Rumi roti is a thin, paper-like bread made from flour, water, and oil, traditionally cooked on a tawa. The dough is formed from a combination of white and wheat flour, kneaded, and left to rest before being rolled out into thin sheets and cooked on a hot surface. It is served folded and can be used to scoop food or served with curry.
Rumi roti is a type of bread that is made in Northern India. It is made from a few simple ingredients, including flour, water, and oil that are mixed and rolled into paper-thin sheets of dough. The dough is traditionally cooked in the bottom of a rounded pan called a tawa. The bread is usually folded when served because the name literally translates to “handkerchief bread,” and it was once actually used that way after a meal. The finished roti rumali can be served with different types of curries or alongside any meal during which they can be used to scoop food to eat.
Making roti rumali starts with forming the dough. This starts with choosing the type of flour to use. Traditionally, it’s a combination of white flour and wheat flour. The dough can only be made with white flour, but will have a lighter color and a thicker, sweeter taste. Using wheat flour alone can actually cause problems, because the lack of gluten can make the dough stiff so it doesn’t roll out or cook easily.
A little oil is added to the flour, followed by water. The dough is kneaded until it is smooth and has a slight sheen to the surface, indicating that all the ingredients are incorporated and the buttocks have developed in the dough. It is then left to rest for 10 to 30 minutes, after which the dough is broken into small balls.
Each of the balls will become a single sheet of rumi roti. They are rolled out on a floured surface until very thin, slightly thicker than a sheet of paper. One method used to get the thinnest sheets possible is to toss the dough into the air, twisting it as it is released. As the dough swirls in the air, the sheet is stretched thinner and thinner with each toss.
Once completed, the sheets must be cooked. This was originally done on a wok-like pan that was inverted over a flame. If this method is not possible, you can also use an inverted cast iron skillet or, alternatively, just a standard cast iron skillet. Oil is brushed onto the hot cooking surface and a sheet of rum roti paste is placed on top. The cooking time is a few seconds and the bread is done when air bubbles appear and a light browning.
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