Sunday, December 28, 2008

Aloo Paratha

So . . . this is even more of a giant guesstimate, since I’m trying to recall all this from yesterday, when a new friend very nicely let me peer over his shoulder while he was making it. However, it was amazingly delicious and I didn’t want to forget it, so just consider it to be more of a jumping-off point than an actual recipe!

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour
Corn flour
Potatoes
Cumin
Chili powder
Salt
oil

For the dough:
Mix together equal parts whole wheat flour and corn flour. Add water in small amounts, kneading with hands, until dough is a soft and manageable ball – about 10-15minutes. My coworkers tell me that if you don’t knead enough, your bread will end up hard, so don't even think about getting lazy on this one. Let the dough ball rest for about an hour

For the filling:
Boil and mash some potatoes. Add cumin, chili powder, and salt to taste.

After the dough has gotten a good little rest, knead it again for a few minutes. Then, break off maybe a 2-inch ball. While holding it in both hands, stick your thumb into the center and move it outwards, flattening the dough out. Rotate the ball and continue – kind of like you’re molding a little bowl. Do this until you can about fit your fist into the dough-bowl. Scoop some of the potato mixture into the center, and close the edges of the dough around it, so you have a little dough-ball filled with potato yumminess.

Heat a nonstick pan over a medium-high flame. As it's heating, roll out the dough-ball with a rolling pin till it’s maybe a quarter of an inch think (maybe even a tiny bit thinner?). Ideally, the potato filling should stay inside the dough. Plop the paratha onto the pan and let it cook for about 2 minutes; it should start to puff up a teeny bit. Then, with a pastry brush or a spoon, spread a little oil evenly over the top of the paratha. Flip the paratha and repeat the oil-brushing on the other side. Cook for several minutes, flipping every once in a while until each side turns golden brown.

Serve hothothot with vegetable curry, dal, raita – y’know, general yumminess. So. Friggin’. Good.

2 comments:

Laurel said...

"Mix together equal parts whole wheat flour and corn flour. Add water in small hard, so don't even think about getting lazy on this one. Let the dough ball rest amounts, kneading with hands, until dough is a soft and manageable ball – about 10-15minutes. My coworkers tell me that if you don’t knead enough, your bread will end up for about an hour."

hey li! correct me if i'm wrong but i think your recipe got a little switched up somehow and this paragraph is a wee bit wonky now. should it read like this:

Mix together equal parts whole wheat flour and corn flour. Add water in small amounts, kneading with hands, until dough is a soft and manageable ball – about 10-15minutes. My coworkers tell me that if you don’t knead enough, your bread will end up hard, so don't even think about getting lazy on this one. Let the dough ball rest for about an hour.

ps i love you SO much and this sounds absolutely fabulous. i'm going to give it a shot this weekend and i promise to report back on how it goes...

Lisa/Laurel said...

Ha!!! I kind of wanted to leave the paragraph as is because it was so hilarious, but then I decided to fix it. I don't know what happened . . . I must've done a really bizarre copy and paste somewhere!!