Aloo ka parantha's...Best in NYC

[Anu]

I just returned from backpacking in South east Asia and working at a cooking school and restaurant in France and am CRAVING my nani's aloo ka parantha...Where in NYC can I find the best ones? I live in Curry Hill so the question is which one of these places serves the best one, or is it worth it check out the competition on 6th st?

[Suvir Saran]

I just returned from backpacking in South east Asia and working at a cooking school and restaurant in France and am CRAVING my nani's aloo ka parantha...Where in NYC can I find the best ones? I live in Curry Hill so the question is which one of these places serves the best one, or is it worth it check out the competition on 6th st?

Craving Nanis aloo ka parantha? Sad to say, no place in NYC, that I know of, can make these for you.

They will be poor at best versions of parathas that Nani would prepare.

If you get yourself invited to a home, that is a different story, plenty of our Indian folk in NYC have chefs at home from India, or make food themselves. Try that road... You would be much luckier and you would be happy to know which one of these friends makes really good parathas. And maybe you can bring them a dessert, or something else.. and they too can enjoy something different.

Parathas are easy to make, but restaurants just do not have time or space to cook them homsestyle. All you will get are parathas made in the tandoor... and the few that have made them on a griddle, make them with very bad filling.

Anyways... welcome back Anu! We have missed you on eGullet. I wondered what had happened to you.

email me..and I may find a way of getting you some parathas... like the ones Nani would make.

[Monica Bhide]

Can you mail those parathas to DC

[prasad2]

I just had amma's aloo ke parantha's for breakfast. (Amma's =Made by mom)

You should give the 6th street a try and order as tawa ke aloo paranth's, may be you might get lucky.

[Suvir Saran]

I just had amma's aloo ke parantha's for breakfast. (Amma's =Made by mom)

Prasad, you are a lucky man....

[Anu]

Thanks for the suggestions - I may take you up on that offer...Otherwise I'll be waiting until December to get some good homecooked food!

[mongo_jones]

is there really no place in nyc that makes genuine article, over-stuffed, tava alu parathas? los angeles is crawling with them--of course not the restaurants (for all the reasons people have given) but the larger grocery stores and sweet houses. the india sweet house on pico (1/2 block west of fairfax) serves the most divine alu parathas (humongous and extremely cheap) with home made dahi and achar; they also have a mean sev-puri for about $2 and change, and the best saag-paneer (paneer made fresh in their own kitchen) in town (for about $3). then there's the ambala snack house in artesia as well as jai bharat (which in addition to the north indian standards also has great gujju snacks).

i guess having lived in los angeles for 10 years i've been a little spoiled--missing all these things now in boulder.

[Suvir Saran]

There are places in NYC serving these tawa (griddle) stuffed aloo (potato) parathas (flat bread), but none that are anywhere near what one would find in a home.

Maybe I ought to discover a new place someone knows... I would be happy to make a visit there. Anyone? Any place?

[Anu]

I'd be happy to join anytime! There's nothing better then a couple of garam garam aloo ka parantha's with mango chutney or tomato chutney and some spicy aachar for a sunday brunch....followed by a nice afternoon nap!

[Suvir Saran]

I'd be happy to join anytime! There's nothing better then a couple of garam garam aloo ka parantha's with mango chutney or tomato chutney and some spicy aachar for a sunday brunch....followed by a nice afternoon nap!

how I wish I could have this pleasure this weekend.

I should not whine and complain... Hemant Mathur had invited me over a couple of Sunday's ago and his wife and he had served us aloo parathas and aam ka achaar (mango pickle). It was the most perfect meal I had eaten in a very long time.. It was Sunday.. and it was for brunch...

Lets plan a NYC eGullet aloo paratha hunt....

[Vikram]

Isn't it possible to get frozen alu ka parathas? I'd assume they would freeze quite well. A friend of mine in NYC says she gets excellent flaky Kerala parottas frozen which is what she leaves at home for husband to eat every time she travels.

BTW, an alu ka paratha thread would be a good place to note my astonishment, some years back, when I finally made it to Parathe wale ke gully in old Delhi. Apart from the range of stuffed parathas - forget potato and radish, it was the papad stuffed ones (made with crumbled fried papad) that got me - what surprised me was their form.

I was used to the standard alu ka parathas you get outside Delhi, big and thick with the potato filling. These were small and very plump, just bursting with the ghee and the filling. How common are these outside Delhi?

Vikram

[BBhasin]

interesting, never had the papad paratha.

The most unusual one I had was stuffed with raw grated papaya, with the usual seasonings, tasted like a cross between a cauliflower and mooli ( radish) paratha.

I have seen a couple of brands of frozen aloo parathas at the local Indian stores. One of the stores even carries fresh in their refrigerator, these are semi finished. You have to finish frying them.

[Anu]

I've tried both the frozen and semi cooked ones...They're alright...Nothing like home though. My parents also did some hunting for the perfect parantha in Delhi but weren't too impressed by what they found in the parantha walla ki gulle - very greasy - but i guess its difficult to compare with what you eat at home - kind of like homemade pizza versus your corner pizzeria - the corner one is probably good but really greasy whereas homemade is really good and you can control the grease factor...

[prasad2]

I've tried both the frozen and semi cooked ones...They're alright...Nothing like home though.

Well, Anu do you a kitchen where you live, it shouldn't to be hard to prepare them and probably the result as close to nani ki aloo paranthas.

I am sure given the talent of eguletteers it shouldn't be that hard.

Any one with Recipes please.

May be Hemant's recipe from the brunch that Suvir had mentioned.

Thanks Suvir and Hemant.

[Monica Bhide]

Anu -- ask Anjali -- she now makes good parathas..

[Suvir Saran]

I was used to the standard alu ka parathas you get outside Delhi, big and thick with the potato filling. These were small and very plump, just bursting with the ghee and the filling. How common are these outside Delhi?

Vikram

Vikram, if you had met me sooner, and planned a trip to San Francisco before this last Spring, I would have had grandmother make us these parathas. A staple of many a Punjabi kitchen and home.

She would make them plump... bursting and yet, cleverly, not tearing. And then as the dough, always very thin, had cooked, she would tear it with her fingers, and fill ghee inside the paratha and then cook it just a little more... it would really make the paratha magical and unlike any you can get anywhere else.

I tried and the steam would burn my fingers...

[anil]

...... I live in Curry Hill so the question is which one of these places serves the best one....

Where is Curry Hill ? I'd say that a few months ago I stumbled into a canteen style restaurant on 31st between 5th & Bwy, where I spotted a couple of sardarji's busy in the kitchen -- One could have easily (off hours only) convince them to make ya one ? I did ask them if they could make me a maaki-de-roti [can't take a punj of of me], which they smilingly obliged.

The daughter of one of the original owners of Mirchi was very accomodating with off-the-menu dishes (I think Suvr knew her too) and stuffed parathas was one of them.

I do not know the quality or value of a couple of taxi-stand type joints along the length of 10th Ave. Maybe someone to explore those too.