Aloo paratha

Aloo (potato) paratha - this item brings back some fond memories and a smile on my face. Without any doubt, it was a must order item whenever we dined out at any restaurant in India. Though we are Andhraites, me and my dad love this one. What I love most about it is, the idea of having aloo stuffed inside the roti. :) I tried making it a number of times, but was never successful until few months ago. After reading the recipe, on a number of blogs, I kind of picked the best steps from each blogger and came out with an awesome recipe. We generally have it for dinner at home; just two 6 inch diameter parathas, with a glass of lassi is enough to fill up your stomach.

I knead and set aside the dough atleast an hour before preparing the parathas. Doing so imparts a soft texture to the dough. For the paratha dough,

Ingredients:

1. Wheat/Chapathi flour
2. Salt
3. Milk

Method:

1. Add sufficient salt to the atta (wheat flour).
2. Using a little amount of milk and water, knead the atta to a fine dough. There should not be any lumps, and the dough should not be hard. The softer it is, the softer your parathas. It should be soft *not* sticky, so don't add too much of milk/water.
3. Keep the dough in an air-tight container.

For the aloo/potato filling, there are two ways you can do this. The uncooked filling and cooked filling. Having tried them both, I prefer the cooked filling.

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes
2. Onions
3. Green chillies
4. Cilantro
5. Dhania-jeera powder
6. Garam masala
7. Ginger garlic paste

Method:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes without removing the skin.
2. Once they are cooked, peel them and mash them really soft. Leaving behind some bigger pieces of potato would cause your paratha to break while rolling it. Also note that the filling shouldn't be wet.
3. Finely chop the onions, green chillies and cilantro. Like in Step 2, you should not have any big pieces.
4. Heat a little bit of oil in a pan, and fry the onions and chillies.
5. Add ginger-garlic paste to the contents of the pan and fry till the raw smell goes away.
6. Turn off the gas, and add the masala powders.
7. Add the fried stuff to the mashed potatoes, along with some salt and the chopped cilantro.
8. Mix them all really well, and bring them together to form a fine lump of curry.
9. Taste the stuffing, and add more salt/chilli powder, if required. Allow it to cool.

Now, with the dough and filling ready, let's get to the exciting part of making the parathas.

1. If you want to make 'n' parathas, divide the dough and the filling into 'n' equal parts.
2. Roll out each chapathi with thicker centre and thinner edges. That is because the curry is placed in the centre and the edges are folded so as to seal the filling. Thinner edges make the folding easier.
3. Fill the curry as shown below, and seal it by bringing together all the edges and give a slight twist at the end so as to make it really tight Lets call this a ball :)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Do Step 3 for all the 'n' parathas and let them sit for about 5 minutes.
5. Now, to roll the parathas, dust some loose flour on the ball and place it on a smooth surface. Gently press the ball without causing it to break open. If you notice any air bubbles, prick them with a fork or a tooth pick.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Once you roll the paratha to a certain thickness, use a rolling pin to level it. As in, when you press using your hand, the finger impressions on the paratha cause hills and valleys :). Level them all by rolling the pin. I like my parathas thick, so I make sure I roll them to the right thickness, too thick- doesn't cook in the middle, too thin-I don't like :)
7. Heat a tawa on high flame till it gets really hot.
8. Fry the paratha, just like you fry a chapathi. You can either apply a little butter or oil on either side of the paratha, to give it a lovely golden look.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Serve hot with curd, pickle, or ketchup. Can even be had as is. There's roti, aloo curry, why do you need something else? :)

Yes! I made it just in time :) Not for my hubby, but for the JFI event. :) I was seriously going through some Search Engine Optimization videos when all of a sudden, I wanted to browse for the upcoming food events in the blogging community. Landed up on Mahanandi, and came to know about the JFI:Wheat event.



And guess what, the deadline for submissions is Tomorrow. :( I usually cook two time khaana in the morning, so that I get all the time in the afternoon for myself. But today is one of those special days, when I cooked in the evening too. That too at jet speed :) Realised there's this event at 5:30, prepared the dough and put the potatoes to cook while I write the post. FYI, I'm a multi-tasking expert :) That's it, I'm done writing. Few clicks as I cook and my post would be ready to be published.

Hmmm.... Back to my desk with the awesome feeling of having aloo parathas with a glass of Mango lassi.

My first ever entry to a cooking event. Hope the judges like it.