Aloo Paratha (Potato Stuffed Flatbread)

Aloo paratha is a popular Indian breakfast of unleavened whole wheat savory and spiced potato stuffed flatbread from Punjab, India. This delicious Punjabi aloo paratha is one of the most loved breakfast at my place. One of the first recipes I learnt from my Punjabi mother-in-law and been making them for years now.

About this recipe

One of the most repeated breakfast in my home is aloo paratha. Everyone loves it. Piping-hot crisp wheat flatbreads stuffed with spiced, faintly sour mashed potatoes stuffing and relished with some tangy sour mango pickle. What is not to love about aloo paratha?

The best part of making parathas is that you can serve them for breakfast as well pack them in the lunch box for kids. Even after some hours, the aloo paratha tastes delicious.

In Punjabi families, parathas are made with lots of love and affection. Most of the times parathas are roasted with lots of ghee and then served with dollops of white butter or Makhan as we call them in Punjabi. However, you can add less ghee and even roast the parathas with oil.

‘Aloo’ is the Hindi word for potatoes and ‘paratha’ means an unleavened stuffed flatbread. So aloo paratha literally means potato-stuffed flatbreads or flatbread stuffed with potatoes. In the stepwise photos below I have explained in detail two ways of stuffing potatoes.

Though there are many variations of stuffed paratha, many folks like aloo ke parathe. In my home, gobi paratha and aloo paratha are winners all the time.

To make aloo paratha you need two main elements:

1. Dough made from whole wheat flour – a basic dough is made with whole wheat flour (atta), salt, oil and water. Making dough is very easy and you can either knead with hands or in a stand mixer.
2. Mashed Potato stuffing – potatoes are boiled, peeled and then mashed. To the mashed potatoes, some herbs, spices and salt are added. The spiced mashed potatoes are then stuffed in a rolled dough and roasted or fried.

How to make Aloo Paratha

Making potato stuffing

1. First boil 4 medium-sized potatoes. You can boil or steam the potatoes in a pressure cooker, steamer or electric cooker. Add enough water in a 2-litre pressure cooker or pan just about covering the potatoes.

• For cooking in a pressure cooker – On a medium flame cook the potatoes in the water for 3 to 4 whistles. When the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, remove the lid. Drain the water and allow the potatoes to become warm.
• For cooking in a pan – Cover the pan and cook potatoes in water till fork tender. When cooking potatoes in a pan, it helps to peel them first and chop them in 2 inch cubes. Chopped potatoes cook faster than whole potatoes. Using a colander, drain all the water and let the potatoes become warm.

2. Peel & chop the boiled warm potatoes. Then mash the potatoes with a potato masher. You can even grate and then mash the potatoes.

3. The potatoes should be mashed very well. There should not be any tiny bits of unmashed potatoes.

4. Now add the chopped green chillies (1 to 2 green chilies, chopped finely), ¼ to ½ teaspoon punjabi garam masala powder or garam masala powder, ¼ to ½ teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder or deghi mirch (optional), ½ to 1 teaspoon amchur (dry mango powder) and salt as per taste.

5. With a spoon, mix the spice powders and green chilies with the mashed potatoes very well. Check the taste and add more salt or red chilli powder or dry mango powder if required.

You can also add 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander leaves. Another variation is to add finely chopped onions if you like. But remember to chop the onions finely or else they pop out when rolling the parathas. Keep the prepared aloo stuffing aside.

Making the dough

6. In another bowl or pan, take 2 cups whole wheat flour. Make a well in the center. Add ½ teaspoon salt or as required, 1 tablespoon oil or ghee and some water (roughly ⅓ to ½ cup).

7. Bring the mixture together and knead into a smooth soft dough for 8 to 10 minutes. Add more water if required while kneading. Cover and keep the dough aside for 20 to 30 minutes.

First method to stuff

8. Pinch two small balls from the dough. Flatten them and dust with whole wheat flour.

9. With a rolling pin, roll them into about 4 to 5 inches diameter rounds. Try making both the rounds of the same size.

10. On one of the rolled dough circle, place the potato stuffing in the center and keep about 1 inch empty space from the sides.

11. Gently place the second circle on top.

12. Press and seal the edges with your fingertips. If you are not able to seal the edges, then brush or spread some water on the edges of the two rounds and then seal.

13. Dust some flour on the stuffed paratha and start rolling the aloo paratha.

14. Roll the paratha into a round of about 7 to 8 inches in diameter or about the size of a normal roti or chapati.

Second method to stuff

15. Pinch a medium ball dough. Roll between your palms and lightly flatten it. Dust with some flour and roll it to a circle of about 5 to 5.5 inches diameter. Place the potato stuffing in the center, keeping about 2 to 2.5 inches space from the sides.

16. Take the edge and start pleating as well as bringing the pleats in the center.

17. Join the pleats together. The pleats have to be joined well, as otherwise there will be gaps while rolling and the filling comes out.

18. Press the joined top portion slightly downward from the center.

19. Sprinkle some flour and roll this version of stuffed paratha to about the same size as that of a chapati or roti. In case if the filling comes out, then just take a small piece of dough and cover the gap.

Roll to smoothen out the small piece of dough. Try keeping the same thickness throughout while rolling the dough. Avoid keeping the edges thick.

Roasting

20. On a hot tawa (skillet or griddle) place the rolled paratha. The tawa should be hot and not at a low temperature. Cooking parathas at a low flame will harden them. Parathas ideally are crisp as well as soft.

Keep the flame to medium-high or high for a thick bottomed and heavy tawa. For a medium or thin bottomed and less heavy tawa, keep the flame to medium-low to medium.

21. When the base is partly cooked, flip the paratha.

22. Spread some ghee on the partly cooked part. You can also use oil instead of ghee. If using oil, then use peanut oil or sunflower oil.

23. Flip again and you will see nice golden blisters on the second side. This time the side which has been spread with ghee will be at the bottom. This side has to be cooked more than the previous side.

24. Spread some ghee on the second side facing you. A well made and well-roasted alu paratha will puff up.

25. Flip again once or twice till both the sides are cooked properly. You should see crisp brown spots on the alu paratha. You can also press the paratha edges with a spatula or spoon, so that they are fried well. Since sometimes, the paratha edges are not cooked well. Make all parathas this way.

I usually stuff and make aloo ke parathe side by side. Multitasking :-).  I roast them and keep on stacking them in the roti basket or casserole. I add a bit of homemade butter on top of each aloo paratha in the roti basket while placing them.

You can also serve the aloo paratha directly from the tawa (skillet) straight in the serving plate. Serve some extra butter on the side, along with mango pickle or lemon pickle or dal makhani or some fresh curd (yogurt).

Serving suggestions

• Aloo paratha can be accompanied with plain curd (yogurt) or boondi raita.
• Butter (salted or unsalted) can also be served as a side dish.
• A side of mango pickle or lemon pickle can also be served.
• You can also serve aloo ka paratha with dal makhani or chana masala. Many dhabas in India serve alu ka paratha with dal makhani or chana masala.
• You can even serve aloo paratha plain.
• They also make a good tiffin box snack as they stay soft even after cooling.

Expert Tips

• Cooking potatoes – Potatoes can be cooked either in a pan or in a pressure cooker. Potatoes can be steamed too. To cook potatoes in a pressure cooker or pan, add water just about covering the potatoes and cook them till they are softened well and fork-tender. For pressure cooking, cook for 3 whistles on a medium flame.
• Texture of mashed potatoes – The potatoes should be mashed very well. There should not be any lumps or small pieces in it so that the parathas do not break while rolling. The texture of mashed potatoes should be light and smooth.
• Mashed potatoes stuffing – To the potato stuffing you can add spices or herbs according to your taste and liking. In our homely heirloom recipe, we spice the potatoes with green chillies, red chilli powder, dry mango powder and garam masala.
  
  Apart from these spices, you can also add roasted cumin seeds powder (jeera powder), turmeric powder, black salt, dry pomegranate seeds powder (anardana powder) or coriander powder.
• Making the paratha more nutritious – To the mashed potatoes stuffing, you can add a few more cooked and mashed veggies like peas, carrot, french beans. Some grated cheese or paneer can also be added to make these flat-breads making them more tasty & nutritious.
• Finely chopped herbs – Herbs like coriander leaves, green chillies have to be chopped finely. If you use onions, then chop them finely too.
• Tangy taste – The mashed potatoes stuffing have a slightly tangy taste in them. This tanginess is achieved by the addition of amchur powder which is basically finely ground sundried unripe mangoes. It is also called as dried mango powder. If you do not have dried mango powder, an easier substitute is lemon juice. Yet another substitute ingredient, but a rare one is dried pomegranate seeds powder (anardana powder).
• Oil or ghee – While kneading the dough either oil or ghee can be used. Adding either of them makes the parathas soft. To make the vegan aloo paratha, use oil to knead the dough and also to roast the parathas.
• Frying or roasting – Alu paratha can be either shallow fried or roasted. An iron griddle, which we call as tava in hindi is used to make paratha. The roadside stalls or dhaba shallow fry paratha in ghee or oil. At home they are roasted with some ghee or oil. Homemade paratha are healthier as compared to the fried paratha available outside.
• Hotness of the tawa (griddle) while roasting – Keep the flame medium-high to high while roasting parathas. If the heat is low, then the parathas become dense as they take a long time to cook. In case the heat increases in the tawa (due to the thickness or build of the tawa), then decrease the flame. You can always adjust the flame when cooking parathas.

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