A roti for every season

Though a large variety of unleavened breads are a part of North-Indian cuisine and in the states of Rajasthan and Gujrat, Hyderabadi cuisine too does boast of an interesting variety — Malai ki roti (soft bread of maida and fresh cream), badaami naan (almond stuffed bread cakes), sheermal (made of maida, cream and milk, baked in tandoor), naan ki roti (spongy, oval-shaped tandoor-baked bread), kulcha (shorter, round version of sheermal). roghni roti (thick wheat rotis with a generous mix of ghee and milk), baqarkhani (heavy, flaky bread with cut almonds), khameeri roti (yoghurt fermented with flour), jowari ki roti (girdled rotis made of jowar) and of course the regular parathas and phulkaas.

Besan ki roti with lehsan ki chutney is a North-west frontier breakfast, popular for its energetic fervour as much for its convenience as for its natural goodness. The combination used to be popular during the sub-continent’s freedom struggle and its liking spreading up to parts of Sindh, Baluchistan, Afghanistan and the fabled silk route. Hyderabadis have come to choose this simple, yet refreshing breakfast as their all-year-round favourite since all Hyderabadi breakfasts are primarily seasonally oriented like nahari-kulcha and maragh-sheermal for winters, jowar ki roti with besan during monsoons or baghaara dahi (fried yoghurt) and phulkaas in summers.

Besan ki roti is good for health and can even be served with plain yoghurt. For today’s calorie-conscious foodies, this flat bread along with the chutney makes for a perfect meal to start your day with. The wholesome lentil and wheat flour mixed with garlic in greens makes it a favourite of the entire family, as much as it becomes a thing of delight for the one who makes it.

Besan ki Roti
Ingredients:

• 250 gms ata (whole wheat flour)
• 250 gms besan (gram flour)
• 50 gm ghee
• ½ tsp salt

Method:

Mix both the flour together with ghee and salt adding required water to make pliable dough. Leave the dough for about 20 minutes. Make about 10 pedas and roll them out into medium-sized rotis. Pre-heat the tawa and cook the rotis applying ghee both sides on slow fire. Serve roties hot along with lehsan ki chutney.

Lehsan ki Chutney:

Ingredients:

• 25 gm garlic buds
• 25 gm white jeera
• ½ tsp table salt
• 3 green chillies
• ½ cup kothmir leaves
• ½ cup pudina leaves
• 1 lime
• 3 tomatoes (ripe).

Method:

Peel and wash garlic pods. Grind white jeera into fine powder. Add garlic, salt, green chillies, kothmir, pudina, tomatoes peeled lime (after slicing and removing seeds from tomatoes and lime) to the jeera powder and grind together to a paste. The tangy chutney is ready to be served with hot, crisp besan ki rotis.

— The writer is the founder of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation.