Aloo Paratha - Gluten free

 Piping-hot crisp flatbreads stuffed with spiced, faintly sour mashed potatoes stuffing and relished with some tangy sour mango pickle. What is not to love about aloo paratha?
 An absolute favorite in our house. If I made it every day, my son would eat it every day, but I make it on Sundays or special occasions. Everyone loves it. Piping-hot crisp flatbreads stuffed with spiced, faintly sour mashed potatoes stuffing and relished with some tangy sour mango pickle. What is not to love about aloo paratha?
This recipe was again traditionally made with wheat flour. I tried a few blends from the store but could not get the right consistency, so I experimented and made my own. Follow the mixture as stated, gluten-free flours are tricky to work with, but if you treat them gently, they mold and work well in these recipes.
 I always make extra of these because most of the time, my kids want to take it for lunch, and I slice them like pizza wedges, and they enjoy hot sauce for school lunch. Even after some hours, the aloo paratha tastes delicious.
 Parathas are made with lots of love and affection. Serve them with cashew butter, and if needed, you can reduce the amount of oil when you roast them.
  ‘Aloo’ is the Hindi word for potatoes, and ‘paratha’ means an unleavened stuffed flatbread. So, paratha literally means potato-stuffed flatbreads or flatbread stuffed with potatoes. Enjoy !!

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

 For the flour ::

1 cup sorghum flour

  1/2 cup tapioca flour 

  1/2 teaspoon salt 

 1 teaspoon xanthan gum 

  1 table spoon oil 

 Water – 1/ 2 cup ,add slowly more if needed .

For Potato Stuffing

 4-5  medium potatoes – boiled and mashed
1 to 2 green chilies – chopped finely
¼ to ½ teaspoon red chilli powder 
1/2 tea spoon chat masala 
¼ to ½ teaspoon  garam masala powder
½ to 1 teaspoon amchur (dry mango powder)
1/2 teaspoon dry mint leaves 
 2 to 3 teaspoons finely chopped coriander leaves – optional
salt as required
 oil  for roasting parathas

Directions

 INSTRUCTIONS

Making Potato Stuffing

1. First, boil the potatoes and peel them. You can boil or steam the potatoes in a pressure cooker, steamer, or electric cooker.

2 . Chop and then mash the potatoes with a potato masher.

3. The potatoes should be mashed very well, and there should be no lumps or small pieces in them.

4. Now add the chopped green chilies, garam masala powder, red chili powder, dry mango powder chat masala, mint leaves, and salt.

5 . Mix the spice powders and green chilies with the mashed potatoes very well. Check the taste and add more salt or red chili powder, or dry mango powder as per your taste. 

For the dough 

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, except water. 

2 . Make a well in the center. Add salt, oil, and about half of the water.

3. Slowly add in water as you knead, making sure that the dough is medium soft. You may need to adjust the quantity of water a little. When I make the dough, I always think of PLAY DOUGH- not too dry, not too wet.

4. Knead well—all gluten-free flours require a little bit more care and extra kneading.

5. Drizzle a little oil on the dough to coat, cover, and allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes.

 Method to make the parathas 

1. Pinch a medium ball of dough. Roll and flatten it. Dust with some flour and roll it in a circle of about 5 inches in diameter.

2. Place the potato stuffing in the center, keeping about 2 t inches of space from the sides.

3. Take the edge and start pleating as well as bringing the pleats in the center.

4. Join the pleats together. The pleats have to be joined well, as otherwise there will be gaps while rolling and the filling comes out. 

5. If you see the filling, just take a small piece of dough and cover the gap. Roll to smoothen out the small amount of dough.

6. Press the pleats from the center.

7. Sprinkle some flour and roll this version of aloo paratha to about the same size as chapati or roti.

Roasting

1. On a hot Tava (tawa or skillet or griddle), place the rolled paratha.

2. The tawa or skillet should be hot and not at a low temperature. 

Cooking parathas at a low flame will harden them. Parathas ideally are crisp as well as soft.

3. When the base is partly cooked, flip the paratha.

4. Spread some oil on the partly cooked part.

5. Flip again, and this side has to be cooked more than the previous side, and you will see brown spots on the paratha.

6. Spread some oil on this side. A well-made and well-roasted aloo ka paratha will puff up.

7. Flip again once or twice till both the sides of aloo paratha are adequately cooked. You should see crisp brown spots on the paratha. 

8. You can also press the paratha edges with a spatula or spoon to be fried well. As some time, the paratha edges are not cooked well. 

9. Make all aloo paratha this way, my family eats them hot off the press, but you can stack them in a container and eat later.

10. Serve some extra cashew butter on the side, along with mango pickle or lemon pickle, or some vegan raita.

Enjoy !!