Bajari No Rotlo / Bajri Roti / Millet Flatbread

Bajari or Millet Flour as it is known in English is one more of the gluten-free flour variety. During winters, we used to have these bajari rotis or flatbreads along with a bit of jaggery. The reasoning behind this given to us as children was that bajari is heat inducing so helps the body's heat retention, I do not know the truth behind this one but another reason I suspect was also that the fresh green garlic shoots used for flavoring these flatbreads are mostly available in the winter months. Of course you can substitute garlic pods for fresh green garlic but the taste changes quite a bit.
Baingan Bharta or Ringan No Oro (in gujarati) along with Bajri Rotlo is commonly served in Gujarat and is generally a part of the Kathiawadi thali. I will be posting the Baingan Bharta recipe soon till then here is how to make these easy and tasty flatbreads.

Ingredients
1 Cup Bajari / Millet Flour
2-3 Tbsp Fresh Green Garlic and Fresh Coriander(Cilantro) leaves ground to a paste with very little water
2-3 Thai Green chillies ground to a paste
Salt to taste
Method
1. In a mixing bowl, take bajari flour, add salt, chili paste, green garlic and coriander paste and knead into a smooth dough.
2. Make 4-5 equal portions of the dough. Take a Ziploc bag, slit two sides and make it into a rectangle. Apply some ghee or butter or oil, sprinkle some dry bajari flour.
3. Now take a portion of the dough and put it on the Ziploc, flatten with your hands similar to Sorghum Flatbread
4. Gently ease it out of the Ziploc bag and slide it onto a hot griddle. Cook on both sides on medium high heat till brown spots appear. Apply some ghee and serve hot with baingan bharta or a piece of jaggery or with plain yogurt.

Homemade Pav / Dinner Rolls

There are very few yeasty breads commonly baked in India. One such bread a legacy of the Portuguese is Pao or as over the years of colloquial usage has become converted to the marathi word Pav. The story also goes that the dough for these rolls was kneaded by feet instead of hands and hence the name Pav, but I am not so sure of this ... Pav is one popular accompaniment to the famous street food or should I say street foods of Bombay Vada Pav and Pav Bhaji. In Bombay where I am from, we used to have the Pav wala come every evening selling freshly baked laadi pav.  On days when we were having Pav Bhaji for dinner he would be told a day in advance to bring in X number of Pav for us. Fond memories !! I wanted to eat Pav Bhaji and decided to try my hand at baking Pav at home. I took the experiment one step further and made it using half wheat flour (chapati flour). They turned out super yummy.

Ingredients
1&1/2 Cup WholeWheat Flour
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Pkt Fast Rise Yeast (Hannaford Brand)
1&1/2 tsp Salt
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 Tbsp Whole Wheat or A.p flour for kneading and shaping dough
250 ml Warm Water to knead the dough * More or less may be needed
Method
1. Proof yeast as per package directions and set aside. Approx 15 mins or till yeast froths up
2. In a mixing bowl, combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt and add 1 Tbsp Olive oil. Now add the frothy yeast mixture and start kneading the dough adding as much warm water as needed.
3. Now knead knead and knead for 15 mins. The dough should no longer stick to the surface in clumps.
4. Grease a mixing bowl with a tbsp of olive oil, shape the dough into a round ball put it into this bowl and cover the bowl with a plastic wrap.

5. The dough is ready for its first rise. Set it aside for 1 to 2 hours or till it doubles in volume.

6. Remove plastic wrap and punch down the dough. Form 15 -16 round balls and set them an inch apart on a greased baking pan.

7. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for second rise approx 1 hour or till the rolls double in volume.

8. Preheat oven to 390 F.
9. Brush the tops of the rolls with milk and slip the tray into the oven. Bake for 12-15 mins till golden brown in color.

9. Enjoy warm with butter or as we did with Pav -Bhaji.

Rice Flour Roti / Sindhi Chapri

Rice flour rotis are made with specific vegetable or meat dishes at Sindhi homes. Both varieties the Wild Rice or Red Rice flour as well as the White Rice flour is used to make these rotis. I have made them with White Rice Flour commonly available at most grocery stores. These are gluten-free and a good option to regular chapatis.

Ingredients
1 Cup White Rice Flour
1.5 Cups Hot Water
Salt
1 -2 Chopped Green Chillies
2-3 Tbsp Chopped Corriander / Cilantro leaves
Implements
Mixing Bowl
Ziploc bag - 2 sides cut to form a rectangle
Griddle / Tava
Method
1. In a mixing bowl add rice flour, salt, chilli and corriander leaves.
2. Heat water in a pan but take it off heat just before it reaches boiling point.
3. Slowly add water to the other ingredients. Note save almost half cup water in the pan, this may or may not be needed depending on how much the flour absorbs.
4. Set aside for 5 mins till the mixture is cool to handle.
5. Then knead it into a soft dough, adding more hot water if needed.

6. Take a small portion of the dough and place it on the cut ziploc bag. Lightly with the palm of your hand and fingers shape it into a flat round disc.

7. Gently lift and transfer to a hot griddle on a med-high heat.

8. Flip to the other side after 3 -4 minutes or till soft brown spots start appearing on the underside.

9. Cook on the other side for another 3-4 minutes, flip to check and serve hot.

Jowar Roti / Sorghum Flour Flatbread

We started on a 21 day cleanse as described in Kathy Freston's book Quantum Wellness. There are primarily five things that are a strict no-no in this diet:  Alchohol, Animal Products, Caffeine, Gluten and Sugar. Oh my what do we eat then? Well a lot of vegetables and fruits and pulses and legumes. Being Indians and vegetarians for most part no meat part is fine. The part that is tough is no GLUTEN. We eat roti's or chapati's or phulkas made with whole wheat flour practically with every meal. So how do we manage without Atta (whole wheat flour)? Our mothers and grandmothers used to use a variety of whole grain flours like Jowar, Bajra, White Rice Flour, Red or Wild Rice Flour and make roti's or what we Sindhi's call "Mani" of these. So taking a walk down the memory lane and remembering the way it was done in good old days when the kitchen and cooking were for mothers under the watchful eyes of my grandmother, here's my version of Jowar Roti or Juvar ji Mani straight from my blog to your homes ...

Juvar Ji Mani / Jowar Roti / Sorghum Flour Flatbread

Ingredients
1 Cup Jowar Flour / Sorghum Flour + some for dusting
1 Cup Hot Water (near boiling)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Crushed Black Pepper * Optional
Ghee / Oil / Butter

Implements
1 Ziplock bag two sides cut to make a rectangle
Tava / Griddle

Method
1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt and pepper. To this add one cup of hot water, set aside for 8-10 minutes till it is cool enough to handle.
2. Knead the dough, unlike chapati flour this dough is less sticky since it does not have gluten and hence does not require heavy kneading. Add more water if the dough is very hard. When you tear of a ball you should be able to pat it without cracking. If it cracks add a little more water - a teaspoon at a time

3. Now on the ziplock bag apply a very little ghee, sprinkle some dry flour. Tear off a small portion and roll it into a round.

4. Now get ready to shape it into a round with your palm and fingers as shown below

5. Once you have a uniformly thin roti to your desired thickness, gently lift the ziplock bag a remove the roti onto your other hand or directly on the hot griddle taking care not to burn the plastic.

6. Cook on both sides, apply ghee and serve hot with any of your favourite vegetables.

Enjoy this gluten free, dairy free, whole grain delight with some hot pickle, some slices of raw onion and garlic chutney.

Waran-waro Phulko / Satpuro Phulko / Layered Paratha

Waran-waro phulko literally means layered chapati is something we Sindhi's make typically with Chole or any of the non vegetarian dishes. It is pretty heavy and can be used to soak up gravies very nicely. Very similar in appearance to Kerala Parotta the main difference being the Sindhi version uses whole wheat flour and ghee (clarified butter) instead of oil. So here we go straight to the recipe and pics ..yes I have step by step pics for this one ;)

Ingredients
1 Cup Whole Wheat flour + additional for dusting
1 tsp salt * Optional
1 tsp roasted cumin and pepper powder * Optional
1 tsp ghee
0.5 Cup water to knead the dough (more or less depending on the wheat flour quality)
6 Tbsp Melted Ghee

Implements / Utensils
1Mixing Bowl
Tava  / Griddle
Rolling Pin and plate

Method
1. In a mixing bowl, add flour, salt, cumin and pepper powder and add little water. Mix to form bread crumb like texture of the dough, little by little add water and knead dough to a stiff consistency like chapati flour.
2. Apply ghee to the dough and set aside for ten minutes.
3. Tear apart a small piece of dough and flatten it, roll it in dry flour.

4. Now roll it to the size of a big puri.

5. Make a hole in the center of the roti as shown here.

6. Apply melted ghee all around the outer circle and dust it with dry flour.

 7. Now start making the inner whole bigger and roll it into a coil till it almost resembles a rope. see pics below

8. Now make a tear at one end of the coil and start rolling the coil sideways.

9. Now roll this out in the shape of a chapati. You will be able to see a circular pattern once rolled, put it on a medium hot tava.

10. Flip over and let cook till brown spots appear. Once similarly done on both sides apply ghee and flip both sides. Make it crisp or leave like a punjabi parantha or leave it like a normal phulka.

11. Serve hot with your favourite curry or simply enjoy with your favourite pickle

Alternatively, this can also be made by dividing the dough into very small marble sized pieces, rolling each piece to the size of a large cookie and layering 7 such into a thicker cookie by adding little ghee and flour on each layer before topping with another cookie sized chapati. Roll this seven layered cookie into a bigger chappati. This will give flakier layers. Since seven of these are traditionally used, it is called Sat-puro Phulko.