Aloo Paratha

“Mashed potatoes, a host of spices, dough, ghee or butter”. If you say these words to any person from north India the first words to come to his or her mind would be - “Aloo Paratha”.

The dish has its origins in India, and it is popular all over the country. It’s eaten regularly in most parts of India especially in the northern, western, and central part of India. It is well-liked in the south too but it’s eaten less frequently there.

The main ingredients for this rather simple but much relished dish are mashed aloo or potatoes, salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, ghee or butter, and wheat flour.

Let’s have a look at how to make this mouthwatering dish -

To start, make dough out of wheat flour. Mix the spices with mashed potatoes to make the stuffing. Make small balls of dough and stuff the mash potatoes in it. Press down on it to make it round. Then cook it on a hot tawa or a pan with ghee or butter.

You can serve it with Indian pickle, chutney, or butter, and its best had with a full glass of lassi which is a drink made from curd.

It is commonly served during breakfast and it is often regarded as a heavy meal, as opposed to something light like a couple of chapatis but people living in north and west India have it at any time of the day.

Aloo paratha or stuffed paratha as it is more commonly known is also a relished dish in neighboring countries like Nepal and Tibet.

We all like spicy food and it is one of the dishes where you can add the spices according to your taste, there is no set quantity. People innovate and make it in many different ways including by adding onions, green chilies, cheese, coriander, etc.

There are many other Indian dishes that are almost as tasty but aloo paratha is at a different level altogether.

“What I say is, if a man likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow”.  

Writer: Pragati Gupta