Makki di Roti
Maize flour bread with no gluten to hold it together, patted flat between wet palms and cooked slowly so it never cracks.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 25m
- Waiting
- 10m
- Total
- 55m
- Serves
- 8 rotis
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 2 cups | Mix with very hot water into a warm, pliable dough 8m Hot water, and add it in stages. This is the whole technique. | Cover the dough and rest it 10 minutes while it is still warm 10m Rest in a bowl with a lid. Uncovered, the surface dries and turns crumbly. | Pat each ball flat between wet palms, or press between two sheets of plastic 12m Wet hands. Dry ones drag the dough and open cracks at the rim. | Cook on a medium tawa, turning twice, then press the edges down and finish with ghee 20m Medium heat. High heat sets the surface before the centre cooks and the roti splits. | |
| about 1 1/4 cups | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 1/2 tsp | |||||
| 1/2 cup | |||||
| 1 tbsp | |||||
| 4 tbsp | |||||
-
Mix with very hot water into a warm, pliable dough
8m- maize flour 2 cups
- very hot water about 1 1/4 cups
- salt 1 tsp
- carom seeds (optional) 1/2 tsp
- white radish (optional) 1/2 cup
- ghee 1 tbsp
Hot water, and add it in stages. This is the whole technique.
-
Cover the dough and rest it 10 minutes while it is still warm
10m- from 1 Mix with very hot water into a warm, pliable dough
Rest in a bowl with a lid. Uncovered, the surface dries and turns crumbly.
-
Pat each ball flat between wet palms, or press between two sheets of plastic
12m- from 2 Cover the dough and rest it 10 minutes while it is still warm
Wet hands. Dry ones drag the dough and open cracks at the rim.
-
Cook on a medium tawa, turning twice, then press the edges down and finish with ghee
20m- from 3 Pat each ball flat between wet palms, or press between two sheets of plastic
- ghee 4 tbsp
Medium heat. High heat sets the surface before the centre cooks and the roti splits.
Why the water has to be hot
Wheat dough holds together because gluten forms an elastic net. Maize has no gluten at all, so the only thing binding a makki roti is gelatinised starch. Maize starch needs roughly 70°C before its granules swell and turn sticky, which is why cold water gives you wet sand and near-boiling water gives you something you can actually pat into a disc. The resulting dough is fragile in a different way from bread dough — it will not stretch, so it has to be pressed rather than rolled.
Notes
- Work with a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest covered. It dries out within minutes.
- If a roti cracks at the edge as you pat it, pinch it shut and carry on. It will not tear further in the pan.
- Eaten with sarson ka saag, jaggery and a great deal of white butter. The ghee is not restraint-friendly and should not be.