Indian cooking
Indian cooking / Dishes / Aloo Ke Parathe
Aloo Ke Parathe (Flatbread Stuffed with Spiced Potato)

Aloo Ke Parathe

Flatbread Stuffed with Spiced Potato
VegetarianOrigin PunjabiMakes 6 PARATHAS

Aloo ke parathe are wheat flatbreads stuffed with a soft, spiced mashed-potato filling and cooked on a griddle with butter until speckled. They taste savoury, lightly tangy and warm-spiced, with a soft potato centre.

Filling spices

9 gMixed into the potato filling (step 4)
01
Cumin seed · Jeeracoarsely ground
2.1 g1 teaspoon
spice
02
6 g2½ teaspoons
souring agent
Keep the cumin coarsely ground; add the cumin, amchoor and chilli powder to the filling.

Everything else

01
Whole wheat flour · Attaplus extra for dusting
300 g
flour
02
~0.3 gpinch
salt
03
40 g3 tablespoons
oil/fat
04
to taste
dairy
05
Potato · Alooboiled and crushed
600–900 g2–3 potatoes
vegetable
06
20 g5 cm
aromatic
07
1.5 g1 chilli
vegetable
08
4.5 g3 tablespoons
herb
09
to taste
salt

Method

  1. Mix 300 g wholewheat flour and 0.3 g salt in a bowl.
  2. Add 40.5 g vegetable oil and about 220 ml water; knead for 5–7 minutes to a soft, smooth dough.
  3. Cover the dough and leave it to rest while you make the filling.
  4. Put 600–900 g boiled, crushed potato in a large bowl. Add 20 g grated fresh ginger, 2 g finely chopped green bird’s eye chilli, 4.5 g finely chopped coriander leaves, salt to taste and the masala; mix well.
  5. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls.
  6. Flatten one ball and roll it on a lightly floured surface to a 7 cm disc.
  7. Cup the disc in your palm, put about 2 tbsp filling in the centre, pull the edges up to enclose it, seal well and flatten.
  8. Dust with flour and roll out to a 15 cm circle, keeping it thick enough not to split; reseal any small splits.
  9. Heat a flat griddle or heavy frying pan over a low heat and add 1 tsp butter.
  10. Shake excess flour off one paratha and put it in the pan; cook for 4–5 minutes.
  11. Brush melted butter over the surface, flip, and cook the second side for 4–5 minutes until browned in speckles and cooked through.
  12. Wrap cooked parathas in foil to keep warm and repeat with the rest.

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Whole wheat flour
  • Wholemeal flour

    Use the same weight; it is very close, but add water slowly as it can be coarser and absorb more.

  • Plain flour

    Use the same weight but reduce water by about 10%; the dough is softer and the flavour less nutty.

  • Flour

    Use the same weight as a plain-flour swap; reduce water slightly and expect a lighter, less wheaty result.

Vegetable oil
  • Peanut oil

    Use 1:1 by weight. Handles high-heat frying identically and introduces a very subtle, pleasant nuttiness.

  • Ghee

    Use 1:1 by weight. Yields a much richer, authentic aroma and a glossy, heavier mouthfeel.

  • Mustard oil

    Use 1:1 by weight. Heat until smoking, then cool slightly before cooking to temper its intensely pungent, sharp mustard kick.

Butter
  • Unsalted butter

    Use 100% of the weight. If the original recipe relies on salted table butter, add a pinch of salt to balance.

  • Ghee

    Use 80% to 85% of the weight. Ghee is pure butterfat with moisture removed; it yields a deeper, nuttier flavour and handles high heat better.

  • Vegetable oil

    Use 80% of the weight for frying or tempering. The dish loses sweet dairy richness but remains glossy and light.

Potato
  • Eggplant

    Use equal weight. Cut into large chunks; cooks down much faster (10-12 minutes) and softens into the sauce rather than staying starchy and firm.

  • Paneer

    Use 80% of the weight. Cube and add in the last 5-10 minutes of cooking; adds rich dairy protein instead of starchy bulk.

  • Dried chickpea

    Use 45% dry weight. Soak overnight and boil until fully soft before stirring into the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes.

Cumin seed
  • Ground cumin

    Use 70% of the weight; add with ground spices or sauce bases rather than hot oil tempering, where it scorches quickly and turns bitter.

  • Black cumin seeds

    Use equal weight for oil tempering. Delivers an earthy profile with an additional musky, smoky, and slightly bitter edge.

  • Fennel seed

    Use 60% of the weight for tempering; offers comparable warm aroma, but leans sweet and liquorice-like rather than savoury and earthy.

Fresh ginger
  • Ginger paste

    Use equal weight. Sauté in hot fat until the raw allium smell disappears; slightly wetter, but provides identical warmth and pungency.

  • Ground ginger

    Use 20% to 25% of the weight (1 g for every 4 to 5 g fresh). Stir into the gravy; adds peppery heat and warmth, though it misses the crisp, zesty kick of raw root.

Green bird's eye chilli
  • Bird's eye green chilli

    Use the same weight; heat and flavour are very close.

  • Green chilli

    Use 1.5 to 2 times the weight; deseed for less heat. Larger chillies are more watery.

  • Fresh green chilli

    Use 1.5 to 2 times the weight; chop finely and adjust heat by tasting.

Amchoor
  • Lemon juice

    Use 15 g (1 tbsp) for every 5 g of amchoor. Stir in at the very end off the heat; adds liquid and fresh citrus aroma rather than dry fruity tang.

  • Tamarind extract

    Use 75% of the weight, dissolved in a splash of warm water. Simmer briefly; darkens the gravy and provides a deeper, caramelised sourness.

Kashmiri chilli powder or mild paprika
  • Kashmiri chilli powder

    Use the same weight; this is the first half of the book's option and gives the best red colour with mild heat.

  • Mild paprika

    Use the same weight; add a pinch of cayenne pepper for warmth. Slightly less colour.

  • Paprika

    Use the same weight and add cayenne pepper to taste; works but is less aromatic.

Coriander leaves
  • Coriander (cilantro) or basil

    Use the same weight, choosing the coriander element if available. If only basil is available, expect a sweeter, more aniseed flavour.

  • Basil leaves

    Use the same weight. Basil is sweeter and more aromatic in a different way; add near the end so it keeps its perfume.

  • Coriander paste

    Use 1.5 times the weight and reduce other liquid slightly; it is less fresh and more concentrated, so taste before adding more.

Similar dishes

Bread Pakoda
Deep-Fried Potato Sandwiches
Bread Pakoda is crisp from deep-frying with a soft potato-pea centre and lemon-coriander lift, while this dish is soft, buttered and tangy from amchoor with warm cumin.
  • Same: Bread Pakoda shares a spiced potato filling with green chilli, ginger, Kashmiri chilli and coriander with this dish.
  • Different: Bread Pakoda uses white bread and a chickpea-flour batter, adds peas, mustard seed, asafoetida, curry leaf, turmeric and lemon, and is deep-fried, while this dish is a wholewheat flatbread griddled with butter and soured with amchoor.
Dabeli
Spiced Gujarati Potato Sandwich with Tamarind and Coconut
Dabeli tastes sweet, sour, spicy and crunchy, while this dish tastes savoury, lightly tangy and warm-spiced with a soft potato centre.
  • Same: Dabeli and this dish both use potato, cumin seed, coriander leaves, Kashmiri chilli powder or mild paprika, salt and vegetable oil.
  • Different: Dabeli is an assembled soft white roll sandwich with onion, lemon, tamarind chutney, sweet chilli sauce, coconut, peanuts, pomegranate and sev, and it lacks this dish's wholewheat flour, amchoor, fresh ginger and green bird’s eye chilli.
U.P.-Style Aloo Ki Sabzi
Potato Curry
It tastes creamy, gently spiced and mildly tangy with a pourable gravy, while this dish is savoury, warm-spiced and lightly tangy with a soft mashed-potato filling.
  • Same: It shares potato, cumin seed, green bird’s eye chilli, fresh ginger and coriander leaves with this dish.
  • Different: It adds Greek yoghurt, green peas, asafoetida, ground coriander and sugar, and lacks wholewheat flour, amchoor, Kashmiri chilli powder and butter, so it is a boiled diced-potato curry rather than a stuffed griddle flatbread.
Pao Bhaji
Mini Loaves with Tangy Vegetables
Pao Bhaji tastes richer and more tomato-lemon tangy with a soft mashed texture, while this dish tastes drier, wheaty and warm-spiced with a soft potato centre.
  • Same: Pao Bhaji shares potato, ginger, green chilli, coriander, salt and fat with this dish, and both are eaten with wheat bread.
  • Different: Pao Bhaji uses tomato, onion, garlic, turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala and lemon juice and simmers mashed vegetables in ghee or oil plus butter, while this dish uses amchoor and cumin seed in a potato stuffing and cooks wheat dough on a griddle; it lacks amchoor and cumin seed and is not a stuffed flatbread.