Aloo Phudina Paratha

I really like the flavour of mint leaves! Be it soups, mocktails, subzis, breads.. or whatever! It just lends a beautiful flavour to the final dish.

I can talk about food for hours especially if the one I am talking to is a foodie like me! So one of such conversations led to my friend sharing this recipe with me as her office packed lunches!

Potatoes (Aloo) are a versatile base to experiment with different flavours. Although I had tried Aloo Phudina Paratha in a dhaaba in Amritsar a few years back I never made it at home! Theirs was mainly potatoes, mint, onions. Whereas mine was sans onions and with little methi leaves (fenugreek) instead.

I don't like potatoes much but with mint I had to try!

And hey! a quick fact: Mint aids digestion and has relaxing properties. So this is another reason why you should try this!

So here it is:

Serves: 3-4 Makes: 15 Parathas. Preparation Time: 15 mins. Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

For Filling:
350 gms Potatoes (6 medium sized), boiled
2 tbsp fenugreek/methi leaves, washed and chopped (optional)
1½ tbsp garlic (5 cloves), crushed (optional)
1 tbsp ginger, grated
¾ cup mint leaves, washed and chopped
1 tbsp green chilli paste
1 tsp Garam masala (optional)
1 tsp Kitchen magic masala (optional)
1 tsp Amchur (dry mango) powder
Salt as per taste
1 tsp oil
1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)

For Dough:

2 cups sifted wheat flour
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp salt
Water as required

Some dry flour for dusting
Oil or Ghee (Clarified Butter) for roasting

Method:

1. Prepare the dough by mixing all the ingredients under 'For Dough' and knead into a soft dough. Cover it and let it sit.

2. Heat oil in a small and shallow pan, add jeera. Once it crackles, add the methi leaves. Stir and let it cook for about 1 min and put it off heat.

3. In another mixing bowl, mash the potatoes and add all the remaining ingredients along with the methi leaves and mix well. (I added the amchur after taking the picture! oops!)

4. Divide this mixture into equal sized balls.

5. Now, divide the dough into equal sized balls. Roll each ball into a flat bread/roti and place the stuffing. Close it like a dumpling and roll it  using some flour kept for dusting.

6. Dry roast it on a griddle, once light pink/brown spots appear change sides and roast using ghee or oil as preferred.

7. Serve hot with raita or flavoured curd! Enjoy!!

Notes & Tips:

1. For Jains:

Substitute the potatoes for raw bananas/plantain (2 -3 medium sized). Skip the garlic. Proceed as it is.

2. Alternatively, the fenugreek can be skipped completely. If doing so slightly increase the quantity of mint.

3. You may also sauté some onions with jeera (and or methi) and add to the filling.

Carrot & Corn Parathas

Some weeks back I made carrot & corn parathas. A leftover of sorts, so thought lets try! And it turned out to be quite tasty!

I paired it with Phudina Raita which went well with the parathas. This dish is good for breakfast, lunch or dinner! 

So here's the recipe of the quick & yummy parathas:

Makes 10-12 parathas. Preparation Time: 15 mins. Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

For Parathas Filling:
1½ cup carrots, grated
1 cup sweet corn, boiled, half crushed
1 medium sized potato, boiled
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp green chilli paste or finely chopped
1 tsp ginger paste or grated ginger
a pinch of sugar
salt as per taste

For Dough:
1½ cup sifted wheat flour
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

For Roasting:
Ghee or Oil

For Garnish:
Few sprigs of Coriander or Cilantro

For Raita:
1½ cup Yoghurt/Curd
10-12 mint leaves (phudina), finely chopped
salt as per taste

Method:

1. Grate the carrots & half crush the boiled corn. Boil the potato. 

  

2. Mix in all the ingredients under 'For Parathas Filling'. We use the potatoes for binding so use accordingly.
Divide into equal sized balls. 

3. Now make the dough for parathas using the ingredients under 'For Dough'. 

4. Roll out rotis and make parathas as usual with the stuffing.

5. Roast it with ghee or oil as preferred. 

6. For the raita, beat the curd, add the chopped mint leaves and salt.

7. Serve the parathas hot with cold raita.

Notes & Tips:

1. For Jains: Substitute the boiled potatoes for mashed boiled bananas and proceed. 


PS: Excuse the pictures as they are from my cellphone. 

Capsicum & Onion Paratha

Here is my second recipe. Capsicum & Onion stuffed paratha with our simple basic Indian raita.

Makes 10 small parathas. Preparation time: 20 mins. Cooking time: 20 mins.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 cups sifted wheat flour
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp salt
1 cup water approx.

For the filling:

2 medium sized onions, finely chopped
1 medium sized capsicum, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp cabbage, finely chopped
60 gms or 3/4 cup paneer (cottage cheese), grated
1 boiled potato, mashed
2 tbsp spring onion greens (optional)
2 tbsp green chilli & ginger paste
3-4 tbsp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp jeera
salt, garam masala & pepper as per taste
ghee (clarified butter) for roasting

For Raita:

2 cups fresh curd
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp roasted jeera powder
2 tsp chilli powder
few sprigs of coriander

Method:

1. Finely chop the onions, capsicum and cabbage. Grate the paneer & chop the spring onion greens (if available) and the mint leaves.

2. Heat the oil in a pan/kadai and add jeera. As the jeera starts spluttering, add the onions & spring greens and sauté till its soft. 

  

3. Once translucent, add in the capsicum, cabbage, green chillies & ginger paste, salt, garam masala and pepper. At this stage, the mixture will start leaving water. Let it cook for about 2-5 mins until the water has dried out. 

4. Now we mix in the mashed potatoes & paneer and let it cook for another minute. Put it off the heat and let it cool. We do not want soggy parathas that are difficult to roll out. 

5. While the mixture cools, we make the dough. Take the sifted flour, oil & salt and knead into a soft dough ( almost like chapati dough) using water as required. 

 

6. Leave the dough aside. The mixture which should be cool by now, add to it the freshly chopped mint leaves. To retain the fresh yet subtle flavour we add them at the end.

7. For matter of convenience, I divided the dough & filling into 10 equal portions. I then put in the stuffing and left aside to roll. 

  

8. We start rolling the parathas & roast it on a griddle using ghee until crisp and cooked both sides.

Serve hot with the raita! Enjoy!! 

Notes & Tips:

1. You can replace the paneer for cheese as a variation and skip garam masala and add more pepper. 

2. I have used potatoes as a binder, but you can increase the quantity of paneer if you do not want to use them.

3. For my Jain readers, omit the onions & potatoes, increase the quantity of cabbage & paneer and enjoy!

4. Paneer is a low fat option, hence, diet watchers can use low fat oil/butter instead of ghee for roasting!