Parotha, The Making of

Batatyacha parotha, or aloo paratha, is one of our favorite parothas.

We're generally not very fussy about our meals. Breakfast served for dinner is just fine and leftovers from dinner for breakfast rock. So, batatyache parothe could very well be either breakfast or dinner. 1 cup of atta, 1 tsp of oil and a pinch of salt, kneaded into a medium-soft dough makes about 13-14 parothe. I knead the dough, cover it with a damp paper towel and let it rest while I get the stuffing ready. For the stuffing, I use about 5-6 medium boiled potatoes, mashed with a small clove of garlic, 1 tsp of red chilli powder, 1/8 tsp of turmeric powder and salt. I make this without garlic, too.

Start off with a small ball of dough. Your tava should be on the stove by now.

Roll it out some. I usually like to roll it out a little more than I need to.

Take a ball of the potato stuffing

And hide it in the dough, like so.

Press down on it gently to flatten it

Dust it with flour and turn it over so that the pleats are on the bottom.

Roll it out from the middle to the outside in a firm yet gentle motion. Do not flip it over.

Place it with the pleats facing up on the tava, to begin with, on a medium-high flame until it gets a few brown spots on the underside and starts puffing up a teeny bit. The latter depends entirely on how you roll it out so if it does not happen, don't fret.

Turn it over and cook the thicker side till it, too, has some brown spots. Take some ghee (5 drops or so) or melted butter and spread it quickly using a spoon on the parotha. Flip it over and do the same to the other side. Cook both sides for about a minute or so each...
...till you get this and serve immediately with chutney or pickle and raita.
This parotha is different from the aloo paratha found in Indian restaurants; it's rather delicate and much smaller in size.

Shivapriya has a fabulous tutorial on aloo parathas with much better pictures.
Luv2Cook has another version with tips on freezing parathas

28 comments:

Shilpa said...

hahahahahaha...Paratha?? really?? sorry, remembered our chat....

Your parathas look so fresh and tasty. I haven't prepared these in a long time now...Will do soon after we return from our trip...

Indian Food Rocks said...

Shilpa, this is one recipe that is universal and also has a zillion variations. Mine are the simplest. No green stuff in them at all. Not green chillies and not cilantro. So there! ;-)

Sagari said...

yummmmm pluffy parathaa looks soooo yummyyyyyyyy

DK said...

oh wow...they luk so yum!

JS said...

Manisha,

This, like everything you post, looks wonderful. I've gotten my wife to start taking an occasional look...this is very good for me, because she, too, loves Indian food and the more she reads from your blog, the more likely she'll join me in the kitchen to make Indian food! I have not yet put it to use, but I made a widget to give me a list of your recent posts. You might find it of interest...you may have to sign up, but I am not sure:

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/indian-food-rocks

EC said...

Wow, they are fluffy like puris...

musical said...

Send some over, Manisha tai :). Plz............... :).

Love,
musical.

Srivalli said...

looks great manisha...I have blogged on paneer paratha..yet to find time to upload aloo..all stuffed ones tastes great!

Suganya said...

Your life line is strong, says your palm :D

Kitt said...

ooh, I could get myself around some of that.

You should enter Jaden's contest for a cookbook. Just enter your favorite Indian dish!

Shella said...

Yummy. aloo parathas are so so very comfortable. yours look so good

Anita said...

These are on top of the comfort food list - an absolute favourite in our home - everyone's probably! And mine look uncannily like yours!

But just five drops of fat?!...I use more like 3/4 t of oil on each side for crispy ones...

I like the mammoth tandoori aloo parantha at Giani's (Old Delhi)too. You have to eat that at least once.

Finla said...

Yumm they are lookind so delicious.
I am surprised o se them puffing up like that. I am sure if i tried to make this they will be bone hard and not fluffy and soft like yours

Priya said...

My paratha's always need manipulation :) I can coax my chapati's to puff, but the paratha will just not budge :(

Padmaja said...

Puffed Parathas, i can never imagine myself making a perfect one like you manish!!
those parathas must be delicious!!
Love your pictures!!

Seema said...

Great parathas - perfectly dont, golden & puffed up!!! Really nice!

Alpa said...

Wow! you make 13-14 out of one cup of flour? I'm lazy when it comes to roti & parothas - I would only get about 6 :) Love the step by step. I also add green chilies, ginger, amchur & cilantro in mine.

Laavanya said...

That's a perfect paratha Manisha. From the looks of it, the ball of mashed potatoes is almost as much as the dough you began with. For me, this means, potato oozing out of the roti. Your even puffed up... i can never get my stuffed ones to puff up. :)

Siri said...

Yumm-O Parotha Manisha!

Kribha said...

Perfect looking parathas. So yummy and good.

Rina said...

Umm! Allo paratha, lovely step by step description.

KayKat said...

I never tire of eating parathas or seeing pictures of them being made or even of making them!

*so* good :)

Shivapriya said...

Perfect looking parathas, fresh and fluffy. What else could anyone want:). BTW thanks for providing my link. Its really nice of you.

evolvingtastes said...

Wow, you are on a roll!! You have been posting like, what, a post a day? All of them lovely too, but as you know I have been away, and am still catching up with so many things. Right now it seems like I am never going to.

archana said...

Thank you, your tips came in at the right time. I am planning to make it this weekend, i am mashing potatoes today, will cook a couple more.

Indian Food Rocks said...

The parothe puff up depending on how you roll them. It's not a biggie if they don't puff up, the taste remains pretty much the same! So don't stress on that front!

John, I looked at the widget and it's really cool! I like that you can add an image at the top! Incidentally, you can add feeds to your blog using the new Blogger template, too. It's not as fancya s that widget though. I will probably use your widget to display feeds from this blog on my Inner Lens blog.

I generally stay with easy and quick fix recipes. Some may have a long list of ingredients but if you organize yourself, the method remains simple. I hope your wife joins you in the kitchen. There's a wonderful charm about cooking with your spouse.


Musy, move to Colorado. ;-)

Suganya, you have caught Inji-fever. She looks in spoons for reflections and now you are looking at palms! The lifeline on my right palm is much stronger as is my fate line but I think the left hand is what is read. That's about the extent of my palmistry knowledge.

Kitt, make sure you buy wheat flour (chapati atta) from the Indian store. It is milled differently. With regular wheat flour, you will get dark and slightly chewy parothe. Thanks for letting me know about Jaden's contest. I am a bit wary of those auto linky thingees so I need to figure that out first.

Anita, I usually don't add any oil to the dough when making rotis. So 1 tsp and we are already over the limit. And yes, just 5 drops each side. I count! Also, mine are much smaller.

Happy Cook, they're very easy to make so I don't think you should have a problem at all!

Alpa, don't be misled by my hands - they're small! Rather incongruous with the rest of my body. The ball of dough is about as much as I would use for a rotli (roti) and that's as many rotlis I make from a cup of flour.

I would add green chillies and cilantro but there are some little mouths that cannot handle chillies and that do not like cilantro pieces in their mouth, even though they love cilantro chutney! I am hoping that one day we will be able to graduate to more things in the parotha!


Laavanya, it's actually a little bigger than than the ball of dough. I try to get in as much stuffing as I can. Try roll ing it gently, coaxing it to spread and you shouldn't have it oozing out.

Shivapriya, you're most welcome! Your pictures and tutorial are great!

ET, welcome back! Kya karein?! Your readers were going through withdrawal so I felt like I had to make up for it in some way! :-D

I signed up for NaBloWriMo and then NaBloPoMo. It's post a day equivalent of NaNoWriMo.

Archana, hope it works out well for you!

Nupur said...

Thank you for this post, Manisha. I have always been dissatisfied with my batatyache parothe...they felt thick and doughy. Looking at your recipe, I saw that 1 C atta yields more than 10 parothe! I have been making 8-12 parothe with 2 C atta...no wonder they turned out so bready. I decreased the ratio of atta: potatoes and tried making these yesterday, and they were tasty and delightful. Thanks so much for helping me troubleshoot.

NiftyWorks said...

Your recipe is very simple with nice pictures. I have a similar recipe on my site http://www.cookingsimplified.com/?p=80 but with all the greens :) I will try out yours this weekend.