ALOO PARANTHA

ALOO PARANTHA

Paranthas/parathas are Indian flat bread made of whole wheat flour (atta) with a stuffing of vegetables etc. We make paranthas fairly often. In North India, paranthas are often made for breakfast while as in the South we tend to have them for lunch or dinner. Paranthas are traditionally served with curds and pickles. We like to have them with chutney as well.

There are so many types of paranthas in which we use different kinds of stuffing. Here in this blog itself  you will find recipes for Oats Masala Parantha, Gobhi (Cauliflower) Parantha, and Spring Onion Parantha to mention a few.

Today's recipe is for Aloo Paranthas in which the stuffing is of boiled potatoes ("aloo" in Hindi) .

Tips to boil the potatoes: ( You can use either method )

# Place the potatoes in a vessel without water and keep this in a pressure cooker with water. This method of steam cooking helps to cook the potatoes with less absorption of water. When you directly boil the potatoes in water, they tend to absorb water which makes the stuffing too moist.

# Boil the potatoes the previous night in the usual way for use the next morning to make the stuffing less moist.

In this recipe, 1 and 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour dough yielded 9 balls which make 9 paranthas.
Also the 2 large potatoes with chopped onions etc yielded 9 balls of the stuffing. (See picture)
Needless to say, you can choose the size of the balls to make the stuffing and the dough.

Ingredients: 

• Large-sized Potatoes, 2,
• Atta (Whole Wheat Flour), 1 and 1/2 cups + 1/4 cup for dusting
• Medium-sized Onions, 2
• Fresh Coriander Leaves, chopped, 1 tbsp
• Green Chillies, chopped,2
• Red Chilli Powder, 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder, 1 and 1/2 tsp
• Chaat Masala, 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Powder, 1 tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, for shallow frying

Method:

Wash and boil the potatoes. Once they are cooled, peel and mash them and keep aside.
Peel and finely chop the onions
Wash and finely chop the fresh coriander leaves and green chillies

For the stuffing that goes into the parantha:
In a bowl combine mashed potatoes, chopped onions, chopped coriander, chopped green chillies, red chilli powder, coriander powder, chaat masala, cumin powder and salt. Mix well.
Divide the stuffing into equal sized balls. Keep aside.

Mix the atta with salt and 3/4 cup of water to make a soft and pliable dough.
Rest the dough for 10-15 minutes
Divide the dough into equal portions shaped into balls

                                       Balls of the atta dough and the stuffng

Dust each of the balls of atta and roll them out into thick disks of about 3 " diameter
Place a ball of the stuffing at the centre of each disk
Seal the filling by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball. Do the same for all the remaining balls.
Dip the balls in dry atta to make it easier to roll out the paranthas
Lightly press the ball on the sealed side and roll it into 6 " circles with this side on top
Heat the tawa and once it gets hot place the parantha over the tawa. You will soon see the parantha will change colour and a few bubbles will appear on top
Flip the parantha and drizzle oil on top and sides and cook for a couple of minutes till the parantha is evenly cooked and golden brown on both sides
Serve hot with curds, pickle and chutney of your choice