An absolutely delightful Indian stuffed, flatbread recipe that makes for a yummy breakfast/brunch recipe – tastes best with some spicy green chutney and chilled yoghurt
Aloo paratha or spiced potatoes stuffed flatbread is a classic Indian breakfast/brunch recipe. And a favourite with most Indians. Right from the young to the young at heart, you wouldn’t easily find someone who says no to aloo parathas. While, this recipe originates from the heartland of Punjab, it is popular across the country. These pan roasted flatbreads have a delicious filling of boiled, mashed and spiced potatoes. Moreover, the roasting is done with copious amounts of ghee, taking the flavours and texture through the roof. However, there is no standard recipe for the stuffing. Every home has their own recipe. And, likewise, my recipe is actually my mother’s. I grew up having the aloo parathas she made, and till date those remain my favourite. The special component in it are the mint leaves. 🙂
Since these parathas tend to be quite filling, I generally make these on the weekends. Mostly for our brunches. I love mine well roasted in ghee and topped with some more of it. However a more popular choice is to have it topped off with some butter! Either ways it tastes fabulous. And you definitely should try this recipe.
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Quick and easy
This is not a very complicated recipe. It is, in fact a quick and easy recipe. There are three parts to it – making the paratha dough, preparing the stuffing and finally bringing these two together. The most important part of this recipe, is kneading the dough. When you have a soft and pliable dough, you will be able to stuff the potato mix easily. And in my recipe, I have explained how you can achieve such a dough texture, so don’t you worry. Just get your ingredients, rolling pin and skillet out and you will be good to go. However, if you are a beginner, you may take some time to seal the dough with the stuffing inside, initially. But keep at it and you will be able to master it pretty soon.
The stuffing, on the other hand, is quick and easy to make using boiled potatoes. It is flavored with garam masala, chaat masala, ginger, mint and coriander. In fact, if you have any of this leftover, you can make sandwiches too, out of them.
Hearty aloo parathas
You can have these stuffed flatbreads for breakfast, brunch, lunch or even dinner. Yes, it is that versatile a meal. Usually, I make these for a relaxed and lavish weekend brunch along with a simple raita and a cup of masala chai. Raitas are a spiced yoghurt preparation. While you could add finely chopped cucumbers, onions or pineapples to make an elaborate one or just keep it simple, by adding some salt and masalas. For me, with these delicious spiced potatoes stuffed flatbreads just a masala raita works. The one you see in the image. If you wish to make it for yourself too, I have enumerated the recipe below.
You could keep it even simpler, and team up the aloo parathas with some plain yoghurt and a pickle by the side. Since, the parathas itself tend to be quite filling, you won’t really need any other sides. Furthermore, these delicious flatbreads are going to be ghee/butter laden. So, you definitely won’t need anything else. 🙂
So, here is the recipe and I hope you will like it too. If you happen to give it a try I’d love to see how it turned out for you. You can share your pictures with me over on Instagram, too.
Eat hearty!
Aloo paratha (spiced potatoes stuffed flatbread)
Equipment
- Tawa (Indian skillet) or any skillet
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp salt
- lukewarm water for kneading as needed
For the potato stuffing
- 4 medium potatoes boiled and mashed
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 3-4 fresh green chillies chopped (optional)
- 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped
- 4 tbsp fresh coriander leaves finely chopped
- 4 tbsp fresh mint leaves finely chopped
- 2 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp chaat masala
- salt to taste
- ghee/butter for roasting
For the raita
- 1 cup Greek yoghurt
- 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
- pink Himalayan salt to taste
Instructions
For the raita
- Mix all the ingredients listed under "raita" well and garnish with some roasted cumin seed powder and chilli powder. Refrigerate this until needed
To make the parathas
- Combine all the ingredients, listed under the dough section. Gradually add lukewarm water, to knead a soft and smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for 30 minutes
- To the mashed potatoes, add all the spice powders, ginger, chilis, herbs and the salt. Mix well using a fork
- Now, divide the kneaded dough into four 4 equal parts
- Flatten a dough ball with your hands, cup it and fill about two tablespoons of the potato mixture in it
- Now, bring the edges together to seal in the stuffing
- Smoothen out the stuffed dough ball and dust with with some dry flour
- Again using your hands, gently flatten out the balls to form a thick disc
- Using a rolling pin, roll these out to form a paratha (flatbread). This should neither be too thin nor too thick
- Heat a skillet and place the paratha on it. Once it starts to brown, drizzle some ghee around the edges and the centre, and continue roasting until completely cooked
- Remove from flame and serve the delicious aloo parathas (spiced potatoes stuffed flatbread) hot with some green chutney/pickle and/or raita. Enjoy!
Notes
- Carom seeds added to the dough, apart, from adding flavour aids in digestion too
- To make roasted cumin powder, simple dry roast cumin seeds and grind it coarsely
- To check if the dough is pliable, punch it with a finger. If it goes well in, then its perfect
- Add water carefully and gradually while kneading the dough
- Don't worry if your parathas develop cracks while rolling them. Go ahead and roast them, they will still taste great
- If you are vegan, replace cooking with ghee to vegetable oil
- 1 cup = 250 milliliters
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon
