Aloo Paratha

Aloo Paratha is a popular Punjabi breakfast dish where a flatbread (paratha) is stuffed with a spiced, tangy mashed potato filling, rolled out and cooked on a tawa/skillet with oil or ghee, creating a crispy, flavorful, and hearty meal best enjoyed with raita, pickle, onions and green chillies. 

Ingredients:

For potato stuffing

3 to 4 medium potatoes – boiled and mashed

Whole cumin seeds - ¼ teaspoon 

3 to 4 green chillies – chopped finely

1 medium sized onion - chopped finely 

3 to 4 cloves of garlic - chopped finely 

1” size ginger - chopped finely 

1 teaspoon red chilli powder 

½ teaspoon turmeric powder 

½ teaspoon cumin (jeera) powder

 ¼ teaspoon kasuri methi 

¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala

½ to 1 teaspoon chaat masala/dry mango powder (amchur powder)

1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves – optional

salt as required

oil or ghee, as required for roasting paratha

For paratha dough

2 cups whole wheat flour or plain flour (1 cup = 125 ml)

½ teaspoon ajwain or carom seeds 

salt as required

¼ teaspoon Sugar

1 tablespoon oil or ghee (clarified butter)

water as required for kneading of a chapati or roti.

Method:

Making potato stuffing

First boil the potatoes and peel them. 

Then mash the potatoes properly.

The potatoes should be mashed very well. There should be no lumps or small pieces in it.

Now add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and green chilies along with all other spices powder.

Mix them well with the mashed potatoes. Check the taste. 

Now,heat oil in a frying pan, Tamper it with the cumin seeds and put the potato mixture in it. Wait,till the mixture becomes semi dry and sticky and comes out easily from the pan. Place it into a bowl and let it cool. This step is optional although I personally prefer to make any kind of staffing like this.

Kneading the dough

In another bowl or pan, take whole wheat flour (atta)/ plain flour or mix both as well.

Make a well in the center. Add salt, oil/ghee, ajwain seeds and sugar. Mix all the ingredients together dry handed for 4 to 5 minutes so that the parathas can be crispy yet soft.

Now, add about half of the water, bring the mixture together and knead into a smooth soft dough. 

Cover the dough with a piece of cotton cloth and keep aside for 20 to 30 minutes.

Staffing and rolling

Pinch a medium ball dough. Roll and flatten it. Dust with some flour and roll it in a circle of about 5 to 5.5 inches in diameter.

Place the potato stuffing in the center, keeping about 2 to 2.5 inches of space from the sides.

Take the edge and start pleating as well as bringing the pleats in the center.

Join the pleats together. The pleats have to be joined well, as otherwise there will be gaps while rolling and the filling comes out. 

In case you do see the filling, then just take a small piece of dough and cover the gap. Roll to smoothen out the small piece of dough.

Press the pleats from the center.

Sprinkle some flour and roll this version of aloo paratha to about the same size as that of a chapati or roti.

Roasting & Making Aloo Paratha:

Place the rolled paratha on a hot tawa or skillet.The tawa or skillet is to be hot and not at a low temperature. Cooking parathas at a low flame will harden them. Parathas ideally are crisp as well as soft.

When the base is partly cooked, flip the alu paratha using a spatula or tongs.

Spread some ghee on the partly cooked part.

Flip again and this time this side has to be cooked more than the previous side. You will see brown spots on the paratha.

Spread some ghee on this side too. A well made and well roasted aloo ka paratha will puff up.

Flip again once or twice till both the sides of aloo paratha are cooked properly. You should see crisp brown spots on the paratha. 

You can also press the paratha edges with a spatula or spoon, so that they are fried well. As some time, the paratha edges are not cooked well so keep this point in mind. 

Make all aloo ke parathe this way and stack them up in a roti basket or casserole.You can also serve the aloo paratha directly from the tawa (skillet) straight in the serving plate. Serve some extra butter on the side, along with pickle, some raita, onions and green chillies.