Friday, November 17, 2006

Aloo Paratha (Potato stuffed Indian Bread)

Aloo Paratha

Well long time since I blogged. Life has become very hectic lately :) which I guess is a good thing but then I don't get the time to blog as often as I want to. I have so many pictures of so many recipes to post that my "to_post" folders are taking up more space than my "on_blog" folders.

I made these aloo parathas on a lazy Sunday afternoon and froze them in batches. This was my first time freezing the parathas and they were just as good as new when defrosted and heated up. Thanks to Saffron Hut for the freezing instructions.

I am going to post this as a multi-step process instead of my usual write-up template :).

Step 1: Boil 2-3 large potatoes until soft. Peel the skin. Put them in a food processor, about a teaspoon of cumin seeds, one or two green chilis, handful of cilantro, a little salt and pulse until the whole mixture forms a ball in the food processor. If you don't have a food processor all these ingredients can be chopped and mashed together as well.

Step 2: Combine 2 cups of chapathi/paratha atta (I used Golden Temple brand), a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of ajwain seeds and knead into a pliable dough with luke warm water. Cover with a kitchen towel and set it aside for about 30 minutes.

Step 3: Divide the potato mixture into lime sized balls and the chapathi dough mixture also into balls (make sure the dough balls are a little bigger than the potato ones).

Step 4: Now on a floured board or countertop, roll out the dough ball into a small circle, put the potato mixture in the center of the flour circle, and enclose the rest of the dough so it forms a circle and the potato ball is inside the flour ball.

Ready to stuff the paratha with the potato mixture

Step 5: Roll the ball into about a 5-6 inch circle, fry it on a medium heat tawa on both sides with a little bit of oil until brown spots appear on the paratha.

Step 5: To freeze, let them all cool, alternate layers of wax paper, cover it tightly in an aluminium foil, date and freeze. I froze them in batches of 5 so I don't pull out all of them each time I took them out of the freezer.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with any pickle/achar and a side of yoghurt.