These freshly cooked rotis, smothered with creamy, savoury avocado and miso butter (hints of Marmite, I’m told!) have become my go-to breakfast, snack or lunch. For the rotis you can use half rice flour and half gram (chickpea) flour. Or mix ragi (a nutty-flavoured variety of millet) or buckwheat flour with rice or gram flour. For a roti that puffs up slightly, try combining ragi with flour from an older variety of wheat, such as spelt or einkorn (both easier to digest than modern wheat). I dollop some beetroot raita (see the book) alongside. You can also serve the rotis plain with your favourite soups or stews or as part of a thali, see the recipe pages below.
SERVES 2
38g each of rice flour and gram (chickpea) flour (and see suggested alternative flour combinations in the recipe intro above)
¼ tsp sea salt
½ tbsp ghee (clarified butter), at room temperature
¼ tsp nigella seeds
1 tbsp good whole natural yoghurt (see the book for homemade)
2 tbsp water
FOR THE ‘BUTTER’
1 large ripe avocado, de-stoned
1 tbsp dark or sweet miso
splash of lemon or lime juice (optional)
TO SERVE
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp parsley, or your favourite herb
½ carrot, grated (optional)
- Sift both flours together and mix well. Add the salt, ghee, nigella seeds and yoghurt. Starting with 1 tablespoon, add the water a little at a time and mix together with your fingers until you get a soft elastic dough. Divide into eight balls about the size of a large walnut.
- Cover a chopping board with baking parchment and roll out each ball into a roti using a rolling pin. If the dough is very sticky, I use another piece of parchment on top to stop it sticking to the rolling pin – better than adding more flour, which can make it too dry.
- Cook each roti on a hot griddle pan for 2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Turn the roti over and cook for 1 minute on the other side. You can also start them in a pan and then finish them in a toaster.
- While the rotis are cooking, make the butter. Mash the avocado and miso together and add a tiny splash of water to loosen, if needed. Taste and adjust the seasoning. If you’re making it in advance, add a splash of lemon or lime juice to keep the colour.
- The rotis are best served immediately while hot, so simply spread a generous amount of the butter and finish with lots of black pepper, herbs and grated carrot, if using.