Quick Peshwari Roti
Meera Sodha's easy Peshwari Roti make a delicious accompaniment to any Indian meal. This easy to follow recipe, produces sweet and savoury stuffed breads, that can be made very quickly. A must for curry lovers.
From the book
Made in India: Cooked in Britain: Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen
130 mouth-watering Indian recipes made simple
Aromatic curries and flavourful dals
Homemade chutneys and pickles
Introduction
Both Brits and Indians share a passion for peshwari naan. I love tearing apart hot, charred bread to reveal the sweet fruit and coconut-scented steam, which inspired me to make this quick home-made version, which is essentially a stuffed chapatti. You can make it in the same time it would take to order a takeaway, and using store-cupboard ingredients too.
Ingredients
| 300g | plain white flour (plus extra to dust the dough) |
| 1/2 tsp | salt |
| rapeseed oil | |
| 175ml | hand-hot water |
| For the filling: | |
| 50g | unsalted butter |
| 4 tbsp | desiccated coconut |
| 2 tbsp | raisins |
| 4 tbsp | ground almonds |
| 2 tsp | sugar |
Method
Put the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and 2 tablespoons of oil and mix with your fingers until the flour resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the middle and add 150ml of the water, then the rest little by little – you may not need it all – kneading the dough until it is soft and springy. Pat the dough with a little oil and put to one side.
To make the filling, melt the butter in a small saucepan on a low to medium heat. Add the coconut, raisins, ground almonds and sugar, stir and taste. (You can add other sorts of chopped nuts, other dried fruit or even grated apple, if you like.)
To make the rotis, lightly flour a clean surface and put some flour into a small bowl. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll a piece between your palms to form a ball, flatten it and coat it in the flour. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin to the size of a small saucer (around 10cm in diameter). Dip the roti in the flour and continue rolling it out to around 20cm in diameter.
Take a tablespoon of the filling and spread it out on one half of the roti. Fold the other half of the roti over the top of the filling so that you end up with a semicircle. Seal it by gently pressing the edges closed, working from one side to the other so as not to trap air into it.
Put a frying pan on a medium to high heat. When it’s hot, throw on the first roti and leave for around 30 seconds to a minute, until the edges colour and the side is browning nicely in spots. Turn it over and cook for the same length of time on the other side.
Press down on the roti with a chapatti press or spatula on the back of any uncooked bits until cooked through before transferring to a plate. Repeat with the rest of the dough. To keep your roti warm while you cook the rest, make a foil nest for them to sit in.
Serve with the Howrah Express cinnamon lamb curry (see page 108) or Maharani’s favourite (see page 113).
