Aloo Paratha (Potato Stuffed Flatbreads)

I took an Indian bread making class at a local community center about a year and a half ago. My friend Amina talked me into taking the class with her and I agreed mainly because I wanted to learn how to make naan. We did not learn how to make naan. The woman teaching the class was great - she was preparing chai for us as we walked in, and she showed us how to make a chickpea curry so we'd have something to eat with all the bread we were making. Unfortunately for me, she started the class by saying, "I bet you're all here to learn how to make naan. We're not going to make naan." She says non-commercial ovens can't get hot enough to cook the naan properly and that it's not worth trying at home because it will never be as good as you get in a restaurant. Bummer. 

But the breads we did make were delicious. Roti, paratha stuffed with a spicy potato filling, deep-fried poori - they were all so delicious we almost didn't need the chickpea curry. Almost. That was really good, too! I came home with no leftovers for Matt, and to make up for it, I promised him I'd recreate some of the magic at home. Lucky for us, there are two Indian grocery stores within a half a mile of our place so I was easily able to pick up the Indian whole wheat flour that my teacher insisted was necessary, as well as some of the harder to find spices I'd need. 

I told Matt I'd make him Aloo Paratha - potato stuffed flat bread. It's a simple dough, rolled thin with a spicy potato stuffing and pan-fried on a hot griddle. It seemed so easy when my teacher did it - she rolled the dough into perfectly round circles, stuffed it, and was somehow able to roll it paper thin again without the stuffing poking out. And, under her tutelage, I was able to do it, too, while I was there. I haven't had as much success at home. I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not sure what. I think it might be the 30+ years of experience making these that my teacher has on me. Mine are still good, they just look less attractive. I think I'm getting better, though. I've made them a number of times since my class, and I think they're getting better. 

The Indian whole wheat flour is different from American whole wheat flour - it's a much finer grind, almost powdery, and it makes a softer dough. It's mixed with oil and water - almost too much water, you want the dough to be very soft - and left to rest for a while. The stuffing is mashed potatoes mixed with minced onion, a jalapeño, some spices, cilantro, and lime juice. I'm thinking next time I'll grate the onion to help it mix into the filling a little better. My teacher was adamant that we use Indian chili powder, not the American kind. The Indian kind is just powdered red chile peppers, with none of the additives in chili powder. It definitely has more of a kick, so be careful how you use it! For my money, the lime juice is what makes the stuffing. Yum! 

So you roll the dough into little circles, put a bit of stuffing in the center, and seal up the edges and roll it thin again. Without tearing the dough so the stuffing comes through. Somehow. The breads are fried on a hot skillet or griddle using a generous amount of ghee (clarified butter). I've never actually used the ghee at home, I just use vegetable oil. My teacher said that was an acceptable substitute, and that means I don't have to worry about the jar of ghee going bad before I can use it all. 

The only downside to these is that it's kind of a labor of love to make them. I suppose you could make the stuffing ahead of time, but the real time sucker here is rolling all the breads out individually and then cooking them individually. I keep the cooked ones in a warm oven until they're all done. And if you want, you can skip the stuffing and just cook the dough as is (that's what roti is). 

Garden Party!

Every year we start a garden, and every year it gets slightly better. Don't let that fool you - I am far from being good at gardening. But the garden is progressing. It started out in the little patch of dirt in front of our place, but it's really shady there thanks to the neighbor's beautiful dogwood tree so the garden didn't really do much. Nothing died, but nothing really grew either. Last year we set up a container garden on our deck since we get the most sun there. That worked better, and the zucchini plants grew really well and flowered constantly, but alas, no actual zucchinis grew. I learned a lot about zucchini flowers last summer - there are male flowers and female flowers and you need both to make a zucchini. My plants had only one kind of flower (I think they were male) and so nothing ever grew. They looked good, though, until they got hit by some kind of zucchini fungus and died really quickly. 

The seeds of our future harvest