Another beautiful submission examines three different ways to make one dish.
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“There are three distinct ways to fold the dough. All three are below; my favorite is the Trinidadian style.
1 cup finely milled whole wheat flour*
approximately a tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil
approximately 1 ½ cups of water
a couple teaspoons of salt
a significant amount of melted butter or ghee
a rolling pin and flat surface upon which to roll
a tawa pan or a nonstick pan
Mix all of the ingredients, sans the melted butter/ghee in a bowl until you have a dough. Knead the dough, adding more water or flour to get a consistency of a new container of Playdo—not too soft, but not so hard that it will crack if you roll it out too much.
Break off small golf ball sized globs of dough, and roll them neatly. Set ‘em all aside, with a sheet of plastic wrap just loosely draped over them.
Traditional Laccha (pleating)
Take one ball of dough and roll it out as thin as you can in a rectangular/oblong shape.
Spread a thin layer of melted butter/ghee onto the shape you’ve made. Dust with flour.
Pleat the dough in the same manner you used to fold those paper fans as a child in elementary school.
When you have a thin rectangular stack, spiral the stack into a circle. It should look like a cinnamon roll from the top view. Cover and let rest for a sec.
Pheni Paratha/Malabar Parotta style (the “shredded” style)
Take one ball of dough and roll it out as thin as you can in a rectangular/oblong shape.
Spread a thin layer of melted butter/ghee onto the shape you’ve made. Dust with flour.
Take a very sharp knife and shred the shape into long, flat, noodle-esque strips. It doesn’t matter if they are in very neat shapes, but they should be thin.
Use the knife to scrape “noodles” into a long rope. Coil the rope into a cinnamon-roll-esque ball. Cover and let rest for a sec.
Trinidadian style (rolling)
Take one ball of dough and roll it out as thin as you can in a large circle.
Spread a thin layer of melted butter/ghee onto the shape you’ve made. Dust with flour.
Take a sharp knife and make a cut from the middle of the circle to the edge of it.
Roll the dough into a cone along that line you’ve made with the center of the circle as the apex of it. Once you’ve gotten to the end of the dough, tuck the end of the dough into the bottom of the cone. Place the cone facing upright. Place your finger at the top of the cone, and push it all the way down until you’re left with a ball. Cover and let rest for a sec.
Heat the pan to medium high on your stovetop.
Press the ball flat in your palms until it is a kind of thick, flat, circle. Like medium-plate sized. If you feel so inclined, roll it over a few couple times with your rolling pin, but do NOT press too hard and don’t do it too much because you don’t want to flatten out the layers.
Pop the paratha on the pan once it’s hot and let it cook for a minute or so before flipping it over and cooking for another minute. Keep flipping until it’s cooked all the way through. It should be a rich golden brown on the outside.
The fun part! Pinch the edge of the paratha and hold it perpendicular to the counter. Whack it against the counter like a towel.
To eat: in Indian culture, roti flatbreads are used as a utensil to eat curries. You can use it to fold your favorite curry into a morsel to pop into your mouth. Or, rip off pieces and dip in spiced yogurt.
*Normal whole wheat flour is usually not as finely ground as the Indian flour you will find (usually on the label noted as atta, though this technically means dough, not flour). You can use regular whole wheat flour, but your roti will not be as soft. Perhaps try whole-wheat pastry flour! I’ve never tried it but it should give you the softness you want.
