Bathua Paratha

Bathua Paratha, or Bathua Aloo Paratha, is an exotic Indian flatbread recipe with a cooked bathua-aloo filling inside a crisp whole wheat paratha. Although I love any stuffed paratha, this Bathua Pathua recipe is my most relished bathua recipe of all.

Jump to:

• What to Serve With Bathua Paratha
• Health Benefits of Bathua
• Bathua Paratha (Bathua Aloo Paratha) Ingredients
• How to Make Bathua Paratha
• Stuffed Paratha Video: Watch How to Roll and Roast
• How to Freeze Bathua Paratha
• Recipe

What to Serve With Bathua Paratha

Bathua Paratha (Bathua Aloo Paratha) can be enjoyed by itself or with some condiments such as green chutney, yogurt, or pickles. I enjoy it as a meal served with sweet and sour tamatar-ki-sabji, yogurt, green chutney, and pickles.

You can also serve Bathua Paratha for a special weekend brunch with dry matar paneer, sweet and sour tamatar-ki-sabji, pickle, yogurt, cilantro mint chutney, and with an extra dollop of butter.

Health Benefits of Bathua

The Bathua, in this Bathua Paratha recipe, is a seasonal green, available only for a short duration during the winter season. Bathua is known as a weed, but it has numerous health benefits. Its high fiber content and laxative properties help cure constipation. Juice made from bathua leaves keeps the digestive system healthy, and it's also known to have blood-purifying characteristics. Bathua leaves are a rich source of amino acids, vitamins A & C, and many crucial minerals, such as calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc.

The scientific or botanical name for Bathua leaves is Chenopodium Album. However, they are known by many other names like White Goosefoot, Goosefoot, allgood, Pigweed, Lambsquarters, Lamb’s-quarters, and Wild Spinach. They also have several names in Hindi, like Cheel Bhaji, Chill Bhaji, and Bettusag.

Bathua Paratha (Bathua Aloo Paratha) Ingredients

The Bathua Aloo Filling

• Bathua - 500 gms
• Potato Aloo - 250gms
• Green Chillies - 2-3
• Ginger- 1-inch piece
• Oil - 1 tbs
• Spices
  • Asafetida (Hing) - ⅛ tsp
  • Salt – 1 tsp
  • Red chili powder- ½ tsp
  • Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
  • Crushed fennel seeds - 1 tbs

The Dough

• Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Water or milk - 1.5 cup
• Salt - 1 teaspoon or as per taste

How to Make Bathua Paratha

Prepare the Ingredients

1. Bathua comes in a bunch, so the leaves must be plucked from the stems and washed thoroughly. This takes a lot of time, but the result is rewarding. Next, the leaves must be blanched by adding them to boiling water for 5 minutes and then straining them, or they can be steamed in an instant pot for 0 minutes at low pressure.

2. The potatoes can be boiled in a pressure cooker or an instant pot. The time needed to boil varies with the size of the potato. Once boiled, peel the skin and mash the potatoes and keep aside. 

Make Bathua Aloo Filling for the Stuffed Parathas

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, hing, green chilies, and ginger. 
2. Sauté for a few seconds, and then add blanched bathua leaves and mashed boiled potatoes.
3. Continue sautéing until the leaves are a bit dry. This will take around 15 to 20 minutes; keep stirring in intervals for an even roasting of filling. Switch off the heat and add all the spices. 
4. Mix all the spices and keep the filling aside to cool down. Start working on the dough while the filling is getting cold.

Make the Dough

1. Put flour in a deep bowl or flat dish. Add ½ teaspoon salt.
2. Make a hole in the flour's center and add warm milk gradually. You can also use water, but I use milk because it makes the dough softer.
3. Start incorporating the liquid into the dry flour.
4. Once all the dry flour is wet, start kneading using your knuckles.
5. Keep kneading until you get a smooth texture. The more you knead, the more glutenous it becomes. This typically takes 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Once you get the smooth texture of the dough, drop a few drops of oil, knead, and bring it together. The dough needs to be softer than the roti dough.
7. Knead it one last time and cover it. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

Stuff the Parathas with Bathua Aloo Filling

1. While the dough is resting, divide the cold filling into equal balls.  Increase or decrease the number of balls based on the quantity and size of paratha you want to make.
2. Next, divide the dough into lemon size balls. The filling portion should be about 1.5 times larger than the dough for a well-stuffed paratha.
3. Start pre-heating the griddle on medium heat. 
4. Roll one dough ball into a 3” flat circle, thick in the center and thin on the edges. 
5. Now take the rolled dough circle into your hand in a concave or a little bowl shape. Place one ball of filling into it. Press it to make sure it hugs the dough nicely.
6. Start getting together the edges of the dough towards the center to close the filling inside the dough. 
7. Twist it if there is any extra dough, then tear it apart to be sure that the rolled paratha will not become very doughy in the center. 
8. Now press it lightly to flatten it out, dust it into dry flour and start rolling it out gently with light hands. 
9. Continue rolling till you reach the desired size and thickness. Rolled parantha neither to be very thin like roti nor to be very thick.
10. Place the rolled Bathua Aloo Paratha on the preheated griddle and cook until it start getting little brown spots on the bottom.
11. Flip it, smear ghee, and cook the Paratha until it is cooked to make it golden brown and crisp. 
12. Keep flipping the Paratha during the above process. Once done, remove from the tawa and transfer to a perforated surface to make sure it doesn’t get soggy because of its own steam.
13. Proceed to make the remaining parathas in the similar way and serve hot. 

A perfectly rolled stuffed paratha is the one which has a crispy top layer and evenly distributed filling layer in between.

Stuffed Paratha Video: Watch How to Roll and Roast

Watch the video below to learn how to roll and roast the stuffed parathas. In this recipe, my filling is Bathua-aloo, but the process is the same for any other type of filling, such as matar, paneer, aloo, etc. You can also substitute any other greens instead of Bathua.

How to Freeze Bathua Paratha

1. Cook the parathas' only half, i.e., until the stage where you start putting oil. Keep on some mesh to let steam escape, and let them cool down to room temperature.
2. Once the parathas are cooled down to room temperature, prepare them for storage by stacking them. Separate each paratha with parchment paper.
3. Put them in a ziplock and then store them in the freezer. You can keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
4. When you are ready to consume the frozen paratha, pre-heat the griddle on medium-low heat and place one frozen paratha (no need to thaw) on the preheated griddle. 
5. Flip it after about one minute when the bottom side is thawed. 
6. Now increase the heat to medium-high and start smearing with ghee or oil. Keep rotating the paratha with gentle and even pressure until both sides become golden brown. 

Recipe