Aloo paratha and lachha paratha: how to make paratha at home

Paratha (also spelt parantha) is an Indian flatbread of wholemeal atta flour, cooked on a tawa or frying pan with ghee or oil. Unlike chapati, it has layers or a filling and more fat. The two most popular kinds are aloo paratha, stuffed with spiced potato, and lachha paratha, with many thin layers. Both are easy to make in Poland with flour and ghee from an Indian shop.

Paratha, chapati, naan: the difference

• Chapati (roti): a thin atta flatbread, cooked in a dry pan, with no fat in the dough.
• Paratha: thicker, with layers of ghee or a filling, cooked with fat. More filling, often eaten for breakfast.
• Naan: a bread of white wheat flour, raised with yeast or yoghurt, traditionally baked in a tandoor oven.

Recipes for chapati and naan are in roti, chapati and naan.

Which flour to use in Poland

Atta is finely ground wholemeal wheat flour. In a Polish shop the Indian brands are labelled "mąka pszenna razowa" (wholemeal wheat flour) next to the word atta. Ordinary Polish white flour (typ 450 or typ 500) gives a softer, less fragrant paratha. If you have no atta, half white flour and half Polish wholemeal flour (mąka razowa) comes closer to the original.

Paratha dough (makes 6)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (about 260 g) atta flour,
• half a teaspoon of salt,
• 1 tablespoon oil or ghee,
• about 3/4 cup lukewarm water,
• ghee or oil for cooking.

Method:

1. Mix the flour with the salt and oil.
2. Add the water a little at a time and knead until the dough is soft and smooth but not sticky (about 5 minutes).
3. Cover the dough and rest it for 20 to 30 minutes.

Aloo paratha recipe

Filling:

• 3 medium potatoes, boiled in their skins and cooled,
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped,
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger,
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander,
• 1 teaspoon stuffed parantha masala, or half a teaspoon garam masala and half a teaspoon amchur,
• salt to taste.

Method:

1. Peel the potatoes and grate them or mash them well. The filling must have no lumps, or they will tear the dough.
2. Add the chilli, ginger, coriander, spice and salt. Mix.
3. Divide the dough and the filling into 6 portions each.
4. Roll a ball of dough into a 10 cm round. Put the filling in the middle.
5. Gather the edges over the filling, pinch them together and flatten the ball with your palm.
6. Dust with flour and roll gently into a 16 to 18 cm round.
7. Heat a frying pan or tawa over a medium heat. Put the paratha in and cook for about a minute, until bubbles appear.
8. Turn it over, spread a teaspoon of ghee on top, turn again and spread the other side. Press with a spatula until both sides are golden with brown spots.

Serve aloo paratha hot with butter, yoghurt and pickle. Our guide to Indian pickle (achar) explains which jar to open.

Lachha paratha recipe (layered)

1. Take a ball of dough and roll it very thin, to about 25 cm across.
2. Brush with a teaspoon of melted ghee and dust lightly with flour.
3. Fold it back and forth like a paper fan, into a strip about 2 cm wide.
4. Stretch the strip slightly and coil it into a spiral. Tuck the end underneath.
5. Flatten the spiral with your palm and roll it gently into a 15 to 16 cm round.
6. Cook like aloo paratha, with ghee on both sides.
7. Squeeze the hot paratha lightly from the sides with your hands (careful, it is hot) so the layers open up.

Frozen paratha

Ready-made frozen paratha (in Polish "mrożona paratha") is a raw flatbread separated by sheets of plastic. Do not thaw it. Put it in a hot, dry frying pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until golden and the layers separate. The fat is already in the dough, so you do not need to add any.

Where to buy paratha ingredients in Poland

The spice for the filling is MDH stuffed parantha masala. Aashirvaad atta 5 kg and Amul ghee are the base of the dough. If you are short of time, there is RN Brand frozen paratha. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders online.