It’s mid-month and you might recall that that’s when I get to try out another authentic Indian dish and see how much I can avoid mucking it up with my American ways. In other words: it’s time for another Indian Cooking Challenge!

This month’s recipe was very easy to incorporate into our weekly dinners, as it’s an Indian bread (roti), and we love our breads. This particular roti is “stuffed” with a masala (mixtures of spices) and cooked on a griddled. As an unleavened bread, it’s somewhere between a cracker and a biscuit, but very tasty nonetheless. It paired nicely with the Thai-style cauliflower curry and basmati rice I made for supper one night this week.

Besan Ki Masala Roti

from Marwari Vegetarian Cooking, makes 8

Ingredients:

Masala:1 1/2 tsp ground Cumin 1/2 tsp ground Coriander 1/4 tsp ground Turmeric 1 Green Chili, diced 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Amchur (dried mango powder) 1/2 tsp Chilli Powder 1 1/s Tbsp Olive Oil

Bread:1 cup Besan (gram flour) 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour 1/2 tsp Salt 2 Tbsp Olive Oil 4-6 Tbsp Water

Combine the masala ingredients in a small bowl and mix until a paste forms. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, combine the flours and salt and mix until uniform.

Stir in the olive oil until the mixture is crumbly, kind of like pie crust.

Add in the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a tight ball. It took my 5 Tbsp and then my dough was a bit sticky, but a little more flour fixed that.

Divide your dough into 8 equal parts and form each into a ball.

Roll each ball into a circle, about 4 inches or so in diameter, then divide the masala filling between each, spreading it around a bit.

Fold each circle in half over the filling, and in half again to make a triangle with one rounded edge. Roll these stacked packets into triangular roti–about 1/4 inch thick or less if you can manage it without sticking or tearing.

Heat a griddle and drizzle a little olive oil on it, “pan frying” the roti until each side is golden brown. Serve warm.

I had the devil of a time rolling out the stuffed roti–the filling wanted to make the dough squish around and tear, to the point that were I to make these again, I’d definitely just mix the spices into the dry ingredients from the get-go, and skipped the filling step. It definitely would cut down on the chances of over-handling the dough (always a landmine when dealing with breads), which I also think I did this time.

Still, they were tasty–pretty much anything made with besan is awesome in my book.

Oh, and the original recipe used ghee (clarified butter). I opted to use olive oil for health reasons and convenience, but to be more authentic, ghee would be your best bet.