For roasted cumin seeds powder dry fry some cumin seeds over medium heat until one shade darker, cool the seeds completely. Grind them to a fine powder by using a mixer grinder/food processor. Store in an airtight container. Use this powder according to the measurement mentioned in this recipe.

When a recipe calls for roasted cumin seed powder, never substitute it with regular cumin powder. Regular cumin powder tastes raw if cooked for a shorter duration. 

Add atta and salt in a bowl. Add water as required for kneading a firm dough. Knead the dough until smooth, keep aside covered. 

In a bowl, add the paneer, crush the paneer by using your fingers. To this, add all the ingredients mentioned for Paneer filling, and mix well.  

Watch the recipe video for easy instructions.

Divide the dough in three equal portions. Make the dough balls smooth by rolling them between your palms. Take one dough ball and spread it with the rolling pin a little bit (as you’d roll a roti) to fill it with the paneer mixture. You can do this step with your fingers as well without using the rolling pin. Do it as you prefer.

Add a generous portion of the paneer mixture in the middle of the rolled dough and seal it by drawing the edges towards the center. Do this for all the dough balls.

Next, deep a dough ball in the atta, remove the excess flour gently, and roll it to make a thick, round paratha. While rolling the paratha, you may need to use extra flour to prevent sticking. However, be careful not to use too much dry flour as it gets hard to get rid of this dry flour from the rolled paratha afterward. Additionally, during the cooking, any excess dry flour may burn and leave unwanted traces on the cooked paratha. You can roll all the parathas at once, or you can roll one and cook it before rolling the next one. If you're rolling all the parathas together, place them on butter paper to prevent sticking to the surface.

Preheat a tawa (iron tawa preferably, read notes) over high heat for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add a paratha, flip after 2 minutes and cook each side until brown spots appear on the surface of the paratha.

If you'd like to enjoy paratha with butter, you can skip using oil while cooking. However, if you will not be serving the paratha with butter, then add a teaspoon of vegetable oil on each side towards the end of the cooking. Paratha tastes best with butter when you don’t cook them with oil. It gives an eating experience similar to having a tandoori paratha. If you’ve tried tandoori paratha before, you would be able to identify the similarities. It's not necessary to consume oil and butter together every time you have a paratha.

When done, remove the paratha from the tawa and transfer it to a plate lined with paper napkins. Serve immediately with some butter, curd, and pickles on the side, enjoy!