Aloo Paratha

Who doesn't love aloo parathas? They are truly the yummiest and I remember walking long distances on quite a few Saturday nights, while in University, to have these at a hawker stall nearby where auntyji and her daughter in law made such thick, tasty parathas. With some spiced yogurt on the side, it was utterly blissful and was a treat for my tongue which had to contend with flavourless food for dinner most nights (e.g. Rice with soy sauce and some steamed veggies with almost no salt, or steamed bittergourd - pitiful vegetarian fare we got at the canteen) .

This is another dish, like idlis, whose preparation I took for granted until I actually tried my hand at making these.. it was never good enough - there was always something missing, either the filling oozed out or it wasn't enough, was too thick or too thin and so on. When a good friend, who is an expert at stuffed parathas, was visiting us, she obliged to demonstrate and also make a stackful of these yummy aloo parathas.

Armed with these new-found techniques, I went about trying my hand at making these and have documented the steps with some pictures for the benefit of those who are struggling like me. They turned out quite satisfactory this time - Thank you Seema.

ALOO PARATHAS

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 2.5 cups + about quarter cup for dusting

Milk - half cup, lukewarm

Water - about 3/4 cup, lukewarm

For Filling:

Potatoes - 3 large or 4 medium

Onion - half, chopped finely

Ginger - 1 tsp, minced

Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, minced

Mint Leaves - 1 tbsp, minced (optional)

Chilli powder - 2 to 3 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp + enough to shallow-fry parathas

Method:

1) For the dough, first mix whole wheat flour and some salt. To this, gradually add lukewarm milk little by little and knead as you go and once that is used up, use the lukewarm water and make a soft, pliable dough. I normally end this with a tsp of oil and rub it over the dough. Let it sit aside for a few hours to rest.

2) Meanwhile, cook potatoes (I use a microwave, but a pressure cooker would work too) till soft. Peel and mash them to a smooth consistency.

3) Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and fry the chopped onions and ginger till golden. Now add the chopped coriander and mint leaves and saute for a minute or two extra. Add the masala powders & salt and after a minute of frying them, toss in the mashed potatoes. Fry this till it's well incorporated and completely dry. Allow this to cool, this ensures that the stuffing doesn't ooze out when rolling out the parathas.

(Alternately, you could skip the onions, ginger, mint and coriander leaves and just mix the masala powders and salt with the mashed potatoes and make a raw stuffing with no cooking - perfect when you are running short on time and tasty as well).

4) With the chapathi dough make equal sized smooth balls, about 2 inches in diameter. I got 12 with the above measurements. Roll the cooled, potato mixure into balls of the same size as the chapathi dough (2 inches in this case)

5) Roll out the dough ball into a small chapathi (about 4 to 5 inches in diameter) I usually make the edges a little thinner than the middle so it's more uniform when I fold it over - but that's just me... :) Place the potato ball in the middle and enclose it by folding the chapathi dough around it.

6) Dust in flour and place it back seam side down. Roll this out to a bigger paratha.

7) Heat a griddle on medium-high and fry the paratha on both sides.

Normally I flip over the first side in about 20 to 30 seconds and let the other side cook until it starts puffing up a bit, at which point, I brush the top with some oil and flip over. Pressing down gently on the chapathi ensures that it puffs up. Brush this side with some oil too before flipping over one last time. This does require a bit more oil than the usual chapathis.

8) Serve with some Yogurt and Pickle of choice. I spiced up the yogurt by adding half a teaspoon each of chilli powder and cumin powder alongwith salt to taste.

and you guessed right - this stack of Aloo parathas is going on right on over to dear Srivalli for her Roti Mela.