Ingredients:
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1 cup white flour
Or you can buy Atta/chappati flour at an Indian grocery and use 2 cups of that
-1 cup water
-olive oil or ghee (clarified butter)
Mix two types of flour, if using both. Mix in water a bit at a time. You want the
dough to be tacky, but not sticky.
Take a golf ball sized piece of dough, and roll into a sphere between your hands.
Then flatten and roll into a square using a rolling pin on a floured surface. The
dough should be maybe ⅛ to ¼” thick, you can experiment with how thin you
roll it. You don’t want it to tear when you lift it, and about 3-4 inches per side
is a good size.
Spread a thin layer of oil or ghee on the top, but not quite all the way to the edge.
A silicone brush or a spoon works well for this.
Mentally divide the square into thirds. Fold one edge ⅔ of the way over towards
the other side. Then fold the other side over to meet the folded edge of the first
fold, so you have 3 layers on top of each other, ⅓ of the width of the square you
started with. Fold the same way in the other direction, so you end up with a
square again.
Now roll out this square out, not quite as thin as the first time. Again,
experiment with what thickness works for you. (I promise you will do better
than the roti making machine I once tasted roti from.)
Heat a skillet over medium high heat. You want it hot, but not smoking. Spread
oil/ghee over one side of the roti, and put that side down in the pan. Spread
oil/ghee over the top side.
If you’ve mastered rolling the dough out, your roti should form bubbles or even
puff up like a pillow while it’s cooking. (If it puffs well you are ready to get married,
per tradition. If there is someone ready to marry you is a different question.)
You can use a folded dish towel to push down on the edges to help them cook
if they’ve lifted off the pan. After a couple minutes, when the side touching the
pan is cooked, flip over and cook the other side. If you have a gas stove, you
can then use tongs to put the roti directly over the flame for a couple of seconds
to get it to puff up once more. It’s fine for there to be some darkened spots, but
the whole thing should not be charred.
Rotis are probably the first thing I (Elisabeth) ever learned how to cook, standing
on a chair to reach the counter in Grandma’s kitchen.
The aunties can make perfectly round ones! The reason we make square ones
is that Grandma could never get the hang of making them perfectly round. The
aunties will reroll them for you before cooking if they are not perfect.
You can sprinkle with salt and pepper, or even top with Peanut Butter! (That was
Vilo Kay’s topping of choice as a child.)
A traditional Punjabi breakfast is roti with plain yogurt and lemon or mango pickle.
The yogurt can be sprinkled with pepper as well. Or make an omelet and have
the roti with it.
