Parotha, The Making of

Batatyacha parotha, or aloo paratha, is one of our favorite parothas.

We're generally not very fussy about our meals. Breakfast served for dinner is just fine and leftovers from dinner for breakfast rock. So, batatyache parothe could very well be either breakfast or dinner. 1 cup of atta, 1 tsp of oil and a pinch of salt, kneaded into a medium-soft dough makes about 13-14 parothe. I knead the dough, cover it with a damp paper towel and let it rest while I get the stuffing ready. For the stuffing, I use about 5-6 medium boiled potatoes, mashed with a small clove of garlic, 1 tsp of red chilli powder, 1/8 tsp of turmeric powder and salt. I make this without garlic, too.

Start off with a small ball of dough. Your tava should be on the stove by now.

Roll it out some. I usually like to roll it out a little more than I need to.

Take a ball of the potato stuffing

And hide it in the dough, like so.

Press down on it gently to flatten it

Dust it with flour and turn it over so that the pleats are on the bottom.

Roll it out from the middle to the outside in a firm yet gentle motion. Do not flip it over.

Place it with the pleats facing up on the tava, to begin with, on a medium-high flame until it gets a few brown spots on the underside and starts puffing up a teeny bit. The latter depends entirely on how you roll it out so if it does not happen, don't fret.

Turn it over and cook the thicker side till it, too, has some brown spots. Take some ghee (5 drops or so) or melted butter and spread it quickly using a spoon on the parotha. Flip it over and do the same to the other side. Cook both sides for about a minute or so each...
...till you get this and serve immediately with chutney or pickle and raita.
This parotha is different from the aloo paratha found in Indian restaurants; it's rather delicate and much smaller in size.

Shivapriya has a fabulous tutorial on aloo parathas with much better pictures.
Luv2Cook has another version with tips on freezing parathas