Bolani (Afghan potato-stuffed flatbreads)
Thin, blistered flatbreads stuffed with herby green onion mashed potato and pan-fried until crisp, with a garlicky yogurt dip.
- 90 min total
- 55 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $1.77 a serving
- 630 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 6 green onions, finely sliced
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
From your pantry
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 2¼ tsp salt, divided
- ¾ cup water, warm
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, divided
Each serving has about 630 calories, 18 g protein, 95 g carbs and 19 g fat, and costs about $1.77 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Mix the flour and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl.
Add the warm water and olive oil, stir into a shaggy dough, then knead on the counter until smooth, about 5 minutes.
Timer: 5 min
Cover and 30 minutes.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 30 min
Dolly’s tip: Resting relaxes the dough so it rolls thin without springing back.Meanwhile, the potatoes in salted water until very soft, about 15 minutes. and mash them.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 15 min
Stir the green onions, cilantro, jalapeño, coriander, pepper and 1 teaspoon salt into the potatoes. Let the filling cool.
Divide the dough into 8 balls. On a floured counter, roll one into a thin 8-inch circle with a rolling pin or wine bottle.
Dolly’s tip: Thin is the goal. You should almost see the counter through it.Spread a thin layer of filling over half the circle, leaving a ½-inch edge.
Fold the other half over and press the edges firmly to seal.
Repeat with the rest.
Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large over medium heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Cook two bolani at a time until and blistered, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Add oil for each batch.
Medium heat
Stir the yogurt with the garlic, mint and of salt. Cut the bolani into wedges and serve hot with the dip.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
