A potato-stuffed flatbread invoking memory of home & food cooked with love!
An overused trope in Hindi movies, aka Bollywood, is a mom serving steaming hot aloo parathas to her child. An epitome of homely love, aloo paratha is a North Indian whole wheat flour bread stuffed with a mash of boiled and spicy hot potatoes. Indian cuisine boasts of an impressive variety of stuffed parathas – radish, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, spinach, fenugreek leaves, and paneer. But aloo paratha reigns supreme for the admiration, loyalty, nostalgia and happy memories it draws.
You may find this recipe to be involved but I encourage you to take it up as a weekend project and believe me, at the end, you will be richly rewarded with a carby, starchy, comfort food.
There are two advanced ingredients in this recipe – the potato filling and the whole wheat flour dough. Both are advanced in two ways, they can be made in “advance” – say a day or two before and each is a recipe within a recipe.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
For Advanced Ingredient I - potato filling
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
3 thai chile peppers (depending on your heat preference, you can skip the peppers totally if heat is not your game)
2 tablespoons peeled and grated ginger
¾ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon amchoor (raw mango powder)
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon table salt
For Advanced Ingredient II - whole wheat dough
2.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 cup water
For the paratha
½ cup ghee
½ cup whole wheat flour for dusting the surface while rolling the paratha
TOOLS
Knife
Cutting board
Peeler
Grater
Rolling Pin & Board
UTENSILS
Thick-bottomed pot to boil the potatoes or pressure cooker if you have one
Skillet
Slotted spatula
METHOD
For Advanced Ingredient I - potato filling
Wash each potato under hot running water to remove the grime
Cut each potato in half and pressure cook by taking 2 whistles. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, boil the potatoes in a pot filled with water. Make sure the potato halves are submerged in water. Cover the pot with a lid. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, uncover and keep an eye on the potatoes. After 20 minutes, insert a knife into the potatoes, if it pierces through the potato smoothly, the potatoes are ready. If not, boil them for 5 to 10 minutes more and perform the knife test again.
Turn the heat off. Drain the water and let the potatoes cool down in a colander.
Peel the potatoes once cool and place them in a bowl. Grate them to avoid any clumps in the filling. You will realize the importance of a clump-free filling while rolling the paratha.
Place the grated potatoes in a bowl and combine with ginger, salt, turmeric, garam masala, salt, and amchoor. Mix well.
Oil your palms and make 8 balls the size of a clementine orange. Set them aside.
For Advanced Ingredient II - whole wheat dough
Combine the whole wheat flour and oil in a bowl.
Add water little by little and knead the flour into a soft, pliable, non-sticky dough.
Set aside for 30 min. Knead again for 2 minutes to get a dough with a smooth surface all around.
Divide the dough into 8 balls.
For the paratha
Sprinkle some whole wheat flour on a flat surface. Take one ball of the dough and smear it in flour and roll it into a circle about 5” in diameter.
Place the potato ball inside the flour disc and bring the edge together at four to five points to close around the potato ball. Do this gently as you don’t want the flour to tear in the process.
Join the edges tight and firm and stick the tip back into the dough. The potato ball inside should not be visible. Flatten slightly and start rolling with the joint side on the floured surface.
Roll lightly into a circle about 7 inches in diameter. Manage the thickness of the paratha as per your preference. I like it thinner than pita bread but thicker than a tortilla.
Try to maintain a uniform thickness of the paratha throughout its surface, which will allow for the paratha to fluff up in the next step.
Place a skillet on medium heat and after 2 minutes, slowly move the rolled paratha to the skillet.
As soon as you see bubbles appearing, turn it to the other side. Apply one teaspoon of ghee and spread evenly.
Turn the side and apply ghee again. Press with a spatula and turn a few times on each side.
My family likes a generous amount of ghee. The more ghee you apply, the more pronounced the brown patches, giving the paratha a glorious, mottled brown, savory-rich look. The aloo paratha sings in your mouth when the crunchy exterior successfully contrasts against the creamy, velvety-soft, spicy potato filling.
Turn the heat off and for an optimal Punjabi experience, serve hot with mango or green chile pepper pickle and plain yogurt.
Please remember these four tips for an airy, fluffy paratha -
Close the stuffed ball tightly. This will ensure that the potato stuffing does not come out while rolling.
Roll uniformly in even rolling strokes. Fluffing will become easier.
Don't hesitate to use ghee. That is what is going to give the paratha the gorgeous, patchy brown exterior.
Knead the whole wheat floor dough well to get a smooth, non-craggy surface.