Round in shape and soft to eat, rotis or chapattis are a must for any Indian meal. Rotis are flatbreads that are eaten along with all sorts of curries and vegetable stir fries. Almost all meals in every part of India are served with rotis.
Prepared with whole-wheat flour, you can make your rotis soft and puffy with addition of slight ghee. This recipe of roti guides you through the technique of making soft flatbreads using just three main ingredients.
Health Benefits
Whole-wheat possesses the ability to reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases and releases glucose in a slow and sustained manner into the human body.
Chapatti constitutes of nutrients like vitamin and minerals. The major minerals available in roti are copper, potassium, magnesium, calcium and mineral salts.
Roti comprises many skin-friendly nutrients like zinc etc. which can keep the skin looking good.
Ingredients
grams of Whole wheat flour: 450
tsp of salt: 1
ml of cold water: 250
Ghee (optional)
Butter (optional)
How To Make Roti
- Out of 450 grams of flour, set aside 200 grams to use for dusting and shaping of rotis.
- Use a deep bowl to place the rest of the flour and add salt into it.
- Add water into the flour containing bowl gradually and start to mix. Remember to add water little at a time. Over addition will result in a tacky dough.
- Start kneading as you keep on adding water. Continue until you have achieved dough that is soft and smooth.
- To make softer chapattis or rotis you can knead longer.
- Take a small portion of dough and make a ball.
- Sprinkle some of the dry flour on the rolling board and flatten the ball into thin discs with the help of a rolling pin. You can dust flour to make rolling smoother.
- Heat a griddle and place the rolled dough on the surface.
- Let it cook for about 15 seconds before you turn it over with a pair of tongs.
- Cook the other side in a similar manner. As soon as you see brown spots on the underside, your roti is cooked.
- Take it off of the griddle and brush with butter if you wish.
Trivia
Roti is a very common type of bread in the Indian subcontinent and a popular staple food in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, East Africa and the Caribbean. It has several other names like chapatti, safati and roshi.
Roti is now a well known food item in the West as expatriates from the Indian Subcontinent have served as a source of stretching South Asian culture across the globe.
The literal meaning to roti or chapatti is “slap.” The name was given due to the traditional technique of turning dough into a thin and round disc like shape using palms. Tradition of roti can be traced back to 16th century to the times of Mughal Emperor Akbar.