The meal was successful. I was particularly pleased with how the rotis came out; so much so, that I made two batches!
Here’s the recipe I used, adapted from Mridula Baljekar’s Complete Indian Cookbook (everybody has a website these days!):
- Put 125g natural yogurt, 1 egg, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 0.5 tsp salt, 150ml warm milk and about 1tbsp melted unsalted butter into the bread pan.
- Add 400g strong white bread flour and 50g plain white flour and finish with 1.5 tsp yeast.
- Set the bread machine to the pizza setting (about 30 minutes, but it can stay in the machine to rise a bit longer).
- Knock back on a floured board and divide the dough into 8 balls. Heat the oven to 225°C while the dough rises, warming a baking tray.
- When ready, pat the balls into circles about 4″ in diameter, place on the tray and bake for about 8 minutes (until beginning to brown). Turn over and bake for a further 2 minutes and then remove to a cooling tray.
I’m not sure that the baking powder is essential. I noticed that the one I used is several years past the use by date; it looks fine but I don’t know how much it really contributed. For a tray, I use our grill pan – the grill is incorporated into the oven and the tray is large enough to take 8 rotis all on one level (I’ve had poor results when trying to bake things on two levels at once in the past).
My rotis may not taste absolutely “authentic” but they’re genuinely delicious! For the record, the other dishes we enjoyed were Nawabi Kheema Pilau (a rich pilau with minced meat), Murghi Badami (similar to chicken korma, with the meat cooked in cream and yogurt) and (from Shehzad Husain and Rafi Fernandez’s Best-Ever Cook’s Collection: Indian) Spicy Spring Lamb Roast (roast lamb encrusted with a thick layer of spices).
Tags: rotis, recipe, indian cookery, cooking, bread, Mridula Baljekar