Makki Roti is Gluten Free
Gluten free flours are not easy to work with and when you try to make flat bread, it can easily break apart. With a little trick and some practice, you can make makki roti quite effortlessly, and perfectly round shape too. I am not a North Indian and I didn’t grow up eating makki roti. My husband’s love for the combination of Sarso Saag and Makki Roti got me into learning how to make winter speciality.
Ingredients needed for Makki Roti
Corn flour/ maize flour known as Makki Atta in India.KEY NOTE: Don’t get confused with the white corn flour that is the startch, which is used to thicken sauce and soupCarom seeds – just for flavorSaltLittle bit of oilWarm Water as required to prepare the doughghee to toast the roti. You can use oil too but ghee adds to the flavor.
TIP to make soft Makki Roti
Adding grated daikon raddish (mooli) to the flour while making the dough helps to create a very soft texture of the roti. I personally don’t add it because I like the rustic texture of the roti that had subtle bite to it.
How to prepare ?
The step is just like preparing any other variety of roti except with makki roti you will realize that the dough breaks apart easy and not stretchable. Because of the lack of gluten in the flour, it will not be easy to roll the dough like you would with regular Indian roti/chapati. So, there are two ways to roll Makki Roti: First: You hand roll it. Take a tiny portion of the dough and press it between your palm and then pressing gently all around until it flattens and thins out evenly. Second: You could just press the small portion of the dough using a heavy plate or by using tortilla press.
THE STEP I FOLLOW:
I take two small portions of a parchment paper. Rub tiny amount of ghee or oil on both the papers and then place the small dumpling portion in between. And press it. As you see in the photo below, it comes out perfect round shape and I prefer to keep these small only because it’s easy to handle. Next step is crucial! Do not peel the dough out of the parchment paper, it will break apart. Just flip the pressed dough on your hand and peel the paper off the dough. Then place the pressed roti on a medium hot skillet and cook it on both the side by spreading little oil or ghee. Once it toasty, it’s done. When I made these gluten free Indian roti the first times, it was not this perfect round shape. It looked messy but it was tasty. Although I don’t make makki roti a lot, I have done it quite a few times in the last few years to get the hang of it. So, don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t work out the first time.
