Easier, quicker-to-make aloo parathas

Soft and tasty aloo parathas

This is a no-fail recipe for aloo parathas or potato parathas. Learn a new, easier and quicker way to make this popular breakfast snack. Learn how to make aloo parathas (alu parathas) from scratch, right from kneading the dough.

No more worries about the filling not spreading to the edges of the potato parathas. Anyone, even students and new cooks, will be able to get this simplified recipe right.

Ingredients

Outer covering

1 ½ cup (180 – 190g) whole wheat flour (atta)

1 ½ tsp oil

½ tsp salt

¾ cup approx. warm water

Filling

4 medium-size potatoes, boiled and peeled

3 green chillies, finely chopped

1 medium-size onion, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp asafoetida (hing)

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp ground cumin

2 tsp chaat masala

1 tsp powdered sugar

2 tsp lime juice

Salt to taste

1 ½ tbsp pure ghee

Oil for frying the parathas

Procedure

Method:

1. Mash the potatoes till smooth and lump-free.
2. Heat the ghee in a pan. Add the chopped green chillies and after sautéing them for a few seconds, add the chopped onion. Sauté the onions till they’re soft and slightly browned.
3. Next, add the cumin seeds, asafoetida (hing), and turmeric powder and mix everything

well.

4. Add the mashed potatoes, turn down the heat, and mix the potatoes well with the other ingredients.
5. Add the chaat masala, ground cumin, lime juice, and powdered sugar. Mix the filling well and turn off the heat. Taste the filling before adding any salt as the chaat masala too is salty. Add a little salt to taste if necessary.
6. Keep the filling aside to cool. (You could prepare this the previous night to save time while preparing the alu parathas the next morning.)
7. Start preparing the filling by transferring the flour to a large bowl or parat (a large, deep and flat dish made of steel.) Add the salt and oil to the flour. You can skip the oil if you want to. Using warm water, prepare a soft and smooth dough that’s not too hard and not too soft either. The amount of water needed will depend on the variety of wheat from which the flour was made. Shape the dough into a ball, give it a light coating of oil, cover it, and let it rest for around 10 minutes.
8. Divide the dough and the filling into 9 portions each.
9. Dust the rolling board and roll out the first flattened dough ball thinly and evenly into an oblong shape around 8″ long and 5″ wide.
10. Place one portion of the filling on the lower half of the rolled-out dough. Fold the upper half over it and press the curved edges together to seal in the filling. The paratha will now be semi-circular in shape.
11. Dust both its side and the rolling board with a little flour. Applying gentle pressure, move the rolling pin over the aloo paratha, drawing out the curved edge and flattening the fold. It should now have increased in size to around  8 ½  to 9″ x 5″.
12. Till you can get the hang of rolling out the next paratha while the earlier one is frying, it would be better to roll out and prepare three parathas and then fry them one after the other before proceeding with the remaining potato parathas.
13. Before you fry the first one, however, you have to preheat your non-stick frying pan on medium-high heat for around 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add around ½ tsp of oil and then transfer the first aloo paratha to the pan. Let it took for around a minute till it develops a few brown spots on the underside. Drizzle some oil on the upper side of the paratha and the pan, and flip the paratha. Fry the other side too till to develops brown spots and then take if off the pan and set it on a paper-towel lined tray or thali.
14. Similarly fry all the parathas. All of them will be soft and tender.
15. If you want, you could divide the same dough into twelve parts and make smaller aloo parathas around 7″ x 4 ½” in size.

Have the parathas with yogurt and pickle or any chutney or sauce of your choice.

Please note: The amount of water required for the dough will depend on the variety of wheat from which the atta was made. Secondly, if you’re using Indian atta, you may skip the oil in the dough if you want to. But a small amount of oil would enhance its texture.

Enjoy!