India as a land of flavours offers a wide range of breads, which are enjoyed in breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The most popular breads in Indian homes are roti, paratha, and poori. While roti just uses flour, the latter two use oil and other ingredients and that is what makes it a matter of debate, whether paratha is healthier or poori. Let us find out.
What is Paratha?
Also known as flat-bread in English, it is a bread cooked in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. It is made of two words, Parat and Atta. The complete meaning of the two words is “layers of the dough which is being cooked”. Mainly the Parathas are cooked using wheat flour (atta or maida). Parathas are more popular in Northern India. In different places, Parathas are called with different names. Like in Punjab, people call them Parontay or Prontha. In the Bengali and Malayalam languages, people call them Porota.
Nutritional value of Paratha
A mediums-size paratha made with wheat flour is about 50 g and offers the following nutritional value
Calories: 200-300 kcal
Carbohydrates: 5-35g
Protein: 4-6g
Fats: 8-15g (depends on ghee/oil used)
Fiber: 2-4g
Iron: 1-2mg
Calcium: 10-20mg
What is Poori?
Poori refers to a deep-fried Indian bread, which comes from the Sanskrit word, 'Purika' which means filled. Other than India, Poori is also popular in Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Pakistan, Singapore, and Malaysia. uri is cooked using wheat flour only. But there are different variations of Puri which are completely different in taste and are cooked using other things like Luchi, Bhatoora, Panipuri, and Sev-puri.
Nutritional value of Poori
A medium-sized poori made with wheat flour is about 35g and contains the following nutritional value.
Calories: 150-250 kcal
Carbohydrates: 15-20g
Protein: 2-3g
Fats: 7-10g (depends on oil used)
Fiber: 1-2g
Iron: 0.5-1mg
Calcium: 5-10mg
Similarities between Paratha and Poori
First similarity between the two is, they both are made with flour and use oil. Both Paratha and Puri have different varieties apart from the plain Paratha and plain Poori. There are different types of Parathas available like Aloo-Paratha, Gobhi-Paratha, Paneer-Paratha, Matar-Paratha, Methi-Paratha, Pyaaz-Paratha, etc. Similarly, we have a variety of Pooris like Palak Poori,Matar Poori, Methi Poori, Moong Dal Poori and so on.
Differences between Paratha and Poori
Paratha is a flatbread cooked using oil or ghee. However, Puri is a small round shaped Indian bread, which is deep-fried in oil. Paratha has a few layers inside it, while poori forms a shape of a bubble when deep-fried and has just two layers, top and bottom. While they use almost the same ingredients in different quantities, the process of making both breads is totally different.
Which one uses more oil?
Paratha absorbs more oil as compared to Poori. Former is cooked on low flame (shallow-fried), while the latter absorbs less oil as these are cooked on high flame and Poori floats on the surface of the oil.
Which one is healthier?
It is said that oil of poori is usually heated at high temperature and crosses its smoking point, which may create carcinogens. And on the other hand, parathas are better, as they use less oil and are cooked on low flame. On the contrary, experts also feel that use of traditional cooking methods make poori consume less oil in comparison to paratha. And if we look at the nutritional values, paratha offers more calories than poori, and on the contrary, paratha has less carbs as compared to poori. So, while they both have their own pros and cons in terms of nutritional values, it is suggested to eat both in moderation with a lot of fiber on the side to balance out taste and nutrition.
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