When you think of Surinamese / Hindustani food, you think of roti. A roti (pronounced as if it were written in double) looks like a pancake and serves as the basis for the popular dish ‘Roti with chicken and vegetables’. But it is equally delicious with a vegetarian dessert. Roti has two types of filling, yellow peas and potatoes, both of which give a completely different taste experience. The recipe in this article is for the roti with potato filling.
Ingredients
- 1 kg. self-raising flour
- approx. 750 ml. water
- 1 kg. floury potatoes
- 2 cloves of fresh garlic (pressed or ground)
- salt
- olive or sunflower oil
- liquid butter
Necessities
- Large bowl / bowl (for kneading the dough)
- Rolling pin
- Deep pan (for cooking the potatoes)
- Large flat frying pan (for baking the roti)
- Oil brush
- Potato masher
- Large flat spoon (for flipping the roti in the pan)
Preparation
Dough
- Knead the flour with the water into a light dough ball.
- Spread a little oil on it and let it rise under a clean tea towel for at least an hour
Stuffing
- Boil the potatoes until tender
- Drain the water and let the potatoes evaporate well
- Add two tablespoons of liquid butter
- Add the garlic (with a garlic press or finely ground with a mortar)
- Add salt to taste
- Mix everything together well with a pestle
To fill
- The size of the roti will depend on the size of your skillet. For a large frying pan, you can use the dough to make balls the size of a tennis ball.
- Flatten the first ball a little
- Make a bowl of your hand and put the dough in that hand.
- With the other hand, put a scoop of potato filling in the center of the dough
- Fold the dough with the filling in it. Press the edges together well so that it cannot pop open easily. The dough ball is now a filled dough ball.
- Repeat this for all dough balls
Roll
- Clean and dry your countertop.
- Sprinkle some flour over the counter and place the filled dough ball on top.
- Roll out the dough ball with the rolling pin until it is a flat round pancake. Turn the roti a few times while rolling so that it doesn’t stick to the counter.
The trick with roti with potato filling is not to roll the filling out too flat, but to get the dough layer as thin as possible.
Baking
- In a bowl, make a mixture of liquid butter and a dash of oil.
- Heat the pan
- Brush the bottom of the frying pan with a thin layer of butter with a brush.
- Place the roti in the pan and grease the top with the brush with butter
- When the bottom is golden brown, turn the roti and bake that side golden brown too.
- Remove the roti from the pan and grease the bottom again for the next roti.
Serving tip:
Eat the roti with Masala chicken (chicken curry) and long beans
Way of eating:
You do not use cutlery to eat roti. You tear a small piece of your roti and with that you pick up a piece of meat or vegetables. This authentic way of eating completes this exotic taste sensation! So make sure you sit at the table with well-washed hands.
Variation tip:
Roti with potato filling is a variation on the traditional recipe, roti with yellow pea filling.