Sweet Potato and Coconut Flour Flax Meal Roti Flatbreads

Considering the amazing properties of sweet potato, it is hard not to incorporate it more in our diets.

While roast sweet potatoes in dessert-ish form is relished by kids, I wanted to leverage its natural sweetness to make everyday foods a bit more colorful and appealing.

Coconut flour is another ingredient that adds a bit of sweetness and flavor to everyday items.

Since fusion cuisine is my forte, my signature of sorts, this dish came about quite naturally one day.

Sweet potatoes, coconut flour, chickpea flour, and all purpose flour come together with chipotle in adobo sauce, and fenugreek leaves to make this incredibly orange and incredibly tasty rotis -- flatbreads cooked on the griddle pan. I'd have preferred to use whole wheat instead of all purpose flour, but I was all out, so, maybe next time...

Ingredients
1 average sweet potato, cooked and peeled

⅓ cup coconut flour

⅓ cup chickpea flour (aka besan)

1⅓ cup all purpose flour (more or less)
2 Tablespoon flax meal

salt to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 Tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (optional)
2 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped finely

a few tablespoons of oil for griddle-cooking the rotis

Preparation

1. Since sweet potato is cooked to mush, not much water is needed at first. Simply combine all the ingredients and knead to a smooth elastic dough, adding the all purpose flour a little at a time as needed. 
2. Divide the dough into golf-ball-sized balls; roll each ball flat to about 2 millimeters thick rotis
3. Heat a griddle much like for pancake, and cook the rotis till done 
4. Serve with any of the curries or chutneys. here I serve it with my favorite carrot salad.

Carrot Salad: Grate carrots, finely slice celery, finely chop green chilies, finely chop cilantro, combine it all with a splash of lemon juice and a sprinkling of salt, serve fresh.

Roti Jala with Vegetable Korma

Roti Jala is a delicious Malaysian food I got introduced to way back during my grad school days when I was living in the International House. A delightful group of young Malaysian students had started school and were keen on educating us about their food and culture. And, they were good enough to teach me the few words I know in Bahasa Melayu -viz., Selamat datang (Welcome) and Apa khabar? (How are you?) - which stuck in my head due to its similarities with Urdu which happens to be one of my favorite poetic languages (solely based on very old Hindi movie lyrics, of course).

Coffee Hour Fridays were the times I look back on fondly when I think of making Thai or Malaysian or Indonesian foods, when International students enthusiastically prepared snacks and beverages that showcased their culinary tradition.

Well, moving on...

I have made Roti Jala on and off over the last decade or so, improvising by using whatever is handy for spreading the batter as I don't have the mold (essentially a cup with a hole).

I have found that consistency of batter is all that matters, just like for crêpes, and some good way to pour them in a lacy pattern on to the pan for cooking.

I have come to like the simple old mustard or ketchup dispenser. I cut the tip off a bit to make the hole slightly bigger so the batter pours out evenly.

It is great to make it as thin as crepes, but, my skills being somewhat limited, I end up ripping them when I flip, so, my Roti Jalas are somewhat thick :)

Roti Jala is sometimes referred to as Lacy Pancakes, which describes it perfectly. It can be a light teatime snack, or a sumptuous brunch depending on the sides it is served with. And, much like Injeras or Dosai, it can be served rolled up or folded, along with an array of curries and dips.

Ingredients
1½ cup all purpose flour
1 cup light coconut milk
½ cup water (more as needed to get right consistency)
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Beat the egg and combine the rest of the ingredients, whip to a smooth runny batter
2. Pour into the roti jala mould or a mustard dispenser and swirl it around as you squeeze over the pan
3. Cook like pancakes, flipping to cook both sides as needed
4. Serve with favorite curries or Korma or chutneys

Simple Roti

Roti or Chappathi, along with vegetable sides, usually served as a light and satisfying supper when we were growing up. And, a couple of rotis served as starter/appetizer for lunch/dinner made the meal sumptuous and wholesome somehow.

There are several tried and tested alterations to the basic roti recipe; what I share here is just one of them. Start cooking some side-dish like curry or koottu or dal for serving with these rotis in the back-burner first, and by the time rotis are done so is the the side-dish.

These simple rotis are best when cooked right before sitting down for the meal. Sometimes referred to as Sukha/Sookha Roti meaning Dry Roti, these use little or no butter or oil. But, if preferred, can spread some butter or home-made flavored ghee.



Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour (or, chappathi flour)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp canola oil (or ghee)
extra flour for dusting
hot water (amount varies a bit)
salt to taste
some oil for cooking

Preparation:

1. combine the flours, salt and ghee in a bowl; add a little hot water at a time and start kneading the dough; keep adding a little water at a time till a soft, pliable, slightly sticky dough is formed; cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 5 minutes or so
2. divide the dough to form 2" or 3" diameter balls - number varies - but usually i make about a dozen or so with 3 cups of flour - not all of them the same exact size...
3. dust the work surface generously with some flour (either all purpose or whole wheat is fine); roll the balls into thin rounds about 5"-6" in diameter; try not to stack them on top of each other - just lay them out handy on the counter top*
4. heat a pan or griddle to pretty high temperature; cook both sides of the rolled out rotis on the hot pan - adding oil if needed
5. alternately, i like to cook them over open flame on my gas stove, by placing the raw roti on a contraption my mom gave me - a round wire-work with handle - and cook both sides till it puffs up a bit and forms tiny char spots on the surface :-)
6. at this point the rotis are ready to be eaten, straight off the griddle; but, sometimes, i brush it with some ghee or butter and wrap them with a kitchen towel till the whole batch is done; this helps keep them moist and warm till we all sit down for the meal

Serve with any of the curries, or chutneys, or koottus, or even indian pickles (achars):ridge gourd curry
egg curry
soya chunks curry
baby eggplant curry
ridge gourd peel chutney
mint chutney
green tomato dal
chayote squash koottu


*Alternately, after rolling out the balls in step 3 above, fold it in half to form a semi-circle, and fold again to form a sort of triangular shape, and then roll it out again to about 4"-5" diameter to form a slightly thicker but layered and fluffy rotis.