Dhalpuri roti

As tradition built it

Dhalpuri roti

Trinidad; roughly 4 to 6 minutes on the tawa

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 cups yellow split peas
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 12 leaves, or ¼ cup bandhania
• 1 tsp roasted cumin

Dough

• one of 6 equal portions, about 4 tbsp filling each portion of dough, for stuffing

Method

1. Boil the yellow split peas with turmeric and salt until tender but still whole.
2. Drain and properly dry the peas before grinding, traditionally by dhal mill or hand grinder, into a fine, dry, crumbly filling seasoned with garlic, bandhania and roasted cumin.
3. Dry-toast the ground paste in a hot pot to drive off any remaining moisture until light and airy.
4. Stuff the paste into a portion of dough, pinch the edges closed, and roll out flat.
5. Cook on a tawa, roughly 4 to 6 minutes total, until it visibly swells as trapped steam forms inside. Skipping the drying or the dry-toast leaves the filling wet enough to tear the dough.

What a modern chef changes

Dehydrated Filling, Big Green Egg Griddle

Rung 02

Method

1. Dry the boiled peas fully and evenly in a dehydrator rather than leaving them to air-dry unevenly, the tradition's own drying step made exact rather than approximate.
2. Grind the dried peas in a high-power blender, then pass the result through a chinois for a filling finer than any hand mill produces.
3. Cook the finished roti on a steel griddle plate inside a Big Green Egg run as an oven, holding a steadier, more even heat through the swelling stage than a domestic hob tawa manages.