We love Indian food, particularly curry. And even more specifically, Butter Chicken. Thankfully, we have a really great lady (Pam) in town who makes Butter Chicken and sells it at the Farmer's Market in frozen tubs. Just cook your chicken, add the sauce and finish with cream or yogurt and enjoy.
My stash was running low. ACK! So, I scoured the Internet that had recipes that had spices like I remembered Pam's to have and found thousands. I guess Butter Chicken is like Chili - each region makes it's own, and in each region - each family makes their own. It was amazing how many recipes there were!
I mixed up a few different recipes and created one that we love, and I now make it in large batches and freeze, just like I did with Pam's.
In doing research for the Butter Chicken, I came across many recipes for Roti. The best I can compare it to is fresh tortillas. An Indian flat bread. Thin, tasty and terrific for scooping up bits of chicken or rice floating in Butter Chicken Sauce.
And yes, I will add the Butter Chicken Sauce to my blog the next time I make it!!
So, for all those curry Indian cuisine lovers, here's a very common recipe for roti. I hope you love it was much as we do!
Makes: 9-12 roti
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Honestly, just toss it all into a bowl and mix, mix, mix. I would suggest reserving a bit of the water until it's been well blended just so you don't get a really sticky dough. And if you do, just add a bit more flour until you can handle the dough without your hands being a mess.
You now have the choice to knead or not knead. Up to you, really. I don't knead.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes. If you can make this in the afternoon for dinner, do so! The dough just needs to 'relax' before being handled.
I'd figure on about 30 minutes to make this recipe.
Unwrap your dough and grab a golf ball sized round to work with.
Flatten slightly in your hands and push into your bowl/pile of flour on each side, and then place on your work surface for rolling. If you don't have a rolling pin, a glass bottle will work just fine.
Roll roti to about 1/8" thick, being liberal enough with the flour that they don't stick. If you plan on rolling all your roti before you start cooking, make sure you've got enough flour between levels to keep them from sticking. You can roll each roti while another cooks if you so choose.
Even our Loo helps! She's the roller.
I use a flat, well beaten up non-stick pan. *shrug* It's been around for years, lost all of it's non-stickiness but it's perfect for grilled cheese, eggs - and roti.
Heat your pan over medium to medium high heat. You want a hot pan, but one that doesn't immediately burn the roti so be prepared to adjust your temperature over the course of cooking.
Once hot, brush the pan lightly with vegetable oil and place your roti in. Cook one side until roti starts to form large air pockets (bubbles) and these small patches begin to brown - about 3 minutes.
Flip the roti and cook the other side the same way. You may want to brush the cooked side very lightly with vegetable oil, just to keep the roti soft.
Our Biggie Wiggie is the cooker/flipper. She's actually pretty careful and she's yet to burn one!
Place a clean tea towel into a covered bowl or casserole dish. Put roti into the towel (which is inside the bowl) and lightly cover, replacing lid. This will keep your roti warm and keep them from drying out.
Continue with remaining roti, stacking cooked ones on top of each other in towel draped bowl.
Serve as a side with your favorite curry or ours - Butter Chicken!!
Enjoy!
--The Cook
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