Aloo ka Parantha

Aloo ka Parantha is a staple Punjabi breakfast. My sister (Anjali) cooks it almost everyday because that's what my brother-in-law (Dinesh) likes to eat for breakfast. According to him, it's not breakfast if there are no paranthas. And we are Himachali!

Everyone in India loves paranthas. They're just so darn delicious.

Here is a recipe I learned from my sister (husband's brother's wife), Astha, in the early days of my marriage. I had never cooked paranthas before and I had the privilege of having Astha teach it to me when she and Ankur Bhaiyya (my brother-in-law) came to Utah to visit us. She is an incredible cook. I'll be seeing her soon at the end of this month and hopefully learn more cool things to cook. 

Here's how to make aloo ka parantha:

Ingredients:

2 cups Atta (whole-grain wheat flour)

6 medium Potatoes boiled

1 tsp Ajwain (carom seeds or bishop's weed)

Half an onion finely chopped (you may omit this if you don't like onions)

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Anardana Powder (ground dried pomegranate) -- (it's okay if you don't have this)

1 tsp Chaat Masala

1 tsp Aamchur Powder

Salt to taste

Method:

For Potato Mix:

1. Peel and boil potatoes. Once they are properly boiled, use a potato masher and mash them well. 

2. Once you have your mashed potatoes, add the chopped onions and all the spices (ajwain, garam masala, chili powder, anardana powder, chaat masala, aamchur powder, salt). Mix everything together to have a nice blend of spiced mashed potatoes. You should taste check at this point to make sure the mix tastes good. Add ingredients accordingly. 

For Atta:

1. Take your atta flour in a big bowl, add water accordingly and knead to make a dough. If you've ever made pizza dough, you'll get the idea. If not, you'll know when the dough is workable. If it gets too soft, add more atta. If it's too hard, put a little more water. 

For Parantha:

1. Make two small (3 inch) balls out of the dough. 

2. Cover in more atta to keep it from sticking to hands and on surface.

3. One a clean surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into two small discs (about 6 in.).

4. Now put a sufficient amount of the mashed potatoes mix onto one of the circles.

This is how it should look.

5. Now put the empty disc on top of the circle with the potatoes and press the sides to seal it completely.

6. With the rolling pin, roll the discs out to make one big circle.

...Into one big circle (now called parantha)

Start rolling out the small circles...

Note: Make sure the sides have been rolled out well; try to even it out. We don't want too much flour on the sides because then it won't cook evenly. Also, before rolling it out into a big circle, make sure you've sprinkled some atta flour onto the surface to keep the dough from sticking.

7. Put the parantha on a hot flat cast iron skillet (tawa). Once you start seeing bumps on the top, flip the parantha to cook the opposite side of it.

8. Now start putting butter (or oil), on top of the parantha (especially on the edges) and flip again. 

9. Butter the other side and press with a spatula to cook properly.

This is how it should start to look in a little bit. Once it starts to brown on both sides and starts to look crispy, it's done. Be generous with the amount of butter you put -- it will be yummy!

But if you feel like being healthy, don't cook it with butter. Cook it dry and then use a little bit of butter when you eat.

I'd say cook it once a month with a lot of butter. That won't hurt anyone (tee hee hee). 

Have your paranthas with some raita (spiced yogurt) and mango pickle! 

Enjoy!

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