Stuffed Paratha / Aloo Paratha

Christmas is over, all the madness has calmed down but you still need to eat and you get bored of eating left overs after sometime. My mother used to device various ways of making left overs work and turn them into something really tasty, and I guess I have inherited that from her. I had made Potato sabji the night before and was too bored to eat it again, so I decided to make Aloo Parathas out them. Aloo Paratha is one of my favourite hearty meal to eat. Again this is very healthy as you make the bread from wholemeal or Wheat flour and the stuffing itself is just boiled potatoes and spices. Its very easy to make, mouth watering and very filling. One of these will see you through the day :) If you make them of the size I do :)

Here is what you need if you want to make Aloo paratha from scratch. You can use any left over dry veg or meat to make parathas like this, try not to use any gravy veg or meat it will not work. There is something you can make with Gravy too, I will blog about it separately :) They are called Dhapati from where I come from, I don't think I will be able to translate that in English :) So back to Parathas.

Here is what we need: This will make 4 big size parathas or 6 medium size. I don't generally give the time it takes because it really depends on how quickly you want to cook or take your time and put things together as you get through the day. 

For the filling you need:

1. 3 medium size potatoes
2. 2 large cloves of Garlic
3. 1/2 inch piece of Ginger
4. 1 medium sized finely chopped Onion
5. 3 small green Chillies (increase or reduce these as per you taste, just remember this gets stuffed in a dough so they will be milder that the actual stuffing)
6. Asafoetida (Optional)
7. Salt to taste
8. 1/2 tsp Turmeric 
9. Mustard Seeds
10. 5-6 Curry leaves (optional)
11. 6-7 sprigs of Coriander (optional)
12. Coriander seeds 1 tsp (Optional)
13. Sunflower or any flavourless oil for cooking

For the Dough:

1. 3 cups of wheat flour or wholemeal flour
2. 1 teaspoon oil
3. pinch of Salt
4. Cumin seeds
5. pinch of Turmeric
6. pinch of red Chilli powder
7. Half a cup of water

Make the stuffing:

1. Boil the potatoes and mash them roughly, this will give you some texture in the paratha, with some bits in the mash.
2. Crush Ginger, Garlic and Chili in mortar and pestle to a fine paste, you can blend it too.
3. To a pan add some oil and turn on heat to medium, when the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and stand back as these will crackle and sputter. Add the curry leaves and the garlic, ginger and chili paste and fry until the raw smell goes away.
4. Add onion and fry until onion is soft, don't have to fry until it turns brown.
5. Add asafoetida, turmeric, coriander seeds, coriander leaves and salt and cook everything for a few seconds.
6. Add the mashed potatoes and mix well. Cook for a minute and turn off the heat.
7. That's your filling ready. Now to the dough for bread / paratha.

Make the Dough for Paratha:

Mix the flour, oil, water, cumin seeds, turmeric, chili powder and salt together and knead until it forms into a nice pliable dough. Add water little at a time to make sure the dough is not too soft, otherwise it will be hard to work with the dough. Rest the dough for 30 mins.

Make the Paratha:

With the dough and filling ready all you need to now do is bring them together.

1. Make golf ball size dough balls and flatten them. 
2. Roll the dough into a palm size disc. This will define the size of you paratha, I have attached a picture of how big I made.
3. Put the stuffing on the disc and pull all the corners of the dough together and pinch at top, the shape will look like a dumpling.
4. Flatten it a bit, dust some flour on top and roll it out like a roti or flatbread.
5. Be gentle as you don't want the stuffing to come out, keep dusting the paratha if it feels wet while rolling.
6. Once you are happy with the size you have rolled out, it time to roast is.
7. While you are rolling out parathas, put a heavy skillet or a non stick pan on the hob.
8. Put the rolled out paratha on the pan and let it roast almost 30 seconds on each side, until it looks crisp and golden brown.

Brush some butter or ghee when the Paratha is ready, or eat it as is, if you want to go healthy way :)

Parathas taste great on its own with a cuppa or with some pickles and yogurt. These can be eaten at Breakfast, lunch or Dinner. I hope you enjoy the recipe and cooking with it. Do let me know if you did or any alterations you made I will love to hear about it :)

Bon Apetit!!