Pudina Roti/Phulka (Mint Phulkas)

Roti or chapatti or phulka are the terms used for Indian flat bread. These are eaten in Indian (asian) homes either for lunch or dinner or even for breakfast. Different varieties of rotis can be made with various types of flours such as wheat, jowar, bajra, ragi etc or with a combination of all of them.

Rotis / chapatis are either fried (on a tawa/griddle) dry or with a little oil. But phulkas are dry fried first on the tawa and then fried directly over  the flame (over the gas burner). Ghee is smeared on it later (while it is still hot) and it is optional. Since no oil is used either in the dough or while frying, this is a healthier version. Besides, the phulkas generally turn out very soft and tasty as they puff out, separating the two layers.

Addition of pudina (mint) in the dough  gives it an aromatic flavour and if you like mint, then you will find this very tasteful. Making of phulkas may seem a little complicated as you have to do some balancing act but once you get the hang of it and with a little practice, I feel it is worth the trouble.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour	4 cups
Mint	1 big bunch
Green chilies	3 or as per taste
Water	For kneading
Turmeric	½ tsp
Salt	As per taste
Ghee (clarified butter)	For smearing the phulkas

Method:

Pudina Roti dough

1.  Wash the mint thoroughly in water. Drain and pick the leaves from the   stems and discard the woody   stems.
2.  Roughly grind mint leaves, green chilies with little water and keep aside.
3.  In a large mixing bowl, add wheat flour, salt & turmeric and mix well.
4. To this mixture and the ground mint leaves.
5.  Add sufficient water to this mixture and knead it into soft pliable dough.
6.  Place the dough in a container and cover it with a lid.
7. After an hour or two make small balls (desired size and quantity) and flatten each ball with a rolling pin into chapattis/rotis (not very thin) with the help of little dry wheat flour .
8. Heat a tawa or griddle. Once the tawa is hot, lower the flame and place a chapatti on the hot griddle and fry it first on one side and turn it and fry the same way on the other side till tiny light brown spots appear on the surface of the chapatti.
9. Remove it from the tawa/ griddle and place it on a plate.
10. The above procedure to be followed for all the chapattis/rotis. For making of Phulkas - see below:

Makes : 15 Rotis or Phulkas (depending upon the size of the balls)

            

Phulka in the making

How to make phulkas :

• Same procedure as above but once the tiny light brown spots appear, hold the chapatti with tongs in your right hand and remove it from the griddle and at the same time, with your left hand, remove the griddle from the fire. Now place the chapatti (held with the tongs) directly on the fire as shown (flame should be high). The chapatti will immediately puff up. Now turn the puffed chapatti on the other side. This side too will puff up instantly. Your Phulka is now ready.
• Remove it quickly and place it on a plate.
• Smear a little ghee with a teaspoon onto the phulka while it is still hot (you will use less ghee)
  
• Follow the same procedure for all the chapattis/rotis.
  

Note:

•     For making phulkas, use a tawa/griddle preferably with a handle.
•     Phulkas puff out well if hte dough is well kneaded.
  
•     The same dough can be used for making parathas too.

Tasty Snacks (from left over chapattis)

You must have faced this situation sometime or the other - what to do with the left-over chapattis? Well ofcourse, the easy way out would be to eat the same boring thing by warming it up!!

Next time, may be you can try out these two interesting ways of eating the left over chapattis. Do not be surprised if you are tempted to make more chapattis than you normally need to, so that you can make these tasty snacks the next day!!

As I am writing this, I suddenly remembered that there is also a third way of transforming the humble chapatti into an interesting one. This will have to wait for now as I had only six (leftover) chapattis. I used four for the usli and two for the pizza.

If anyone has any new ideas for left-over chapattis, please do write in.

Snack Number 1 – Chapatti Usli

• Roughly tear off the chapattis into small pieces.
• Heat a pan and add to it – oil, mustard seeds and salt. When mustard seed starts to pop, add turmeric powder, chopped onions, curry leaves and green chilies and chopped tomatoes. Saute it for a while till the onions are translucent.
• Lower the flame and add the chapatti pieces and mix well. Cover the lid. After about a few minutes, switch off the gas.
• Garnish with lime juice, coconut scrapings and coriander leaves.

Snack Number 2 – Chapatti Pizza

• Heat a pan or a tawa. See that the pan/tawa is hot. Then lower the flame to minimum.
• Lightly smear the chapattis with ghee or oil on both sides and place the chapattis on the pan one by one and heat it on either side till golden spots appear on both the sides and it loses all its moisture and softness and becomes nice and crisp.
• Heat all the chapattis in this way.
• While the chapattis are being heated, you can chop onions, tomatoes and coriander leaves and make a mixture of this adding salt and pepper or any other masala of your choice.
• Spread this mixture over each chapatti. You can also top it with some grated cheese, tomato ketchup and any other ingredients of your choice. Serve and relish.

Note :

• Chappati Usli can be made for breakfast or served as an evening snack or as a side-dish during lunch or dinner.
• Chapatti pizza can be served as an appetiser.