Bathua Paratha (Bathua Aloo Paratha)

Pre-Work to Prepare Ingredients

1. Blanch the leaves by adding them to boiling water for 5 minutes and straining them or steaming them in an instant pot for 0 minutes at low pressure.
2. Boil potatoes in a pressure cooker or instant pot. The time needed to boil varies with the size of the potato. Once boiled, peel the skin and mash the potatoes. Keep aside.

Steps to make Bathua-Aloo Filling:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, hing, green chilies, and ginger.
2. Sauté for a few seconds, and then add blanched bathua leaves and mashed boiled potatoes.
3. Continue sautéing until the leaves are a little dry. This will take 15 to 20 minutes, but keep stirring for even roasting or filling. Switch off the heat and add all the spices.
4. Mix all the spices and keep the filling aside to cool down. Start working on the dough while the filling is still cooling.

Steps for making the Dough:

1. Take flour in a deep bowl or flat dish. Add ½ teaspoon salt. Make a hole in the center of the flour and start adding warm milk/water gradually . You can use water also, but I use milk because it makes the dough softer.
2. Start incorporating the liquid into the dry flour.
3. Once all the dry flour is wet, start kneading using the knuckles.
4. Keep kneading until you get a smooth texture. A well-kneaded dough becomes smoother and glutinous. This typically takes 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Once you get the smooth texture of the dough, drop a few drops of oil and knead one last time. The dough needs to be softer than the roti dough.

Steps for making Stuffed Paratha:

1. Divide the bathua aloo filling into equal balls. Next, divide the dough into lemon size balls. For a well-filled paratha ,one portion of the filling should be about 1.5 times larger than the dough ball.
2. Start pre-heating the griddle on medium heat. Take one piece of dough and roll it into a 3” flat circle which must be thick in the center and thin on the edges.
3. Now take the rolled dough circle into your hand in a concave shape. Place one ball of filling into it. Press it to make sure it hugs the dough nicely.
4. Start getting together the edges of the dough towards the center to close the filling inside the dough.
5. Twist it and if there is any extra dough, then tear it apart to ensure that the rolled paratha will not become very doughy in the center.
6. Now press it lightly to flatten it out, dust it into dry flour and start rolling it out gently with light hands.
7. Continue rolling till you reach the desired size and thickness.
8. Place the rolled Bathua Aloo Paratha on the preheated griddle and cook until it starts to get little brown spots on the bottom.
9. Flip it, smear ghee, and cook the paratha until it is cooked through to make it golden brown and crisp.
10. Keep flipping the paratha during the above process. Once done, remove it from the tawa and transfer it to a perforated surface/mesh to ensure it doesn’t get soggy because of the steam.
11. Proceed to make the remaining parathas, similarly, and serve hot.