BM# 102 : Week 3, Day 1
Theme : Restaurant recreations

When we were growing up, the culture of eating outside wasn’t there. In fact, eating outside was considered as a last option when there is absolutely no other way out. There were two main reasons for this -1) there weren’t main clean and neat hotels then. 2) affordability. It was only after we got jobs and moved out of our home, that we started eating out.

My brother moved out when he got a job in Bangalore. The couple of times that I visited him, he had taken me to home style Punjabi dhabas near his place. The fare would be simple – couple varieties of parathas and maybe some curries. We have never looked at the Curries there. We would order aloo parathas most of the time and relish it with thick delicious yogurt and the pickle.

My husband wants a curry for parathas, where as I feel that the curry takes the limelight off the paratha. Aloo parathas are easy to make and there is no one single recipe to make this. Every household has its own variations but the end product is always delicious. If you are making parathas for the first time, it’s a good idea to watch some videos first. And also remember that rolling out rotis gets better with practice. So don’t be disheartened if the first few parathas tend to be a little difficult to make.

Read on for the recipe while.

Ingredients:

For the dough

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon oil, optional
• Salt as needed
• Water for kneading the dough

For the filling:

• 4 medium potatoes, boiled and peeled
• 2 teaspoons of oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon aamchur
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• Salt as needed

Method:

In a big bowl, add the flour. Add oil and slowly kneed together, adding water in steps to make a dough. Stop adding water when the dough comes together and kneed until it’s smooth.Set aside and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Peel and mash the boiled potatoes. There shouldn’t be any big lumps. Keep aside.

You can add all the masalas and the chopped onions to the potato mix directly, but I like to sauté the onions before that. It’s an optional step. Sauté the onions and ginger garlic paste in oil and once the onions turn pink, add the masalas. Turn off the heat and mix it in.

Add the mashed potatoes and mix everything well.

Take a lemon sized ball of the dough and roll it using a rolling pin into a 4″ size roti. You might have to use some flour to the rolling surface so that the dough doesn’t stick to it. Now Take a lemon sized ball of the filling and keep it in the middle.

Bring the edges together so that the filling gets enclosed inside the dough.

Seal the edges by pinching together so that the filling doesn’t come outside.

Roll this again using some flour to a big paratha.

Cook the paratha in heated pan and brush it with some ghee. While the paratha is cooking on the stove, you can start rolling and filling the next paratha.

Once the bottom is cooked, flip it and cook the other side too. Brush with more ghee if you prefer. Take off the heat once it’s cooked and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the recipe from other Blogging Marathoners.