Bajra Aloo Roti

The quest for cooking and eating something different from the routine makes me pick up various cookbooks from the library. This time I got Tarla Dalal’s Rajasthani Cook book and one weekend in December saw me trying a combination from this book.

About the book itself, its a well compiled book with the usual suspects making an appearance such as Dal Bati, Churma Laddoo, Gatte ki Kadhi and so on. The dishes are described before each recipe, making it easier for some one who is new to Rajasthani cuisine to make their choice.

The recipes themselves are simple but I am not completely sure about the authenticity. What I mean by this is that the recipes are sort of ‘modernised’ may be to suit the city kitchen as compared to the rustic villages where these traditional & classic recipes are actually born. Take for instance this Bajra Aloo Roti. Now I know that any roti prepared with Bajra (Millet) flour is very fragile & prone to breaking because of the lack of gluten which helps in holding together the dough. Due to this reason these Rotis are always made by hand, by pressing or beating down on the lump of dough to form into a circle and then cooked. But this book asked me to ‘roll it out’, which I tried by the way but without any success. In then end I resorted to what I knew and made them by hand.

Bajra Aloo Roti

Makes 6

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Bajra (Millet) flour
• 1 medium sized Potato, boiled and mashed
• 1 small onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 tsp Green chilli paste
• 1/2 tsp Ginger, grated (or paste)
• 2-3 tblsp finely chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tsp Amchoor (Dry Mango Powder)
• 1 tsp Garam Masala (Optional)
• salt

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Knead into a soft dough using a little warm water.

Heat a Tawa (griddle). Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and shape them into flat discs.

Sprinkle some flour onto the the working surface. Place one of the discs, apply some flour onto your palm and then tap on the disc to flatten it into a roti.

Proceed gently and carefully as the flour has a tendency to break or tear. Flatten the dough to a thickness of approx half an inch.

Place the roti in the hot tawa and cook well on both the sides using a little ghee, till it starts to get brown speckles on both the sides.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Serve hot with another dollop of ghee.

This can be had on its own, a little pickle or chutney by the side or served with a sabzi or dal. I served it with another dish that I made from this book Masala Chawli. The recipe is coming up shortly.

My Notes: These rotis were a very good change from the usual chapati or phulka. You can skip all the additions and make plain Bajra Roti with just the flour, salt & water. Proceed as above for the rest of the steps. The plain bajra roti tastes great with a lump of jaggery.

Another thing to note is that the Ghee is not to be skipped at all, while cooking and even while eating the roti!