Vastad rotti
When you have some bananas turning black or over ripened and you think if you should eat it or toss it out, there is something different you can do than adding it to a regular cakes or smoothies. Since I am an Indian, I would usually add it to chapati dough and since I am a Mangalorean, it's even better I make buns and vastad rotti. For all the curious readers out there, buns is the trade mark breakfast in Mangalore that is soft, super fluffy and it almost tastes like a sweet bhatura. I am already salivating at the thought of buns. But let me focus now on rotti.
If you haven't heard of Mangalorean buns, this is how it looks :)
Vastad rotti is a soft and fluffy bread made using whole wheat flour, yogurt and ripe bananas. The crushed black pepper, green chillies and cumin seeds give a very distinct flavour to it.
Here is the recipe:
What you'll need :
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
3/4 cup sweet yogurt
1 banana (over ripened makes the bread even better)
1 green chilly
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp cooking soda
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
Salt as per taste
Ghee
How to :
In a mortar and pestle, crush the cumin seeds, black pepper and finely chopped green chilly together with some salt.
In a mixing bowl, add yogurt, crushed spices, cooking soda, mushed up banana and sugar. I like to make the rottis a little sweeter, so I add more sugar to it. Be sure to see that the bananas are nicely mashed and there are no lumps in it. If you don't like mushing with your hand, blend it in a food processor. Mix well and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. The mixture starts to bubble while resting as it has cooking soda added to it. Now add wheat flour and make a soft dough out of it. If the batter becomes dry while making the dough, add some water. Apply some ghee to the dough and allow the mixture to rest overnight at room temperature. The batter should not be hard like chapati dough, or else it will turn out flat and hard when you cook it the next day.
Dust the dough with some flour and make small balls, a little bigger than those made for chapati. Roll the balls with a rolling pin as the same size of puris. It's alright if the rolled dough is a little uneven.
Place a griddle on medium heat. Cook the rottis on the griddle and cook by applying some ghee (or oil if you wish) on both sides. The cooking may take some time as the dough is rolled thickly. When the rotti starts to fluff up and crisps on both sides, remove it from the griddle.
Mangalorean buns is of course a stand out recipe of coastal Karnataka, but do give this recipe a try. The spongy little rottis with a hint of sweetness and a big dollop of butter will surely make you reach out for more!