Roti - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Roti is generally a South Asia

South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...

n bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour

Atta flour

Atta is the Hindi word for oven, and flour is the main ingredient of most varieties of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani bread. Atta generally refers to the oven used in cooking the bread. Flatbreads made from atta, such as chapati, roti, naan and puri, are an integral part of Indian cuisine...

, that originated and is consumed in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. Its defining characteristic is that it is unleavened. Indian naan

Naan

Naan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in South and Central Asia, in Iran, and in South Asian restaurants abroad. Influenced by the large influx of South Asian labour, naan has also become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states.Originally, naan is a...

bread, by contrast, is a yeast-leavened bread.

Roti and its thinner variant, known as chapati

Chapati

Chapati or Chapatti or Chapathi is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent. Versions of it are found in Turkmenistan and in East African countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania...

, are an integral part of Indian

India

/ Pakistani

Pakistan

cuisine

Cuisine

Cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture. Cuisines are often named after the geographic areas or regions that they originate from...

. It is particularly popular in India

India

and Pakistan

Pakistan

Etymology

The word roti is derived from the Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

word रोटिका (roṭikā), meaning "bread." Names in other languages are ; Nepali: रोटी; ; ;; ; ; ; Dhivehi

Dhivehi language

Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by about 350,000 people in the Maldives where it is the national language. It is also the first language of nearly 10,000 people in the island of Minicoy in the Union territory of Lakshadweep, India where the Mahl dialect of the Maldivian...

: ރޮށި; ; ;. It is also known as rotli in Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

, maani in Sindhi

Sindhi language

Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...

and phulka in Punjabi

Punjabi language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

and Saraiki

Saraiki language

Saraiki , transliterated as Sirāikī and sometimes spelled Seraiki and Saraiki, is a standardized written language of Pakistan belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages. It is a language spoken in the heart of Pakistan...

Bangladesh,India,Pakistan, and Nepal

There are many different variations of flat breads found in many cultures across the globe, from Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...

to the Americas. The traditional flat bread originating from the Indian subcontinent

Indian subcontinent

is commonly known as roti, Nepali: रोटी; pronounced "rho tee". It is normally eaten with curries or cooked vegetables; it can be called a carrier for curries or cooked vegetables. It is made most often from wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

flour

Flour

Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...

, cooked on a flat or slightly concave iron griddle called a tawa

Tava

A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat...

. It is similar to the tortilla

Tortilla

In Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...

in appearance. Like breads around the world, roti is a staple

Staple food

A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...

accompaniment to other foods, and may be spread with ghee

Ghee

Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine....

(clarified butter).

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka probably the most popular type of roti is pol roti (coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

roti), made of wheat flour, kurakkan flour or a mixture of both and scraped coconut. Sometimes chopped green chillies and onion are added to the mixture before cooking. These are usually thicker and harder than other roti types. They are usually eaten with curries, or some types of sambol or lunu miris

Lunu miris

Lunumiris is purely made out of grinding dried chilli flacks with sea salt. Many people use this term loosely to the commonly known derivative of this so called Katta sambol...

and considered a main meal rather than a supplement.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand

In Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Malaysia, and Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, the term encompasses all forms of bread including western-style bread as well as the traditional Punjabi

Punjab region

The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...

breads.

In Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, "โรดี" refers to the maida

Maida flour

Maida is a finely milled and refined flour of wheat, closely resembling cake flour, and used extensively in making Indian fast food and Indian bakery products such as pastries and breadand sometimes in making traditional Indian breads such as paratha and naan. It is made from the endosperm of the...

paratha

Paratha

A paratha/parantha/parauntha is an Indian flat-bread that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough...

—known in Indonesia

Indonesia

as roti maryam, roti cane or roti konde, Malaysia as roti canai

Roti canai

Roti canai or roti cane is a type of Indian-influenced flatbread found in Malaysia and Indonesia. It is often sold in Mamak stalls in Malaysia; also in Malay, Minangkabau and Aceh restaurants in Indonesia...

and in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

as roti prata

Roti prata

Roti prata is a fried flour-based pancake that is cooked over a flat grill. It is usually served with a vegetable or meat based curry and is sold all over Singapore in food centres. Prata is also commonly cooked with cheese, onion, banana, red bean, chocolate, mushroom or egg...

—which is sometimes drizzled with condensed milk

Condensed milk

Condensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if unopened. The two terms, condensed milk and sweetened...

, rolled up, and eaten as a hot snack, or fried with egg as a larger dish.

West Indies

In the Caribbean the word roti refers not only to the pastry but to the complete pastry with some sort of savory filling. In Asia 'roti' means what Caribbean people would call 'roti skins.' Roti also features prominently in the diet of many Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

countries, especially Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

, Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

and Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

. West Indian roti are primarily made from wheat flour, baking powder, salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

, and water and cooked on a tava

Tava

. Certain rotis are also made with butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

. There are several types of roti made in the West Indies.

Trinidad and Leeward Islands
Food	Description
Sada roti	This is a plain roti, made of white flour. Because it is the simplest roti to make, it is the most commonly consumed roti in Trinidad. It is a popular breakfast option in Trinidad, in combination with tomato choka, baigan choka (eggplant), and other vegetable dishes.
Paratha roti	A roti made with butter, usually ghee Ghee Ghee is a class of clarified butter that originated in South Asia and is commonly used in South Asian cuisine.... (Clarified Butter) but any butter can be used with it, the roti is put onto the tawa and butter is spread out onto it, partha eventually turns brown, and has more taste than the plain traditional roti, paratha is traditionally eaten with fried eggs and/or a cup of tea. A tawa Tava A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat... is (a round, flat metal griddle used in Indian cooking). Ghee is rubbed on both sides, then it is cooked on the tawa. This gives the roti a crisp outside. When it almost finished cooking, the cook begins to beat the roti while it is on the tawa, causing it to crumble. It is also called 'Buss-Up-Shut' in Trinidad Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in... .
Dosti roti	A roti where two layers are rolled out together and cooked on the tava Tava A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat... . It is also rubbed with oil while cooking. It is called dosti roti because the word dosti means friendship in Hindi Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi... . This type of roti is eaten in Guyana with a special halva Halva Halva refers to many types of dense, sweet confections, served across the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Malta and the Jewish world.The term halva ,... when a child is born.
Dhalpuri	A roti with a stuffing of ground yellow split pea Split pea Split peas are the dried, peeled and split seeds of Pisum sativum. In north India, they are generally known as matar ki daal, sometimes used as a cheaper variation for the very popular chhole on stalls offering it. . They come in yellow and green varieties. The peas are round when harvested and dried... s, cumin Cumin Cumin is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to India. Its seeds are used in the cuisines of many different cultures, in both whole and ground form.-Etymology:... (geera), garlic Garlic Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent... , and pepper Black pepper Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed... . The split peas are boiled until they are al dente Al dente In cooking, the Italian expression al dente describes pasta and rice or beansthat have been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. "Al dente" also describes vegetables that are cooked to the "tender crisp" phase - still offering resistance to the bite, but cooked through... and then ground in a mill. The cumin is toasted until black and also ground. The stuffing is pushed into the roti dough, and sealed. When rolled flat, the filling is distributed within the roti. It is cooked on the tava Tava A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat... and rubbed with oil for ease of cooking. This is the most popular roti.
Wrap roti Wrap roti Wrap roti, often referred to as a roti, is popular in the Caribbean consisting of a curry stew folded tightly within a Dhalpuri roti. The stew within a wrap roti generally contains potatoes and a meat such as chicken, goat, beef, conch or shrimp...	A popular sandwich made by folding a curry stew inside of a Dhalpuri roti skin. Curry stew normally contains potatoes and a meat of some sort like chicken, goat, beef or shrimp.
Piper roti	A wrap roti that usually contains only potatoes and gravy, and scrap meat. Piper roti got its name by being a cheaper alternative to purchasing a regular roti. the term "piper" is the local slang used to describe a drug addict; most of his money is spent on drugs and the little he has remaining will purchase food. For example a chicken roti will be $20.00TT where as a piper roti will be $8.00TT
Aloopuri	A roti similar to a Dhalpuri but with aloo (potato) substituted for the dhal. The aloo is boiled, milled and spices and seasonings are added before being sealed in the dough. This aloo filling is also used when making aloo pie or aloo choka.
Fry Bake	Similar to making a Sada roti. After the dough is rolled, instead of cooking it on the tava as you would with the sada roti, the rolled dough is cut into quarters and each piece is deep fried until golden. The dough usually rises in the oil so the finished product can be cut open and filled with various fillings before it's consumed. Fry Bake by definition can be considered a "puri", as compared to a "Dhal puri" which in reality is a type of roti.
Bake	Made with butter, coconut milk and grated coconut meat. Sometimes referred to as "Creole Bake". The finished dough is placed in a round cake pan and baked until done.

Guyana

Depending on where Indians settled in Guyana, foods can be different. In some parts of Guyana, Dosti Roti is made. Indo-Guyanese food as a whole can be different from their Trinidadian brothers, including the names of many items.

A small amount of fat is placed in each piece of dough before it is rolled out to make the roti softer. Usually Vegetable oil is used, but butter, or margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...

can also be used. Ghee is not used in everyday Guyanese cooking, and is only used by the Hindus on religious occasions. The Roti is usually clapped by hand or beaten a bit, hot off the tava
Tava
A tava, tawa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or convex disc-shaped griddle made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in south, central, and west Asia for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a griddle for meat...

, so it softens but does not break.
A good roti in Guyana is one that is very soft, with layers (almost like pastry
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...

layers if possible), which remains whole. An individual would be ridiculed if the roti breaks apart.
The type of roti one gets is determined by what is placed in the dough before it is rolled out. Various types include Dhalpuri, potato roti, and even sugar(to keep the kids busy, while the mother finishes cooking).
Among the Indo-Guyanese, a rolled out dough that is deep fried in ghee is called a puri
Puri (food)
Puri ,Hindi पूरी , Urdu: بوری, Tamil பூரி , Kannada ಪೂರಿ , Oriya ପୁରି, is an unleavened Indian bread, commonly consumed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other countries of South Asia. It is eaten for breakfast or as a snack or light meal.Puri is most commonly served at breakfast...

, and is only made for Hindu religious gatherings. Therefore a Dalpuri is not really a puri, as a puri and a roti are two different things.
Another item prepared like roti is bake or bakes or floats. Bake is made with butter or margarine and have a different ratio of flour to fat. It is made much quicker that roti and is usually made in the mornings. Dough is rolled out and cut into shapes or rolled into small rounds. Guyanese bakes or floats are fried, but bakes from other parts of the West Indies can can be baked in an oven. Bake are usually paired with a quick fryup for breakfast or dinner, stewed saltfish, or eggs (western style - onions, tomatoes, green peppers). Bakes is also made in other parts of the West Indies including Trinidad, Barbados and St. Vincent.

Other dishes

The word 'roti' in the West Indies may also refer to a dish of stewed or curried

Curry

Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...

ingredients wrapped in a 'roti skin'. In Trinidad and Tobago various rotis are served. Popular variations include chicken, conch

Conch

A conch is a common name which is applied to a number of different species of medium-sized to large sea snails or their shells, generally those which are large and have a high spire and a siphonal canal....

, beef and vegetable. Shrimp and goat are available. The term is used locally in cities with large West Indian populations, such as Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

and Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. In such locales the dish has also become popular among non-West Indians.

Roti, pronounced "Rooti" in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

, is also a staple food source amongst many of the India

India

n, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

n and Cape coloured communities living in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

and is either eaten as a flat bread or a wrap with locally made curries.

While common variations may include chicken, beef, or cabbage and carrot, one of the more authentic alternatives (goat) is known as Groti.

In Suriname

Suriname

roti refers mainly to roti dahlpuri or roti aloopuri. It is most often eaten with chicken curry. Roti can also refer to a dish of stuffed and spiced roti wraps. It is custom to eat this dish by hand.
Due to mass emigration of Surinam Hindustani in the 1970s, roti became a popular take-out

Take-out

Take-out or takeout , carry-out , take-away , parcel , or tapau , is food purchased at a...

dish in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. It usually includes chicken curry, potatoes, a boiled egg and various vegetables, most notably the kousenband or yardlong bean

Yardlong bean

Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, the yardlong bean, is also known as bora, the long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, snake bean, or Chinese long bean...

. Another variation includes shrimp and aubergine

Aubergine

The eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...

. The meat with gravy, potatoes, egg and yardlong beans are served side by side on a plate, with the aloopura folded in fours on top. One then has the option to spice the dish with a very hot sambol made of Madame Jeanette

Madame Jeanette

Madame Jeanette is a chili pepper originally from Suriname.The fruits are shaped like small bell peppers but with Habanero-like heat. The peppers ripen to reddish-yellow but they are larger and not symmetrical. When raw, the taste is of a hot burning, with a very tasty flavor...

peppers.

Etymology

Bangladesh,India,Pakistan, and Nepal

Sri Lanka

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand

West Indies

Guyana

Other dishes

See also