January 12, 2007

Alu Ka Parantha and The Three Things Meme./Stuffed Bread

I am not great with memes..I let it languish in my to-be-written folder till everybody in the blogging world has had their say and then I smile, thinking I escaped this one.
It is like playing passing the parcel and being the one who didn’t have to do anything. :) Writing about food is easy, writing about yourself is not. You have to be an extrovert to be able to let people in. Doesn’t come easy.
So this time, I put on some of my favorite hindi music, got my cuppa of Cardamom(Elakai) tea and sat down not to disappoint my taggers Coffee and Maheshwari.

T h e T h r e e T h i n g s M e m e:


Three things that make me laugh:
1. My son, my nephews and my nieces’ pranks and antics.
2. My better half!
3. A good movie.

Three things that make me cry:
Just three things? I cry for every thing, happy tears, frustrated tears, sad tears, angry tears…like someone() once said to me,” I can cry at least! These are my tears.”

Three things that scare me:
1. Driving in the rain at night.
2. Trafiic Police.. yeah, me too. I am more worried about my insurance premium going up than getting a ticket.
3. Things I can only worry about but can’t change.

Three things that I love:
1. My family-the one I was born into, the one I married into and everybody in it.
2. Cooking when I am not hungry.
3. Seeing a building seamlessly integrated with its environs.

Three things I don’t understand:
1. Why enough is never enough.
2. Why Priyadarshan is converting wonderful rustic mallu movies into non-contextual Hindi movies.
3. Why we take on more than we can physically do.

Three things on my desk:
1. My pens, erasers, scales, sketch pens, notebooks.
2. My latest cookbook.
3. My laptop and camera.

Three favorite foods
1. Soup, any kind.
2. Eggs in any form
3. Sweets, fruits, nuts.

Three beverages I drink regularly:
1. Black Tea w/ milk( maybe green tea if I am at work)
2. More tea.
3. Hot Jeeraka water..water boiled with cumin(jeera)

Three TV shows I watched/ books I read as a kid:
1.Amar Chitra Katha, Target and Marvel comics.
2. Books galore!
3. Fouji,Nukkad, Kachchi Dhoop, Mahabharatha!

Three fellow bloggers I would like to tag:
RP of My workshop
Anita of A Mad Tea Party
Nandita of Saffron Trail.

I did have fun writing this and I do hope now you three will carry on the baton from here and won't disappoint me.:)Now lets eat some Alu paranthas..I can almost smell the butter.

Alu Parantha


You will Need: For 6 Paranthas
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour or Durum Wheat Flour
3/4 cups Hot or warm water
1 tbsp Plain Yoghurt
2 Medium Potatoes
3/4 tsp Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp Dry Mango Powder(Amchoor) or 2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Chili Powder OR 2 tbsp finely chopped Green Serrano Chilies
1 1/2 tsp Salt
4 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
1/8 tsp Turmeric


Preparation

1. The potatoes should be boiled, peeled, mashed and cooled to room temperature. Take care not to have a drop of moisture left in the potatoes. That makes the parantha soggy. I usually bake it in the microwave in the baked potato setting. Then there is no additional moisture added to the potato.

2. Put flour, yoghurt and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour half the water in the center. Use a spoon or hand to mix the flour and water and knead it well, adding water little by little till the dough seems non sticky and soft. When the dough is well kneaded, it will feel elastic and silky smooth. To test the dough, press it lightly with a fingertip. If it springs back, it is ready. Spread a very thin film of oil (by hand) on the dough and cover it for at least 15 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to absorb the water and makes it pliable enough to spread with the stuffing. Cover with a wet towel so the dough does not dry out.

3. Mix the mashed potatoes with all the spices and taste it for spice, sourness and saltiness. Add more spice if needed. Make small balls of the mixture.

4. Divide the dough into 6 equal size balls. With your hand, flatten each ball to a 3-4 inch round with the edges thinner than the center. Place the potato ball on it and gather the edges around the stuffing to form a secure round again.

5. Flatten these balls slightly and roll into a 6 inch circle. While rolling, do not apply excessive pressure. Never roll to the outside. It will only squish out the stuffing. Try rolling from the edges to the center in an even pressure to avoid the stuffing from spilling out. The stuffing ball should be dry and 3/4 the size of the dough ball and it won't come out.

6. Pre-heat the griddle. Maintain medium high heat and place a parantha on it. After about a minute, flip it and allow it to cook on the other side. When the surface looks opaque and starts rising up, spread a little oil or butter and cook over low heat on both sides till golden brown.
Serve with chutney or yogurt, and Indian pickles

24 comments:

indosungod said...

Shaheen interesting reading your TTT meme.
Alu Ka Parantha looks fantistic, it is also one of my favorites, ready to eat it any time. I am on my way to your house....

Unknown said...

Thanks for not disappointing..:)
You too are scared of trafffic police...hahaha..you know i can sense a police car even 2 miles away...:)Aloo parathas look delicious...

Anonymous said...

hello shaeen.i have asked you a doubt in the malabar chicken curry post.Can you pls have a look,and give me a reply.
Thanks

umm s

Gattina Cheung said...

Shaheen, I agree, writing meme just not easy...
About using whole wheat flour in this recipe (and some others), I have 2 questions *blush*
First. Did you use the whole wheat flour that we normally get at western supermarkets? Or durum whole wheat (is it call chappati flour)? Although they both have "whole wheat" in their names, they don't taste the same (I like the flavor of durum). Can they be interchange in any paratha recipes?
Second. Did I see a dish of pickle in your photo? It looks so good. Would you recommend some veg that I can easily get in NJ for making pickle? Thank you so much in advance Shaheen!
Last but not the least, your paratha is tempting me! Moist and soft-chew!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

yummy alu ka parantha. a great recipe Shaheen. I have to give this a try. I love paranthas. Your little meme was a interesting read!

sra said...

Hi Shaheen, nice that you let us see a bit of you through your meme. I liked your line about happy tears, sad tears and more. Also, not sure about Priyadarshan movies but I used to want to watch Malayalam movies - now that we get DVDs with sub-titles, I borrowed quite a few - but I was in for a huge disappointment - they are as gaudy and noisy as any other Hindi or Telugu/Tamil movies, and no story to speak of, either!

FH said...

Loved the MeMe!Every Indian seems to have read Amar Chitra Katha,my kids too here!
Aloo Paratha looks fab!:)

Shah cooks said...

Indo, was that u that rang my door bell? :) u are welocme anyday!

Maheshwari,I had fun writitng it.wish I had ur radar.I just keep glancing at all the mirrors.

Umms, I have replied to ur query in the curry post. Do check it out.

Gattina,I sense you are going to try making this. :)Do use durum flour as the supermarket Whole wheat comes out too rough.
The pickle(I am ashamed!)is store bought Sanjeev Kappor's mixed vegetable pickle. U could make pickles with mangoes, radishes,carrots, lemons,..any vegetable that doesn't disintegrate easily.

Meeta, Paranthas are so good straight off the flame!Thanks for reading my meme.Would u like ot join it?

Sra,Thanks for reading thru it. U have to be a keralite to appreciate the subtle humour.Its very localised jokes, referring to the daily conversations and puns. I guess that was a very egoistic comment to make. Subtitle don't do justice to the movies.But I do know alot of my friends disagree with me and thats ok.

Asha, my Indian history comes from amar chitra katha. where did u get it for ur kids., I would liek to get for my son.

Sri said...

Shaheen those aloo parthas look very soft and tempting too!!! Can I have one partha's please!!!:)

Riot said...

I too don't understand why Priyadarshan is doing what he is doing :)

Was a big time Fouji fan :)

btw..How is the book, Omnivore's dilemma ? Heard many good reviews and not so good reviews.

Anonymous said...

Hey Shaheen - aloo paranthas are favourites with us as well. I have to wait some more for the kerala parotta..? :)

The link to my blog is not working (from your post)- good you let me know. Shall write soon.

Nidhi said...

Nothing like Aloo parantha in this whole world... Isn't it?? I know you agree with me.

Nice reading your MEME... :)

Thanks, Nidhi.

Gattina Cheung said...

Shaheen, thanks for the reply! Yes, will try soon, as I like everything of your recipe :D And thanks for the recommendation on pickle, I think I'll first try mango... cross my fingers, hehee.

Revathi said...

Hmm nice meme. I love the omam water typically served in kerala hotels.... is it omam or cumin ???

Bong Mom said...

Shaheen, loved reading your meme, yeah even at this time of the night.
The third thing that scares you is so so true, it's always in my mind.
And how did I ever forget "Kachchi Dhoop". Remember the title song ? Used to love that.
The Aloo Paratha is delicious

USHA said...

Hi,

This is my first visit,wow !what a cool collections for receipes over here.
I liked and was interesting readingyour Meme....

Krithika said...

Interesting meme. Alu parantha looks delicious !

Saleem Pothiwala said...

Aloo ke parathe... achaar and yoghurt... a perfect Sunday morning :-)

SK said...

Hi Shaheen,
Ive been reading up on almost all of your posts and must say im at an utter loss as to which mouth watering delicacy i must try over this weekend...

Your kerala porotta looks so yummy..wat better way to impress hubby dear ;) hope it turns as good as yours.. :) thanks so much for the recipes and yeah, lovely meme too

Anonymous said...

alu paratas always brings back the memories of the duboius punjabi dhaba we used to frequent during our hostel days. but the parata,kadi n lassi was cheap n kindda authentic in taste.
thanx for the outside in rolling tip.
lov
ki

Anonymous said...

Now that was a wonderful meme!!!! Thank you for not disappointing me!!!! :) And the alu parathas look yum!!! even I can smell the butter till here :P

Vini K said...

Hi Shaheen,nice meme!

Anonymous said...

Assalamu alaikum Shaheen,

Although an occasional visitor to your blogs, I had't tried any of your recipes as yet. Last night I made your alu paratha and it was great mashaAllah. I have tried making alu paratha twice before, but they would come out all torn and messy. With your wonderful guidelines, I knew how to roll the parathas well and they came out so neat and round!

However, when I tried to cook the parathas, they stuck to the pan. I had to heat another pan with quite a bit of oil.

Thanks for the recipe. I'm really glad that I was finally able to make my fav alu paratha.

Umm Maryam

Shah cooks said...

umm Mariyam,Thanks for taking time out and writing to me.
Either your pan must be too hot or too cold. You shouldn't have to put oil at all in the beginning while cooking the parantha.Do try again and let me know.