Monday, September 30, 2013

Jowar Masala Rotla (white millet Indian flat bread)

Hi Readers,

In my school days, we had a story in English literature in 6th standard as far as I remember, that had a little child taking millet's chapati from his grand mom when he visited wood to collect fire wood. I was really curious as to what is millet's. When I asked my parent, they explained that Ragi ( Mandia as we call in Odia) is one of the millet. Millet has Jowar (white millet) and Bajra ( Pearl millet) and Ragi (finger millet) in its category. My mom sometimes used to prepare Ragi that we used mix with curd and sugar and have as breakfast. But, I had never really tasted the Chapati out of it.

When I came to Bangalore, I had many wonderful dishes made of Ragi (Ragi balls, ragi dosha, Ragi chapati and Ragi Paratha). I started liking it, specially Ragi Masala chapati or paratha. Now, my craze was to taste the other millets. In my near by grocer store, I saw all these flours and my desire increased to make them and taste them. Thanks to internet, I got wonderful Rotla recipe from Gujurat. I tried this with Jowar flour, and the taste was really good. Now, its not always, plain wheat fulka's for dinner everyday or the same variation of paratha's. I now prepare different millet's Roti for dinner occasionally. The taste of Jowar Rotla is quiet similar to Akki roti (Rice flour roti) from Karnataka.

Jowar or white millet or Sorghum is rich source of dietary fiber, iron, phosphorous and thiamine. So, its good to include these in millet's in our meals.

I hope I haven't bored you with my experiment and curiosity so far. Lets now move to the recipe.



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Jowar/sorghum flour
1/4 cup wheat flour(handful and optional)
3/4 cup grated cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 tsp green chili paste
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste

Method:
Take a wide bowl and mix Jowar flour,wheat flour and salt.
Add grated bottle gourd,chopped onions,green chili paste,coriander,cumin seeds,sesame seeds and mix well until the mixture is completely moistened by the water from cucumber and onions.
Now add some warm(to medium heat) water if required and mix well until you get the dough similar to the roti dough and rest the dough for 10-15 mins.You can even use it immediate if required.
Take a handful of dough and make it into round balls of Orange size.
Smear the Rotti tawa(Non-stick/normal dosa pan) with little bit of oil all over the tawa and place the rotti dough in center and press it gently with hands and spread into a thin layer by rotating the pan and by immersing the hand in a bowl of water in between which helps in patting the dough evenly and smoothly on the tawa. If you are not comfortable, you can roll it similar to roti. Make it as thin as possible.do not bother if small gaps are there,that makes the rotti even crispier.
Pour little oil over it and cover it with a lid and place it on fire on medium flame.Let it cook for 2 mins.Keep an eye on it to check in b whether it is done or not.Once you see the red patches started forming increase the flame and cook it.Try to rotate the tawa in order to get an evenly roasted rotti. No need to turn it on the other side.
Serve this right off from the flame and on to the plate with a dollop of fresh white butter and some Thokku(smashed pickle type generally made up of either mango or tomato) and masala dahi. Here, I have served with Potala Rasa. 



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