Alloo pratha (bread stuffed with potato)

Ingredients

• Ingredients for filling :-
• 3 potatoes medium sized (peeled and cut into cubes)
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1tsp of finely chopped green chillies
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped coriander
• Salt to taste
• Ingredients for making Dough :-
• 3 cups of strong white flour
• Salt to taste
• Water to knead
• 3 tbsp of oil

Method

Step 1

Take a bowl, put in the flour, salt and add water little by little, kneading it into a dough such that it spring back and is not too sloppy. The dough should not stick to the bowl in which it is kneaded. Put a damp cloth over it and let it rest for 10-20 minutes. Make round balls and roll them out. Wheat flour comes in different varieties, from highly processed (white) to some with husks (brown). You can choose which suits best by trying them.

Step 2

Filling:- Wash and peel the skin of potatoes, dice them into cubes, In a pot put 4 cups of boiling water with ¼ tsp of salt and add diced potatoes boil them till they are tender, sieve them and let them cool, you can even mash them if they are warm with a hand masher just be careful not to burn yourself. Add onions, coriander leaves, green chillies, lemon and salt stirring it to form a nice mash. No lumps should be left of the potatoes or the paratha will tear. Heat the tawa (it is thick circular disc, made from cast iron, used in Asian cooking for bread) for 15 minutes on medium flame. If you don’t have tawa you can use ordinary non-stick frying pan, but then cook the paratha on a low flame in case of frying pan as the base of frying pan is thin). Lightly dust the worktop with flour. Divide the dough into small balls. Take a ball roll it into a small circle, place the filling (a table spoon full) on the flour sheet and fold the remaining dough or the flour sheet to make the sheet into a square shape parcels, the filling should be completely enclosed by the flour sheet. Sprinkle a little bit of flour over it and again carefully roll out the parcel such that it doesn’t tear. Roll the paratha until it forms a six inch wide square. Now put the square paratha on the tawa. Cool on one side till golden in colour and flip on the other side just when both sides are cooked and not burnt add one tbsp of oil. If generous, one can add a tsp more but not more than 2 tsp otherwise oil will be dripping when taken off the heat. Serve with pickle or any curry if desire or just simply have it on its own.

Variation

Instead of rolling square paratha take two dough balls roll them separately into circles. Place the filling on one and cover it with the other of same size and roll out, cut the sides to make a circle and press sides so that they don’t burst whilst cooking.