or methi paratha or lauki paratha or mix vegetables paratha.
Very nice n delicious paratha,really
thanks m. saleem
Hi…i follow your recipes..they all are very amazing…bt here in this mooli paratha i want to add something…i m also from punjab my mom used to cook mooli paratha…i like it very much…after grating put some salt or as per taste and leave the grated raddish for 15-20 minutes…by doing this salt gets mixed with radish and when u squeeze and making roll does not leave any water…
thanks anisha. i know about adding salt. i don’t add as later also i add salt. but i will mention in the recipe too. thanks for the suggestion.
Hi dassana amit…i also tried your bread bhatura recipe and it came out very well…everybody liked it in my family…thank you for such a easy recipe..
welcome anisha. glad to know this.
Easy Recipes . And thanks for that .
thanks.
Why dont we add salt,chilli powder,and garam masala together with radish.
Pl clarify me
if you add all together with the radish, then more juice is released from the radish and it becomes difficult to roll the parathas.
Your Method/ingredients for making mooli paratha is excellent. I tried at home and all family members liked too much.
Excellent . I am very happy with your easy process .
excellent Recipes
what a great Recipies of different Pararthas
Hi. I love your blog and recipes.
Thanks a lot and keep up the good work.
Just a suggestion, while making any paratha add salt in dough itself.
So all problems solved 🙂
garima, thanks for the tip.
Excellent recipes on this site!! …chanced upon this while searching for a pumpkin recipe:) Just have a suggestion, which I follow while making mooli paranthas. I squeeze the water out of the radish after grating, as it makes it difficult to roll into parathas. And I use the squeezed out water to prepare the dough, so no nutrients lost!
thanks for the suggestion richa. now even i have started doing the same thing. its better than rolling the parathas as sometimes the radish has a lot of moisture and rolling become difficult. i have even had radish where the water content was so low and it was easy to roll the parathas. i have to update the post with this bit.
lovely .. am gonna try it
thanks and do try nupur.
excellent.
thanks
YES! I bought a mooli the other day and had no idea what I was going to do with it…now I do!!!
Cheers!
Fantastic. I like your nutritional tips a lot. Thanks.
Excellent. Thanks a lot.