recipes

Roti

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 to 1 cup water or more if needed
• Salt (optional)
• 1 to 2 tsp oil or ghee

Method:

  1. Seive the flour and salt.
  2. Add warm water to the dough and start kneading till the dough becomes pliable and soft.
  3. Now break the dough into balls with a diameter of around 3-4cm.
  4. Coat the ball with flour and dust your rolling surface.
  5. Using a rolling pin, start flattening the ball into a thin rounded circle.
  6. Put the roti on a hot griddle. First cook one side. It should be less than half cooked as shown in the pic above. Turn and cook the other side. This should be a little bit more cooked than the first side.
  7. Now hold the chapati with a tong and place the first side directly on the gas fire. The chapati will start to puff. Turn and place the other side on the fire. The roti will puff more. Avoid burning the rotis.
  8. Remove and apply ghee on the rotis. Rotis have to be served hot with any vegetable or curry. If you cannot serve them hot, then you can keep them in a container that keeps food warm.

Few Tips for making Soft Rotis or Chappatis:

• It is not necessary to roast the roti directly on fire. You can also cook it on a tava or griddle. Use a heavy spoon or spatula to apply pressure on the roti while cooking on a griddle, so that the roti puffs up. Do the same on the other side.
• The dough should be kneaded very well so that the gluten is formed. The dough should be smooth and well kneaded. If the dough is hard then rotis will not puff up. On the other hand, if the dough is very soft and sticky then you won’t be able to roll it and it will not puff up at all.
• You have to roll the dough very well so that it's an even thickness, otherwise the roti will not puff up.
• After kneading the dough, you can keep it aside for an hour or so and that will also help the roti to become soft.
• After making the roti, apply ghee or oil to it to enhance the softness.