Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Doodhi Aur Jowar ki Masala Roti

Jowar aka sorghum is a gluten free, wheat free whole grain. I was blissfully unaware of the existence of this grain until MIL came into the picture. I instantly liked the bhakris (rotis that are rolled by patting), warm off the tawa with ghee and garlic chutney. The texture of the bhakri was unlike anything I had tasted before. Because the jowar flour is gluten free, it is difficult to roll out and breaks easily. One tip MIL graciously shared with me, is to prepare the dough with hot water. Add hot water to dough while stiring around with a spoon and when it forms the consistency of scrambled eggs, use both hands to form a firm dough. This makes the dough on the stickier side, which makes it easier to roll out. That said, I will be the first to admit that I have great difficulty rolling out the bakri, and end up doing patch work. As a result, the bhakris are not round, nor do they puff up ever so slightly when cooked :-( If you want to take a look at what jowar rotis should look like, you might want to visit Ashwini's Food-for Thought. Edit: Another excellent resource can be found at the Cook's Cottage. Thanks! I feel a renewed zeal to try out the jowar bhakris.

But... No despair, MIL gave me another recipe for masala jowar rotis which is very forgiving. It tastes great - all patched up. It is sorgum roti, stuffed with doodhi or bottlegourd. It is quick, nutritious and best of all - one-dish-meal! No fuss cleanup. This roti is best eaten fresh, smeared with ghee or butter accompanied with garlic chutney and a glass of buttermilk.



Jowar Aur Doodhi (Bottle gourd) ki masala Roti
1 cup bottle gourd peeled and cut into large chunks
3-4 green chilies
3 cloves garlic
1 small red onion, peeled and chunked
Place all ingredients in a food processor and give it a 'whir' until the ingredients are grated. Transfer to a wide mouth mixing bowl
2 cups jowar flour
2-3 tbps sprouted moong or bean sprouts (optional)
1 tbsp coriander powder
salt to taste
Add to the vegetable mixture.
Incorporate into a dough adding hot water only if necessary. Most often the water from the gourd and onion would suffice.
Break dough into 6 lumps, shaping each into a ball.
Use extra dry flour for dusting, and roll out each lump into a thick disc with hands. Carefully remove with a spatula.
Place on a heated tawa, press and cook on both sides till blistered.
Remove from heat and smear with ghee/butter. Serve immediately.

Cooking this roti tends of take its toll on nonstick coated (strongly discouraged for this recipe) or even hard anodized griddles/tava. Use a cast iron griddle if you have one. Or like me, use an old tava saving it exclusively for jowar/bajra rotis.

9 comments:

Ashwini said...

GM this is nice. I am definitely going to try it. Though jowar bhakris are much loved in my house too, I think adding a vegetable in it makes it taste so much better. I think your effort looks good! The joke in our house is - the best benefit derived from bhakri is the calories you expend making it!!!

Ashwini said...

Oops forgot to ask- how do you get the indexing for the recipes? Am not very good with tech stuff :-(

GourmayMasala said...

Thanks Ashwini, you are too kind!

Send me note at spiceisright at gmail dot com. I will gladly send you some sample indexing code to add to your template.

I don't think there is an easier way to index... I do it the brute force way, manually adding links.

Nupur said...

This looks delicious...another reason I should buy cast iron cookware.

GourmayMasala said...

Thanks Nupur! Glad you like it. I don't own cast iron cookware yet... but it is on top of my wish list!

sailu said...

A healthy recipe,GM.I am one for whole grain foods and try to incorporate them in my daily diet.This one is interesting with bottle gourd.

BDSN said...

I have seen in other food blogs where they use jowar as the main ingredient but in yours you use bottle gourd..That's a change to the usual. The picture looks like it has texture of dosa but it is a roti...Well I have never tasted jowar for that matter..Is it ragi.?

Anonymous said...

Will definitely try this recipie as my son is allergic to wheat - but can have sorgum flour since it is gluten free as well. Also he is OK with bottle gourd though some of the other veges don't sit to well with him.
Thanks for the ideas

Anonymous said...

Although doodhi is very good stuff, Did you ever try this with avocado instead of doodhi. Also, IMHO using milk or buttermilk instead of water will make it more workable.