Back to our recipe in hand, dal ki roti. This chapati recipe is customisable in dozens of different ways. The basic method is to cook toor dal or moong dal into a mush with turmeric and use that to moisten and knead roti dough. Beyond this, you can use your imagination. Here are a few suggestions: – add spinach, tomatoes, peas, carrots, or any vegetable that can cook to a smooth mush. This is important for smooth rolling of the roti – add spices like jeera, chilli, etc – add fresh or dry herbs like kasuri methi, coriander, pudina, methi, etc So many options! For more paratha, roti, and flatbread recipes, check out: Gobi paratha Paneer paratha Methi thepla Methi paratha Maida poori Corn poori Poori bhaji
INGREDIENTS: 1.5 cups of atta (whole wheat flour) 3 cups of cooked and mashed toor dal (see notes) 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder 1/2 tsp of cumin powder 1/2 tsp of chilli powder 2 tsp of ghee or oil or butter
INSTRUCTIONS: To make the dough:
To make the rotis:
Step by step pictures to make dal ki roti:
Cook 1 cup toor dal with about 3 cups water and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. The dal should be fairly thick as you see below. If it’s more watery, that’s still ok, you just won’t have a lot of dal in your rotis. I had to add some water when kneading the dough since my dal was quite thick.
Set aside the cooked dal to cool or at least become warm enough to handle easily.
In a wide bowl, take your 1.5 cups atta + 1/2 cumin powder + 1/2 tsp chilli powder and salt to taste. Mix well to combine the ingredients.
Now add the cooked dal and some water if needed. Knead into a soft, pliable dough.
When the dough starts to come together, add the 2 tsp of ghee and knead again to bring it together. Make sure the dough is not sticky to touch. When you mix fat to the atta while kneading, that results in very soft rotis since it breaks the gluten in the flour down easier. So adding some fat to flour when kneading or cooking is recommended, rather than making dry chapatis.
Cover and set aside for 30 minutes or refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days.
When you are ready to start making the rotis, heat an iron or non stick tawa or pan.
Pinch out a large lemon-sized ball of dough and form a smooth ball between your palms. Flatten slightly and dust generously with more atta.
Roll out into a thin (per your preference), uniform circle.
Place on your heated pan and cook on medium-low flame until small puffs of air pockets appear on the surface of the roti. Add a few drops of oil or ghee to this if you desire.
Flip over with a spatula and cook the other side until brown spots appear on the surface. The rotis won’t puff up too much but will be very soft nevertheless.
Repeat the process until all the dough is used up. Serve dal ki roti hot with curd and pickles or any side dish of choice.
Notes: – I have mentioned this a few times but you will have to use some judgement for quantity of dal and water needed to knead the dough – Customise the dal mixture to your preference. Add vegetables, herbs, etc to your liking. Just make sure to cook everything very soft and mash it up before kneading so that the rotis turn out smooth – You can store this dough in the refrigerator. I kept mine for up to one week but this really depends on a lot of factors so don’t keep it more than 3 days if you are worried about the dough spoiling – You can skip the ghee while kneading the dough and just brush more when cooking. I prefer to add oil or ghee to the dough and skip it while cooking unless I am packing rotis for our lunch
If you try this recipe, do let me know and share a picture on my Facebook page.
For dal ki roti recipe in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, etc, please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
