roti | Sadie's Bubble of Yum

Roti…sigh…oh how I love you! The smell of it sizzling on a hot tawa (concave iron griddle used to fry roti‘s)…yummy! Shukran to my father AKA popsickles for buying me a tawa – it’s any roti-maker/roti-addict’s dream!

Roti is one of the many types of indian flat breads originating from the Indian subcontinent. In India it is a staple accompaniment to most of their meals….I could completely live on roti too, but gosh I’d have to say bye to any trace of a waist I have.

Of all variations, my absolute favourite type of roti is the deliciously crisp, flaky roti. I made a batch to accompany and complement my butter chicken dish on Sunday and knew I just had to share the recipe and method with you! There’s certain steps which need to be followed when making a roti, to achieve the flaky effect.

Ingredients:

4 cups cake flour

1/2 cup oil

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

125g butter/margarine or ghee (clarified butter)

For frying:

1/2 cup oil

3 Tbsp butter/margarine

NB: instead of the above you could just fry your roti’s with ghee

Method:

Combine flour, salt and oil and rub together to form breadcrumb consistency.

Add water gradually until a soft pliable dough forms.

Dough will be soft but after allowing to stand covered for a while (approximately 30 minutes) the moisture will be absorbed.

Make balls and roll into a circle to approximately a saucer size.

Spread rolled out ball with butter/margarine/ghee and sprinkle with flour.

From the centre of the circle, make a slit using a knife.

Using both hands, pick up the two sides of the cut circle and roll into a long ‘sausage’

Roll up both ends of the sausage, one side clockwise and the opposite end anti clockwise (two circles will meet in centre)

Flip one circle on top of the other and press lightly

Repeat this procedure with each of the dough balls.

Allow the finished roti balls to rest or refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes before frying.

Melt butter and oil together if not using ghee to fry

Roll out roti on lightly floured surface

Heat an appropriately sized pan to fry roti

Use about 2-3 tablespoons butter-oil mixture to fry roti until it is golden on each side

After removing from pan lightly pat it between the palms of your hands so that roti can be fluffy.

Butter Chicken (sadiesbubbleofyum.wordpress.com)

Butter Chicken

One of my favourite dishes of all time is Butter Chicken. This is a dish I frequently crave along with a hot-from-the-pan roti….this is not the easiest thing to think about while you fasting *wipes drool*

There are so many butter chicken recipes out there, some include cashew and fresh cream whereas others include plain yoghurt or sour cream and tomato paste. Definitely on my bucket list is to learn to make authentic Pakistani butter chicken, preferably by a Pakistani 🙂

Yesterday I had my best friend, Tasneem AKA Domingo and her husband Waseem over for iftaar (meal eaten by muslims to break their fast). Domingo and I were on a mission to find Eid clothes Saturday morning and while driving we took about 2minutes to decide on the menu for our iftaar together the next day – I find it incredibly easy to decide what to make during the fast, as each day comes with its different cravings.

Yes, the obvious choice was the heavenly combination of butter chicken and roti and for dessert, Domingo requested I whip up a batch of chocolate brownies.

The blog is definitely tickling my adventurous bone, pushing me to try new recipes, so I thought because I was sticking to my old-faithful choc brownie recipe I should definitely be audacious with the butter chicken. I remember seeing Deena Naidoo’s (winner of MasterChef SA) butter chicken recipe in the MasterChef and You magazine collaboration. With baking being my passion, majority of the posts would fit under that category but due to special requests, I will be including some “foodie recipe”. With that said, please see below (and try out!) my first “foodie” recipe:

Butter Chicken – (MasterChef winner Deena Naidoo recipe)

Ingredients

20ml oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 stick cinnamon

1 medium onion chopped

300g chicken fillet (cubed)

1/2 tsp whole jeera (cumin)

1/2 tsp bori (turmeric)

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

2/3 cup liquidised tomatoes

1 1/2 tsp garlic & ginger

4tsp ground cashew (I used ground almond)

1/2 tsp salt (to taste)

1/2 cup fresh cream

Method:

Fry mustard seeds and cinnamon stick in oil until seeds start popping.
Add onions and cumin seeds, heat until onions become translucent.
Add remaining dry spices.

Add tomato, garlic & ginger and cashew (I used ground almond simply because I had no ground cashew) then simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick.
Blend this mixture with a hand blender.
Add cubed chicken and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Add salt to taste and pour cream in pot allowing to simmer over very low heat for 3-4 minutes or until cooked.