Roti Phulkas Food

ROTI RECIPE | CHAPATI RECIPE | PHULKA RECIPE

Steps:

• Take whole wheat flour (atta) in a bowl. Sift the flour with salt if you have flour which has a lot of bran. Add a bit of water, oil or ghee and start mixing.
• Adding water to the dough in parts, begin to knead the dough.
• Continue to knead the dough. Keep on adding water as required.
• Knead the dough till it becomes pliable, smooth and soft. The final dough consistency should not be very sticky or loose or hard.
• Now make small to medium balls of the dough. Roll the balls in the palms of your hands to smoothen it.
• Flatten the ball. Sprinkle some whole wheat flour to the dough ball. Alternatively, you can also dust the rolling board with flour.
• Turn on the gas stove and put the tawa to make it hot.
• While tawa is getting hot, start rolling the dough ball into a flat round circle.
• Once the tawa is sufficiently hot then put the roti on a hot tawa/griddle.
• First cook one side. It should be less than half cooked or about one-fourth cooked.
• Turn and cook the other side. This should be a little bit more cooked than the first side. Brown spots should be visible.
• Now hold the roti with a tong and keep the first side which was cooked, directly on fire. The roti will start to puff.
• Turn and keep the other side on fire. The roti will puff more. Avoid burning the rotis and also don't overdo it as roti will not be soft and will become crisp and hard like papadums.
• Remove and apply ghee or oil on the phulka. Applying ghee or oil keep them soft for a long time. Phulka made with this method is ideally served hot.
• If you cannot serve them hot, then you can keep them in a container that keeps food warm like a casserole or in a roti basket. You can also wrap them up in a kitchen towel or napkin.
• Place the rolled roti dough on a hot tawa or skillet. Keep the heat to medium-high or high. Within some seconds you will see air pockets forming on the raw chapati dough
• Roast for about 30 seconds or so and you will see the air-pockets increase on the surface.
• Keep in mind that the timing will change or vary with the kind of skillet you are using, the chapati thickness and the intensity of the flame.
• Flip with spatula or tongs and roast the second side for about a minute.
• Flip again and you will see the second side cooked more than the first side with visible brown spots.
• With a clean folded cotton kitchen napkin or a spatula, begin to press the partially cooked roti on all sides and center. Pressing it evenly all over helps to puff up the roti.
• Keep on pressing all over, especially the flat portions, so that the entire roti gets puffed up well.
• If you prefer you can flip again and cook the second side too for some seconds if its looks under cooked.
• Transfer the soft and puffed roti in a roti-basket and spread some oil or ghee on top.
• Keep the rolled roti dough on a hot tawa or skillet. Cook on medium-high to high heat for about 30 seconds or so until you see some air pockets all over.
• Flip the chapati and spread some oil all over while the second side is getting roasted. Cook the second side for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.
• Flip again with a spatula. You will see that the second side is well roasted with some blisters and brown spots.
• Spread some oil on this cooked side. Roast the first side again for about 20 to 30 seconds.
• Remove and transfer to a chapati container or box. Keep covered. Make chapati with the rest of the dough in this manner.
• Serve roti or phulka or chapati with any Indian meal. Accompany it with vegetable or paneer curries, stir-fried or sautéed vegetables (sabji) or lentils (dals).
• Store any leftover dough in an air-tight container for just about 1 to 2 days. If the dough has darkened or has a weird smell, then throw it away.
• Store the flatbreads in a roti box or in a covered container for a few hours. Always cover with a tight lid, so that the flatbreads remain soft. Brushing or spreading with some oil or ghee on the roti, keeps them softer.

ROTI / PHULKAS

Steps:

• Put the flour in a mound on a kneading surface.
• Make a well in the centre and add salt into it.
• Then adding a little water at a time incorporate it into the flour and knead the flour into a soft smooth dough with water (a finger pushed in presses without much pressure) Then coat it with the oil and leave to rest for 30 minutes covered in a damp cloth.
• Shape into smooth a little bigger than walnut sized balls/ medium lemon sized balls (You can go bigger too if this seems like too much of trouble as the lesser the size the more rolls) Roll these into a ball between your palms well to make sure there are no cracks.
• Flatten a bit between your palms.
• Coat with flour on both sides.
• On a well dusted surface, roll these into 1/8" thick rounds which should be around 6 inches in diameter.
• (Keep the pressure while rolling as light as possible and soon you with practise the roti starts rotating with the rolling pin movement and you do not have to turn it manually to get a perfect circle).
• Place on a plate with butter paper between each.
• Place the griddle over the fire, and heat till a drop of water thrown over it, evaporates immediately with a sizzling sound.
• Place a rolled chapatti over the hot griddle for around 10-15 secs.
• till flecks appear on the underside.
• Lower flame and turn over and cook for 40 secs or so.
• With practice you can use this time to roll out the next ball so you do not need to roll them all out to start with.
• As soon as brown flecks appear on the underside again increase the flame to full and remove the tava and turn the roti over.
• Now slide the tava out and with a pair of metal tongs place the lesser cooked side over the nakes flame.
• The roti will puff out immediately like a ball.
• Turn to the other side of neceesary (I don't as the fine rotis should cook).
• Take off the flame and brush with a drop of ghee/ butter immediately (if using) Now on the high flame put the tava back on and the next roll.
• Proceed to finish the whole lot.
• Alternatively if you are not comfortable with cooking on a direct flame: When you cook the second side on low for 40 secs.
• Flip over on the tava itself.
• Put on high and use a cloth towel to press the roti down at various points.
• It should fluff up this way too.
• Steam the rotis wrapped in foil to reheat.
• or roast on griddle but this takes away the softness.
• Note: The remaining unused dough should be refrigerated (not frozen) in a plastic bag for use later (but please use within a couple of days.