4.4/5 rating (36 votes)

Aloo Parantha

Bread Stuffed with Spicy Potatoes

Heat Medium
Serves 4
Dietary Info VEGETARIAN VEGAN LACTOSE-FREE
Prep 30 mins
Cook 5 mins

Delicious roti bread stuffed with garam masala and ginger-spiced potatoes, then cooked on a griddle until crisp.

Hari says
An Indian breakfast? In the morning? INDIAN?!? Well, yes. I do know this isn't something you'd normally consider eating, but I promise you, the aloo parantha is up there with a stonking good fry up.

My dear mum would (and still does) get up early to cook these on a Sunday morning, especially whenever we had people staying. Traditionally, the breads are cooked on a flat Indian griddle pan (but any frying pan will do) and are slathered with creamy butter as they cook. The parantha then puff up like little pillows and then all you need to do is serve them quickly, ideally with spicy mango pickle, fresh yoghurt or a big blob of even more butter. No wonder we had so many guests...

These parantha can also be stuffed with other vegetables, too, from spicy cauliflower to grated mooli (white radish). This is a real homely dish; one of those that don't just fill you up but make you feel better for eating it.
Traditionally, parantha are cooked using ghee or butter but they are also great with vegetable oil which makes them really crispy (and actually now this is my mum's preferred option) making them perfect if you have a vegan diet.

Ingredients
Method

Stuffing

3 medium potatoes
1 tsp salt
1 or 2 chillies, finely chopped
½ tsp carom seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1cm piece of ginger, grated
Handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

Roti Dough

500g atta, wholemeal flour
Water
1 tsp butter/ghee or vegetable oil

Method

Stuffing

Boil the potatoes whole with the skin on for about 20 minutes. When soft remove from the water and leave to cool. Peel the potatoes and grate into a large bowl.
Add all remaining ingredients for the stuffing. Stir together using your hand until the stuffing comes together like dough. Divide into 4 equal sized balls. Try replacing the potatoes with grated raw cauliflower or grated mooli (Indian radish) - (make sure you squeeze any excess liquid out of the mooli).

Making the Parantha

Make the roti dough and make two dough balls. Put some dry flour (atta) on a plate for dusting.
Roll out each ball of dough so you have 2 thick discs (roti) approx 10cm in diameter, dusting when required to stop them sticking.
Take one ball of stuffing and put it on one of the rotis and press it down to spread it out a little.
Place the second roti on top of the first one and squeeze the edges together to seal in the stuffing.
Flour the stuffed Parantha and begin to roll out again. Carefully flip over when required - be gentle as you want the stuffing to stay inside. Roll out to about 15-20cm in diameter.

Cooking the Parantha

Place the Parantha flat on the heated thava and leave to cook for a few seconds. (The thava needs to be on a medium heat - if too hot the Parantha will burn.) You will see the colour of the Parantha darken after about 20 seconds.
Carefully turn it over. Smear butter on the top while the second side is cooking. It should begin to puff up after a few seconds. Turn it over again (there will be a lot of steam).
Butter the second side and leave it to cook for a few seconds then turn it over again. The Parantha should be a golden brown colour with small brown spots.
Remove from the tava and place on some kitchen roll. The bread should be nicely crisp with lovely soft spiced potatoes inside.

Served with

I love to open up the Parantha so you can see the potatoes inside place a blob of butter inside so it starts to melt with a hot mango pickle and a sweet cup on hot chai....just heavenly.

Nutritional information

Typical values*	per Serving
Calories	519
Fat (g)	4
of which saturates (g)	1
Carbohydrates (g)	96
of which sugars (g)	3
Fibre (g)	13
Protein (g)	20
Salt (mg)	805

*Based upon calculated values, supplied by myfitnesspal.com. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated.