Coconut Roti

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I think I started loving pol roti this much only when I started living away from home. I guess that’s another one of those ‘distance makes the heart grown fonder’ incidents. These little roti’s are easy to make, except they take a bit of time with all the shaping and cooking. But they stays fresh in the fridge for about 4-5 days, so I would recommend making a big batch and keeping some for quick breakfasts before heading out to work.

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Those most people make plain roti, my dad always loved to ask my mom to jazz it up with savory flavors like onions, chopped chilies and curry leaves. And obviously, that’s where this inspiration comes from too.

I love biting into some freshly made pol roti with all its flavor and charred bits and better half always gives a thumbs up for this!

Cast of Characters:

• Plain flour
• A bit of oil
• 1 egg
• Shredded coconut – I use around the same quantity as flour
• Chopped green chilies
• Chopped onions
• Chopped curry leaves
• Salt, chili flakes and water

Props:

• A large bowl
• A flat roti pan (ideally) or any flat frying pan
• A plate

How to:

• Basically just mix in all the listed ingredients listed above and knead it until it become a big ball of dough. You could cook a small piece on the pan and check for seasoning and adjust as you wish.
• It’s a very forgiving recipe in terms of quantity as you can always add more flour if you put too much water and vice versa.
• Separate the dough into gold ball size balls.
• Lightly coat a flat plate with a layer of oil. Place a ball of roti on the plate and by using your palm,  shape them till they become flat disks. They can be of any thickness and size as you wish. I prefer mine to be small and thin as they cook faster and has more crisp edges.
• Heat up the flat pan, and place the flat disks one by one. I sometimes use a larger pan and make a few roti’s at the same time.
• Cook them on the flat pan till they are cooked through and becomes slightly golden with a few charred spots on one side and flip over and do the same. Repeat for all.

Sidekicks:

• Since these are brimming with the flavors of the onions, curry leaves, green chilies and the spices, they are perfect by themselves or with a little dab of butter.
• But we usually eat it with a yummy beef curry and a bit of Sri Lankan lunumiris.

Notes:

• While writing this post I just thought how yummy it would be to add some fried bacon (Beef bacon in our case of course!) bits into the mixture to give it a really savory kick! Never tried it before but I bet it would be amazing!
• Update: I recently made pol roti with chicken curry and lunumiris for dinner and decided to convert them into mini ‘pizzas’ or open faced sandwiched like below. Just slather some cream cheese, top with some spicy lunumiris, shredded curried chicken, few leaves of baby spinach and drizzle abit of gravy from the chicken curry and ta-da, you’ve an Sri Lankan inspired pizza. I can imagine this as a perfect ‘short-eat’ for cocktails or parties!