Paratha, part 2 of 3: Aloo paratha

05 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Zoli in bread, breakfast, flatbread, indian, paratha, peanut free, snacks, spices, vegan, Vegetarian

Tags

aloo paratha, amchur powder, indian, Indian flatbreads, jeera, paratha, potato paratha, snacks, stuffed paratha

Stuffed parathas. With spiced potato! I could eat these all day…

A little bit of work, but well worth it. Serve hot, with raita, a chutney or with curries. They can be made the day before and heated up.

Ingredients
paratha dough
2-3 medium potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
1/2 small white onion, diced
1 green chili, deseeded and chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
1/2 tsp mild chili powder
handful chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
oil or ghee for cooking

1) Make the paratha dough. I used half whole wheat, half white flour for this dough. Set aside.
2) Heat up plenty of oil or ghee in a frying pan or wok. Add in the cumin seeds and cook until they start to crackle.
3) Add in the onions, chili and remaining spices. Turn the heat down and gently cook until onion is translucent.
4) Add in the mashed potatoes and combine. Add more oil if needed so the potatoes don’t dry out. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Set aside while you roll out the first paratha.
5) Pinch off a good-sized bit of dough and roll out to a circle. It doesn’t have to be super thin. Place a golf ball-sized bit of spiced mashed potato in the center and fold up the sides over it. Gently seal it.
6) Flip over and gently push down to a thick circle, then use plenty of flour and GENTLY roll out to a wide cicular flatbread. If you push too hard with the rolling pin, the potato will ooze out of the dough. It is ok if a little of the filling breaks out. Just keep your rolling pin floured so that it doesn’t stick.
7) Repeat with the remaining dough, or for as many aloo parathas as you want to make. Keep the uncooked parathas floured and covered with a kitchen towel so they don’t dry out.
8) Heat up a cast iron skillet or heavy frying pan and brush with oil. Fry both sides of the paratha until spotted and golden brown. When it bubbles up, gently push down with a spatula. I like to brush oil on both sides as I cook it.

Serve warm. Enjoy!

Parathas, part 1 of 3

01 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Zoli in bread, flatbread, indian, kids, kids lunchbox ideas, paratha, the basics, Vegetarian

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

flatbread, ghee, indian, kids, paratha, vegetarian

Another lovely flatbread to eat on its own, rolled up with filling, stuffed or eaten with a curry or raita. Paratha is made with whole wheat flour, like chapatis, but layered so that it is soft and flaky. For this first post, I have made plain paratha two ways, in a normal circle and in a triangle shape.

Ingredients
2 cups atta or wheat flour (or 1 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat — Whole Wheat flour makes these dry so I use a mix or recommend Trader Joe’s White Wheat flour if you can’t find Atta flour)
about a cup of room temp water
salt to taste
a tbs or so of olive oil or melted ghee

For trianglular paratha
1) Mix the flour (for this version I used half white, half whole wheat flour) with the salt and oil or ghee.
2) Don’t just dump in the water! Add in a little at a time and mix with your fingers till it comes together as a nice soft dough. You may not need all the water.
3) Knead for a few minutes, then cover so the dough stays soft and leave to rest about 20 minutes.
4) Tear off pieces of dough and roll into balls. Keep them covered while you are working so they don’t dry out.
5) Take one dough ball, dip it in plenty of flour and roll out to a large flat circle.
6) Brush olive oil or melted ghee, then fold in half. Brush a little more oil on the half circle shape and then fold one more time to a triangle.
7) Pat down with your fingers to help seal the sides. Then sprinkle more flour and gently roll the triangle out to a large, thin triangle shape.
8) Heat up a cast iron skillet or frying pan with a little oil or ghee and fry the paratha on medium to medium high heat.
9) The paratha will start to bubble up. Flip the paratha to cook the other side.
10) Add a little more oil to the pan and push the paratha into the oil. Turn the heat down if it starts to burn. Keep flipping and cooking until you have a nice golden brown spotted look.

Serve warm with anything you want like a raita, chutney, curry or eat on its own.

For circle-shaped paratha

1) Mix the flour (for this version I used only whole wheat flour) with the salt and oil or ghee.
2) Add in the water, a little at a time and mix with your fingers till it comes together as a nice soft dough.
3) Knead for a few minutes, then cover tightly and leave to rest about 20 minutes. Tear off pieces of dough and roll into balls. Keep them covered while you are working so they don’t dry out.
4) Take the first dough ball and roll out to a medium small oval shape.
5) Brush with oil or melted ghee. Sprinkle with flour.
6) Pinch the middle of the oval to form a number 8 shape. Then fold over.
7) Gently roll out, using more flour if need be, to a large, thin circle shape.
8) Fry in the same manner as above. Repeat for the remaining parathas.

Serve warm. These are as versatile as any flatbread and they even make good quesadillas as they are softer, flakier and tastier than whole wheat tortillas.

Triangle paratha: