Aloo Paratha
January 14th, 2007 filed under Breads, Vegan
Parathas are whole-wheat Indian flatbread. Parathas can be made plain or stuffed with many different fillings. This recipe uses the most popular filling – Potatoes. Aloo Parathas are perfect for a weekend breakfast or brunch.
Makes 6 Parathas.
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup water (Use more as needed)
- Pinch of salt
Potato Filling
- 2 medium potatoes
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 chopped green chili
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (green coriander)
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon amchoor powder (optional)
Also needed
- 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour for rolling
- Oil to cook
Method:
Dough
- Mix flour, salt and water together to make soft dough (if the dough is hard add a little more water). I like mixing the dough by hand.
- Knead the dough for a few minutes on a lightly greased surface to make smooth and pliable dough.
- Set the dough aside and cover it with a damp cloth. Let the dough rest for at least ten minutes.
Filling
- Boil 2 medium potatoes with 2 cups of water. After the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium. Let the potatoes cook until they are tender.
- Once tender, remove them from the water and let them cool down. Note: Do not cool the potatoes under running water because the potatoes will become too soft.
- After the potatoes are cold enough to handle, peel the skin off and mash the potatoes.
- Mix green chilies, cilantro, cumin seeds and salt to the mashed potatoes.
Making paratha
- Divide the dough and potato mixture into 6 equal parts. The potato balls should be about 1 1/2 times larger than the dough balls.
- Roll the dough into 3 inch diameter circles. Place the potato balls in the center. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to
- make a ball. Proceed to make all six balls.
- Let them settle for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling them.
- Heat the skillet on medium high. Note: An iron skillet works best. To check if the skillet is hot enough, sprinkle a couple of drops of water
- on it. If the water sizzles right away, the skillet is ready.
- To make it easier to roll the balls, first roll them in dry whole-wheat flour.
- Lightly press the ball on the sealed side and keep it on the topside when rolling. Roll the ball light handed in to 6-inch circles. Whenever the dough sticks to the rolling pin or rolling surface, lightly sprinkle dry whole-wheat flour on both sides of the semi-rolled paratha.
- Place the paratha over the skillet. After a few seconds you will see the
- paratha change color and puff in different places.
- Then flip the paratha over. You should see some golden-brown spots on the topside. After a few seconds, spread 1 teaspoon of oil on the paratha. Again, flip the paratha and lightly press the puffed areas with a spatula.
- Flip again and press with the spatula making sure the paratha is golden-brown on both sides.
- Cool the parathas on a wire rack so they don’t get soggy.
- Parathas can be kept outside for up to 2 days wrapped in aluminum foil or in a covered container. For later use, parathas can be refrigerated for 5-6 days or freezed (wrapped in aluminum foil) for a month. Re-heat on a skillet or toaster oven.
Variations
Try substituting chopped cilantro with a 1/4 cup of finely chopped mint leaves. You can use a variety of herbs in this recipe. Make sure to remove
all excess water when adding your choice of fresh herbs.
Serving Suggestions
- Parathas can be served with tomato chutney, plain yogurt, any gravy subji, or spicy pickle.
- Make it like a Mexican Quesadilla by topping it with cheese and sliced tomatoes, then folding it in half.
Hello Auntie,
i really like ur recepies and your way of teaching it is so simple
here i have some requests,plz make ragda patty,diffrent types of vege pasta ,pasta wid tomatoes…baked potatoes and plz tell me wat is sour cream ?? can u plz make it ???? actually am pasta and potatoholic
Thankyou.
First let me say, Thank you for this wonderful website! My mouth is watering as I browse all the tastey looking recipes.
My question is: When making the dough for the Aloo Paratha, would it be alright to substitute all purpose flour for the whole wheat? I’d love to try this right away but I unfortunatly do not have any whole wheat flour on hand.
Thank you very much again!
Jenn,
For Paratha I only use whole wheat flour.
Thank you Manjula ji. I lke your recipies a lot. Those are very helpful tips.
Respected Manjula ji:
Hope all well. Aloo Parantha, is one delicious recipe….made it and it was a hit. Thanks for sharing. Also, thanks for all the other delicious recipes. Once, time permits, I will try and make most of the recipes.
Rizwana
Dear Manjula,
I have been using your recipes for about six months. Your aloo paratha is a no-fail winner. I vary the stuffing a bit based on what I have in the kitchen. My husband and I are blogging now about our experiences preparing and eating Indian food (we are not of Indian descent) http://www.projectparatha.blogspot.com. Your parathas were the inspiration for the name of our blog. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.
Manjula aunty,
I think I’ve tried more than half of your recipes, and have been extremely pleased with each and everyone of them. I made aloo paratha today and followed the recipe to a T. It came our perfect, no mistakes.
You should open a curry house or write a cook book, your recipes are very simple and have the best taste. Thank you!
ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR SITE. You’re videos are very very helpful. Grew up with an Indian best friend and I adore the food– trying to learn how to cook Indian dishes has been a wonderful experiencce and your videos are making it much easier to learn
Thank you so much ma’am
I am a new learner of cooking. Will try this method. Even I have the same problem as Dimpy 
Will use your method to make it 
Thanks a lot 
HELLO AMMA,
I really liked ur parathas.i also tried making few other dishes u showed.they turned really great.THANK U SOOOO MUCH AMMA.
Hello Aunty,
Ur site and ur recipes are awesome. I recently gt married and I learn cooking from ur videos only.
Aunty whenever I make aaloo paratha I stuff the masala ball into the dough ball and start rolling it, the masala get scattered towards the end of paratha and the aata remains in center of paratha..
plz help me in making a good stuffed paratha.
Dimpy,
Please read the method once more that will help. Let the filled balls settle for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling them.
Dimpy, making Indian breads takes practice too. Make sure you are not overstuffing them either. Roll them out slow and as Aunty said, let them rest before rolling. Hope this helps.
thnx I ll take care whn next time i ll make parathas