Guyanese Aloo Paratha (Potato Roti)

Guyanese aloo paratha or potato roti is a deliciously layered flatbread stuffed with spiced, seasoned mashed potatoes. Enjoy it plain, with pepper sauce, or as a yummy side dish to your favorite curry or stews.

Aloo Paratha

My mom made potato rotis or aloo parathas only on weekends during my childhood. These thin, stuffed roti always glistened when fresh off the tawa. She kept the scallions whole but ground up the rest of her seasoning into paste with a mortar and pestle.

These days I just use garlic and onion powder and the flavor is just as mouthwatering. Rip this flat bread made to get a glimpse of the potato filling and enjoy the melt in your mouth layers.

Why You’ll Love This Potato Roti Recipe

• Easy Step-by-Step Instructions: This recipe is simple and tastes great even if you don’t get the form down right away. The roti doesn’t have to be perfectly round and it’s not the end of the world if some potato filling pokes through in the dough. There are plenty of easy fixes!
• Absolutely Delicious: This looks like a simple flatbread but one bite in and your taste buds are in for a treat. They are savory, slightly spicy, and packed with flavor.
• Made With Simple Ingredients: I love making recipes that help me clean out my fridge. Luckily, Guyanese aloo paratha works best with older potatoes. Use up any leftovers in your fridge before they go bad.

What is Aloo Paratha?

Aloo paratha is an Indian flatbread made of traditional roti, stuffed with seasoned, creamy mashed potatoes. In Hindi, aloo means potatoes and paratha translates to flat bread. It is usually eaten for breakfast or as a snack.

The traditional Indian version of this recipe uses boiled potatoes that are cooked, mashed, and seasoned with spices and herbs like red chili powder, garam masala, green chilies, and cilantro then encased in roti dough. It is flattened and then cooked on a hot, flat surface with ghee (clarified butter) until golden brown with brown spots, flaky, and crisp.

Ingredients for Aloo Paratha

The main components of this recipe are the roti dough and the potato filling.

• All-Purpose Flour: This is the base of the dough.
• Baking Powder: This helps the dough rise.
• Instant or Rapid Rising Yeast: This stabilizes the dough.
• Oil: Use an oil with a high smoke point like avocado oil or sunflower oil.
• Potatoes: Use Yukon gold potatoes, russet potatoes, or red potatoes and cook them just until they are fork tender. Then let them cool to room temperature before proceeding.
• Scallions (green onions): Chop them finely.
• Wiri wiri peppers (or similar chilis): Remove the seeds if you want the flavor without the heat.
• Seasoning: Season the mashed potatoes with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and geera (roasted ground cumin).

See recipe card for quantities.

How to Make Aloo Paratha

The dough is very critical to a soft pliable, easy to manage aloo paratha. In this recipe, I add a little bit of rapid rising yeast to stabilize the dough. However, if you are pretty confident with your traditional roti dough, then you can skip the yeast.

Use warm water to make your dough (about 110°F). You can add the water all at once, or a little at a time.

Then gently knead together to form a soft dough. Once my dough comes together I damp my palm and gently rub water over the top to keep it from crusting while it rests.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Then divide the dough into 8 (this recipe makes 8 10 inch rotis), and roll each piece into a smooth ball.

Making the Potato Filling

Peel and dice your potatoes.

Then boil on high heat until fork tender.

Crush your cooked potatoes until there are no lumps. I used a wire mesh strainer to push the cooked potatoes through and create easy lump-free potatoes. You can also use a potato ricer or potato masher.

Add your seasoning and aromatics to the crushed potatoes.

Then mix together well until the seasoning in well distributed with the potatoes.

Stuffing and sealing the aloo paratha dough

Flatten each of the 8 rolled dough balls into a round disk then brush with oil.

Then scoop about 1/4 cup of filling into the oil brushed piece of dough

Then press the stuffing into the dough with your thumb, while pulling the dough over the stuffing.

Continue to use your thumb from the hand holding the dough to secure the top of the dough ball.

Then using your free hand to pull the dough around the stuffing and secure.

Repeat until the stuffing in no longer visible and sealed in the dough.

Then pinch together the end of the dough to completely seal in the stuffing

Then gently rub the stuffed dough ball between your fingers to shape it back into a ball. You can also gently rub the dough on a flat surface to achieve the same.

Rolling out and cooking the aloo paratha /potato roti

First, dust your stuffed roti ball (loi) with some flour.

Then place on a flat floured surface and gently press to flatten

Next, add a dusting of flour to your rolling pin and gently roll the dough until it is a thin flat disk.

Roti should be about 10 inches in diameter and 1/8 of an inch thick.

Then cook your roti on a tawa or a flat cast iron skillet. Here I am using a flat cast iron skillet. You can find a similar one at my amazon affiliate link here. It is 10 inches in diameter and makes the perfect sized roti for my family.

Brush your potato flatbread roti with oil on both sides and cook until it inflates into a ball.

Step by Step Aloo Paratha / Potato Roti Video Tutorial

Substitutions & Variations

• Peppers. If you don’t have access to wiri wiri peppers, substitute it with habanero peppers or cayenne powder or just omit it.
• Sweet Potato Roti: Instead of regular potatoes, use sweet potatoes for even more flavor and nutrients.
• More Veggies: Grated carrots and finely chopped spinach are great additions to the potato filling.

Equipment

• Stand Mixer: Use this to form a soft dough.
• Rolling Pin: For rolled paratha.
• Flat Iron Skillet or Tawa: To cook the roti.
• Wire mesh sieve: Want a lump free potato filling, then try pushing it through a wire mesh sieve or a potato ricer if you have one.

Storage

Guyanese potato roti is best enjoyed fresh off the hot tawa or pan. You can make the dough and aloo stuffing in advance then store it in an airtight container in the fridge to cook when you are ready.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. And for longer storage, freeze them for up to 3 months. Wrap each roti in plastic wrap, then store them in a zip top bag.

To reheat, thaw frozen roti by leaving it at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Then wrap the roti in a few sheets of damp paper towel. Microwave in 30 second increments until the roti is warm.

Tips for the Best Aloo Paratha

• Save some time by cooking the potatoes in a pressure cooker or instant pot.
• Do not overcook the potatoes. Boil them until they are fork-tender. If they are overcooked, the potatoes will become soggy.
• Completely mash the potatoes so they are creamy. If there are chunks, it will tear the dough. However, do not over mash the potatoes because they will become sticky, cling to the dough, and not integrate well.
• Taste test the potato filling and adjust if necessary based on your personal preference.
• Before rolling the stuffed dough out with a rolling pin, gently flatten it with your hands in order to prevent the dough from bursting. Prevent tears by working on a lightly floured surface so the roti dough doesn’t stick.
• Cook the roti on medium heat. If it’s too low, it won’t properly inflate.

Frequently Asked Questions