I Made My Own Roti!

I have mentioned The English One on this blog before.

We met in college, and ever since, we have been best friends, even when he moved back to Wales and I kept living in Canada. Now he lives near London and I live in Paris, so we see each other a bit more often (still not enough). We do have some pretty good banter going on via iPhone/MSN, especially now that we’re in (nearly) the same time zone, and whenever I’m about to start making a new curry recipe (which, as you can see, is pretty often), he gets some sort of message.

“I’m making Indian food for dinner!”

Then, he translates whatever it is I say I’m making into Gujarati and tells me what his mom is making for dinner, which is invariably ten times better than what I’m making because a) She’s Indian, b) She has a spice pantry I would kill for, c) The woman makes her own yogurt, for chrissakes!

But I live in Paris, which may be famous for its duck à l’orange and blanquette de veau, but is definitely not famous for food of the spicy type, and so if I decide to venture into the world of curry, I must do so on my own.

I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with my flavor base after several tries, but then, of course, a challenge called, and I had to answer it.

Lavi at Home Cook’s Recipes is running this month’s RCI event, and the cuisine of choice is Lucknow. I didn’t think I knew what Lucknow cuisine was until I read up on it (read: wikipedia-ed it) and found out that most of the breads we eat at Indian restaurants like naan, paratha and roti are from this area.

I knew immediately what I wanted to do.

I had already bookmarked a simple lentil dish over at the Wednesday Chef. I checked the pantry and saw that I had green lentils, split peas and chickpeas–not quite five lentils, but close enough for someone who doesn’t shop at a lot of specialty stores, so I decided to make my very own roti to go with it.

I found a recipe for roomali roti online, and it seemed simple enough, although I was skeptical: I had seen chefs making naan in Indian restaurants, and it looked pretty hard. Plus, the recipe called for a sort of pan that I had never even heard of, much less bought to have around for roti emergencies.

Of course, I immediately notified the English One of my plans. (To protect his privacy [the British say it funny with a short “i”{I love having an excuse to use curly brackets}], I have changed his screen name for the purposes of this blog post.

emiglia: i’m making indian food tonight

emiglia: it’s very exciting

the english one: Ohh

the english one: What you gonna make?

emiglia: 5 lentil daal

the english one: My faaaave

the english one: Panch-kurki-dal <– this is where he tells me the Gujarati name!

emiglia: also this bread i’ve never made before

the english one: What bread?

emiglia: roomali roti

the english one: roomali?  <– this is where he has no idea what I’m making either.

Luckily for me, Google is well versed in many languages, and it kindly informed me of the fact that roomali means “hanky” as in handkerchief. As in, you’re supposed to fold the bread like a handkerchief.

Long story short, that didn’t happen. The roti was really easy to make though, I just don’t think I rolled it out thinly enough to fold it like a handkerchief. The only other trouble I had with it was an ingredient I had never heard of before: maida. Google helped me out again, and I learned that maida is a finely-milled flour and that US cake flour would be a good substitute. Since French all-purpose flour is more finely milled than American all-purpose, I figured that it would work out well.

Rolled-out dough, ready to be cooked!
Making roti was one of those kitchen experiences where I sit down to eat and am suddenly overcome by the strange feeling that someone else made what I’m eating. It’s not that it was at all complicated: I just never thought that I would be making the bread that I usually eat out of a tinfoil wrapper from Indian takeout restaurants at home, and the bread that I made with a few simple ingredients tasted exactly like what I’m used to.

I’m really glad that I participated in this challenge. I’ve never been a huge fan of rice, so I usually don’t make anything to accompany my Indian food. I’ll be making roti as often as I make curry from now on.

Rumali Roti (adapted from Indian Food Forever)

Note: This makes six small roti. Three is about enough for one person. Feel free to double the recipe as you see fit.

3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
3 tbsp. Maida
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp. salt
Water

Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl. Mix in the oil. Add water by the tablespoon until the dough comes together. Form a smooth ball, and then leave to rest in a glass bowl covered with a damp cloth for at least half an hour.

When you’re ready to make the roti, heat a dry skillet over high heat. Separate the dough into six even pieces.

Roll each piece into a ball. Flour a surface and then roll out the roti as thinly as possible: you should be able to see through the dough. Place the dough in the hot skillet and allow to cook, about a minute per side. Keep warm under the same damp cloth in an oven. Serve as soon as possible.

Three Légume Stew (adapted from The Wednesday Chef)

Note: When I make curries and dals and the like, I like to have a lot of leftovers for my and Alex’s lunches during the week. This makes a LOT of dal. Feel free to cut down if you like.

Secondary note: As always with dishes like this, you should continue to taste throughout the cooking process to see if you need to add a bit more spice. I know that I added as it cooked, but I don’t know exactly how much. Taste, and you’ll know if it needs more of something.

Dal:
1 28 oz. can chickpeas, drained
1 cup green lentils
1 cup split peas
2 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Spice blend:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 whole cayenne pepper
1 and 1/2 28 oz. cans whole tomatoes
salt to taste

Rinse and pick over the lentils and split peas, and place in a pot with enough water to cover by about an inch. Bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat and add the curry powder and cayenne pepper. Cover the pot and allow to sit until tender, about an hour.

Make the spice blend: sauté the onion in the oil until translucent, about three mintues. Add the garlic and spices, and cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add the tomatoes and salt to taste, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have reduced, about fifteen minutes.

Add the chickpeas and the spice blend to the lentils. Cook together over medium-low heat for five to ten minutes to allow the flavors to come together. Taste for salt and seasoning. Serve hot.