Aloo paratha is a popular Indian breakfast of flatbread stuffed with salted and spicy whole wheat unleavened potatoes from Punjab, India. This delicious Punjabi Aloo Paratha is one of my most popular breakfasts. One of the first recipes I learned from my Punjabi mother-in-law and have been making them for years now.
About this recipe
One of the most repeated breakfasts at my house is aloo paratha. Everyone loves him. Very hot crispy wheat flatbreads stuffed with a spicy and slightly sour mashed potato stuffing and garnished with tangy mango pickles. What’s not to like about aloo paratha
The best part about making parathas is that you can serve them for breakfast and pack them in the lunch box for the kids. Even after a few hours, the aloo paratha tastes delicious.
In Punjabi families, parathas are made with a lot of love and affection. Most of the time, parathas are roasted with lots of ghee and then served with spoonfuls of makhan or white butter as we call them in Punjabi. However, you can add less ghee and also roast the parathas with oil.
The Hindi word for potatoes is “Aloo” and “paratha” means an unleavened stuffed flatbread. So aloo paratha literally means flatbreads stuffed with potatoes or flatbreads stuffed with potatoes. I have explained in detail two ways to stuff potatoes.
Although there are many variations of stuffed paratha, many people like aloo ke parathe. At home, gobi paratha and aloo paratha are winners all the time.
To make aloo paratha, you need two main things:
- Whole wheat flour dough – a basic dough is made from whole wheat flour (attack), salt, oil and water. Making dough is very easy and you can knead it by hand or in a stand mixer.
- Mashed stuffing of potato – potatoes are boiled, peeled and then mashed. To the mashed potatoes, herbs, spices and salt are added. The spicy mashed potatoes are then stuffed into a rolled dough and roasted or fried.
Also Read: Plain Dosa Recipe And Dosa Batter (Sada Dosa)
How to make Aloo Paratha
Make a potato stuffing
1. First boil 4 medium sized potatoes. You can boil or steam the potatoes in an electric cooker, pressure cooker or steamer. Add enough water to a pressure cooker or 2-liter saucepan roughly covering the potatoes.
- For cooking in a pressure cooker – Over medium heat, cook the potatoes in water for 3 to 4 whistles. When the pressure stabilizes on its own in the pressure cooker, remove the lid. Drain the water and let the potatoes warm up.
- For cooking in a pot – Cover the pot and cook the potatoes in water until tender with a fork. When cooking potatoes in a pan, it helps to peel them first and chop them into 2-inch cubes. Chopped potatoes cook faster than whole potatoes. Using a colander, drain all the water and allow the potatoes to warm up.
2. Peel and chop the hot boiled potatoes. Then mash the potatoes with a potato masher. You can even crush and then mash the potatoes.
3. The potatoes must be very well mashed. There shouldn’t be any small pieces of unmashed potatoes.
4. Now add the chopped green peppers (1 to 2 green peppers, finely chopped), ¼ to ½ teaspoon of punjabi garam masala powder or garam masala powder, ¼ to ½ teaspoon of red chili powder from the Cashmere or deghi mirch (optional), ½ to 1 teaspoon of amchur (dry mango powder) and salt to taste.
5. Using a spoon, mix the spice powders and green peppers with the mashed potatoes. Check the taste and add more salt or red chili powder or dry mango powder if needed.
You can also add 1 to 2 tablespoons of finely chopped cilantro leaves. Another variation is to add finely chopped onions if you wish. But do not forget to finely chop the onions, otherwise they will come out when you roll the parathas. Keep the prepared stuffing aside.
Make the dough
6. In another bowl or pan, take 2 cups of whole wheat flour. Dig a hole in the middle. Add ½ teaspoon of salt or if needed, 1 tablespoon of oil or ghee and a little water (about ⅓ to ½ cup).
7. Gather the mixture and knead into a smooth, soft dough for 8-10 minutes. Add more water if necessary during kneading. Cover and reserve the dough for 20 to 30 minutes.
First method to stuff
8. Pinch two small balls of the dough. Flatten them and sprinkle with whole wheat flour.
9. Using a rolling pin, roll them into rounds about 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Try to make both rounds the same size.
10. On one of the rolled dough circles, place the potato stuffing in the center and on the sides, leave about 1 inch of empty space.
11. Gently place the second circle on top.
12. Press and seal edges with fingertips. If you can’t seal the edges, brush or smear a little water around the edges of the two circles, then seal.
13. Sprinkle some flour on the stuffed paratha and start rolling the aloo paratha.
14. Roll the paratha into a round about 7 to 8 inches in diameter or about the size of a normal roti or chapati.
Second method to stuff
15. Pinch a ball of medium dough. Roll between your palms and flatten it slightly. Sprinkle with flour and roll it into a circle about 5 to 5.5 inches in diameter. Place the potato stuffing in the center, keeping a space of about 2 to 2.5 inches at the sides.
16. Take the edge and start creasing and bringing the creases to the center.
17. Join the folds together. The folds must be well put together, otherwise there will be gaps during rolling and filling comes out.
18. Lightly press the attached upper part from the center.
19. Sprinkle with flour and roll this stuffed paratha version about the same size as a chapati or roti. In case the filling comes out, just take a small piece of dough and cover the space.
Roll to smooth the small piece of dough. Try to keep the same thickness while rolling the dough. Avoid keeping the edges thick.
Roasting
20. On a hot tawa (pan or hot plate), place the rolled paratha. The tawa should be hot and not at low temperature. Cooking parathas over low heat will harden them. Parathas are ideally crispy and soft.
Keep the flame on medium-high or high for a thick, heavy-bottomed tawa. For a tawa with a medium or fine bottom and less heavy, keep the flame at medium-low to medium.
21. When the base is partially cooked, turn the paratha over.
22. Spread ghee on the partially cooked part. You can also use oil instead of ghee. If you use oil, use peanut oil or sunflower oil.
23. Go back again and you will see beautiful golden blisters on the second side. This time the side that was smeared with ghee will be on the bottom. This side should be cooked more than the previous side.
24. Spread ghee on the second side facing you. A well made and well roasted aluminum paratha will swell.
25. Turn again once or twice until both sides are cooked through. You should see clear brown spots on the alu paratha. You can also press the edges of the paratha with a spatula or a spoon, so that they are well fried. Since sometimes the edges of paratha are not cooked well. Do all the parathas this way.
Usually I stuff and do aloo ke parathe side by side. Multitasking :-). I roast them and continue to stack them in the roast basket or casserole dish. In the roast basket, I add a little homemade butter on each aloo paratha when placing them.
You can also serve aloo paratha directly from the tawa (pan) directly on the serving plate. Serve some extra butter on the side, along with dal makhani or fresh curd (yogurt) or lemon pickle or mango pickle.
Suggestions for distribution
- Aloo paratha can be served with plain curd (yogurt) or boondi raita.
- Butter (salted or unsalted) can also be served as an accompaniment.
- A side dish of mango pickle or lemon pickle can also be served.
- You can also serve aloo ka paratha with chana masala or dal makhani. Many dhabas in India serve alu ka paratha with chana masala or dal makhani.
- You can even serve aloo paratha plain.
- They also make a great tiffin snack as they stay chewy even after cooling.
Expert advice
- Cooking Potatoes – Potatoes can be cooked in a pan or in a pressure cooker. Potatoes can also be steamed. To cook the potatoes in a pressure cooker or saucepan, add water roughly covering the potatoes and cook them until they are softened and tender with a fork. For pressure cooking, cook 3 whistles over medium heat.
- Mashed Potato Texture – The potatoes should be mashed very well. There should be no lumps or small pieces so that the parathas do not break while rolling. The texture of the mashed potatoes should be light and smooth.
- Mashed Potato Stuffing – To the potato stuffing, you can add spices or herbs according to your taste and taste. In our family heirloom recipe, we spice the potatoes with green peppers, red pepper powder, dried mango powder and garam masala. In addition to these spices, you can also add roasted cumin seed powder (jeera powder), turmeric powder, black salt, dry pomegranate seed powder (anardana powder) or coriander powder.
- Make the paratha more nutritious – To the stuffing of mashed potatoes, you can add some more cooked and mashed vegetables like peas, carrots, green beans. Grated cheese or paneer can also be added to make these flatbreads tastier and more nutritious.
- Finely Chopped Herbs – Herbs like coriander leaves, green peppers should be finely chopped. If you are using onions, chop them also finely.
- Tangy Taste – Mashed potato stuffing has a slightly tart taste. This acidity is achieved by the addition of amchur powder which is basically finely ground unripe sun-dried mangoes. It is also called dried mango powder. If you don’t have dried mango powder, an easier substitute is lemon juice. Yet another substitute, but rare, ingredient is dried pomegranate seed powder (anardana powder).
- Oil or ghee – When kneading dough, you can use oil or ghee. Adding either one makes the parathas soft. To make vegan aloo paratha, knead the dough and also roast the parathas using oil.
- Frying or roasting – Alu paratha can be deep fried or roasted shallow. An iron baking sheet, which we call tava in Hindi, is used to make paratha. The dhaba or roadside stalls shallow fry paratha in ghee or oil. At home, they are roasted with ghee or oil. Homemade paratha are healthier than fried paratha available outside.
- Hotness of the tawa (hot plate) while roasting – Keep the flame medium-high to high while cooking the parathas. If the heat is low, the parathas become dense because they take a long time to cook. In case the heat increases in the tawa (due to the thickness or construction of the tawa), decrease the flame. When cooking parathas, you can always adjust the flame.
