Finger licking Aloo Paratha

Aloo parathas are potato-stuffed wheat flour Indian bread. They are relished by people throughout India and now its popularity has reached different parts of the globe. It is liked by people right from Punjab to Paris and from Boston to Birmingham. This Indian bread is a comfort food on a nice wintry night. Although it might not be a healthy recipe , it's ok to indulge yourself with this mouth-watering paratha once in a while.

Ingredients

For the dough

Whole wheat flour/ Atta -  1 cup

Salt - a pinch

Water

Oil- 1 tbsp

For the potato filling

Potatoes- 4 medium (cut into cubes, cooked and mashed)

Onion- 2 medium (chopped very finely)

Green chillies- 2-3 Nos (grounded)

Curry leaves- few (chopped)

Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tsp

Turmeric- pinch

Salt to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Cumin- 1 tsp

Mustard seeds (optional)- 1 tsp

Ajwain (optional)- ½ tsp

Method

1. To make the dough, first add salt to the flour and slowly start adding water and keep kneading until the dough starts coming together, add oil finally and knead once again. The dough must be very soft to touch. Cover the dough and let it sit for at least one hour.

2. For the filling, take a pan with oil, season with cumin seeds and ajwain.

3. Add onions and saute. Then add green chillies, curry leaves and ginger-garlic paste and saute for few mins.

4. Finally add the potatoes, pinch of turmeric and required salt.

5. Keep mixing until it comes off the pan.

Now that the dough and filling are ready you need to make the parathas.

1. Make a ball with the dough and spread it out like a roti. But don't make it too thin.

2. Now add one tbsp of the potato filling and close the dough (shown in pic)

3. Then roll over with rolling pin softly into nice round parathas.

4. Now put the parathas on a hot tava/iron skillet/non-stick pan and and keep turning over until both sides are cooked.

5.Spread butter over the cooked parathas.

Serve hot with pickle, onions and raita.

Tips:

1.Kneading the dough is the most important step. So do it patiently.

2. Let the filling cool before you put into the dough, else the dough will break.

3.The filling is multi purpose so it can be used in other recipes too like filling into a bread and making a sandwich or roll into chickpea flour/besan paste and frying in oil to make a aloo bonda/vada pav or it can be had as an accompaniment with rice.

4.You can also substitute cauliflower, peas or cheese as stuffing as per your taste.

Don’t get intimidated with the number of steps, just follow it with patience and you will soon agree that the result is worth all the work. So what are you waiting for, start stuffing your parathas.

Happy finger-licking!!