Aloo Paratha

When I was in Bangalore, there was a food joint chain named “Kanti sweets” very popular with their delicious parathas. That is the place where I became a fan of parathas.
Parathas are whole-wheat Indian flat bread that can be made plain or with different stuffings. Perhaps among stuffed parathas “aloo paratha” is the easiest and perhaps the most popular. It’s just the chapati dough stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes (aloo) and cooked on a hot tawa (frying pan) with butter or ghee. It can be had with simple curd or pickle and makes an excellent breakfast, brunch or dinner.

Ingredients:
For Suffing

1. Potatoes (medium sized)-3
2. Onion-1/2 finely chopped
3. Coriander leaves-Handful 
4. Ginger & Garlic paste-1 teasp
5. Amchur (Dry unripe mango powder)-1/2 teasp Or Lemon juice-1 teasp
6. Kalonji (black onion seeds) Or Ajwain seeds-1 teasp
7. Green chillies-2small sized finely chopped Or Red chili powder-1 teasp
8. Turmeric powder (optional)
9. Salt to taste

For dough

1. Wheat flour-4 medium sized bowl
2. Oil-3 to 4 teasp
3. Salt to taste
4. Water-enough to make soft dough
5. Wheat flour 1/4th bowl for dusting
6. Ghee, Butter or Oil for frying parathas

Method:
For making dough

1. Sieve flour; add salt and 3 to 4 tea spoon of oil
2. Add a little water at a time and knead dough to medium soft
3. Kneed well for 5 to 6 min by sprinkling water again and again till the dough become soft
4. Take a drop of oil in your palm and apply on all the sides of dough and cover it with the lid. Let the dough sit for around 20 -30min.
5. Once again knead a little and the dough is ready

For stuffing

1. Boil potatoes, cool, peel and smash.
2. Mix all the ingredients mentioned above with smashed potatoes and make the stuffing ready 

For rolling out parathas

1. Divide the dough and stuffing into balls of equal portions.

2. Take one ball of dough, apply flour on both the sides and roll it a little
3. Place one ball of stuffing over the rolled dough and then cover it completely from all the sides

4. Flatten it with your palm. Repeat this procedure for all the balls of dough and stuffing 

5. Take one such flattened stuffed dough, apply a little flour on both the sides and roll it gently till it becomes thin but the stuffing doesn’t spill out

6. Now cook on a tawa by allowing one side to cook till the color changes to golden brown, then apply ghee, butter or oil and repeat the procedure on the other side also.
7. Serve hot

Things to remember: 

1. Any variation can be made in stuffing according to your taste 
2. Also you can make aloo bhaaji for stuffing. (I have avoided as potatoes are already cooked and other ingredients can be cooked directly on tawa)
3. Either of kalonji or ajwain seeds must be used.  In absence of both, one can use even cumin seeds
4. Prepare dough using 3-4 tea spoons of oil, that way dough will become very soft and will ease the process of rolling the parathas
5. Repeatedly kneading of dough for long time by adding little water at a time makes dough very soft (as the water & oil mixes well with the flour). 
6. Keep all the portions  of stuffed dough ready and then start rolling one by one, that way you can roll well (as the stuffing  and dough blends nice)  also reduces the rolling time.
7. Make sure to apply butter, ghee or oil only on the side you have cooked

Best combination:

1. Goes well with “Curd and Pickle”/”Tomato Sauce”/”Only Butter” and can be complimented with slices of sweet onion & lemon.
2. Also a simple dal or Raita (made of onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves) makes it complete

P.S. The quantity explained above serves 2 to 3 people