It is all about making roti. It's not a normal one but a coconut Roti which is a very common and popular food in Sri Lanka. We are not adding any artificial or toxic ingredients to make these. This can be taken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well. Even we are eating this as a snack. No matter what age of our we love to eat coconut roti. 💗
We are saying “Pol Roti” in Sinhala. You have best buddies and I have too. Like that roti with chili sambal and ginger, plain tea makes a more incredible combination. Like they are creating the best buddy crew and giving us an indescribable feeling of taste. From my early childhood to now, I have many memories associated with preparing Granny’s coconut roti.
I will tell A to Z of my grandma’s special recipe for preparing delicious coconut roti. Please remember me if you wish to make this roti.
All together we have 7 people to serve the roti. Before going through the steps, we have to take all the raw ingredients closer to us. That will make the process quicker and easier. The followings are the raw ingredients.
Annoy your younger brother or a sister to shred the coconuts thinly. Or else you can use desiccated coconuts as well. In Sri Lanka, we have fresh coconuts. So normally we used to shred them which was a very interesting boring thing. I usually play a piece of music if I am the one who needs to shred the coconut. While someone is shredding the coconut, flour needs to be sieved at least one time and gate the veggies as your preference. Vegetables are optional. But it gives the roti extra delicious and makes it a healthy food.
Mix the grated veggies and add some salt and pepper if you like. Take the sieved flour into a mixing bowl and then add the shredded coconut. Use coconut water or water to form a dough. Well, I nearly forgot to mention that you need to add salt here as well. After mixing a little time, add the mixed veggies and cheese if you are a cheesy person. Though I am a cheese lover with inflation and all I couldn’t make my cheesy pol roti dream true (Sad). When you are going to mix the dough, you need to be ready to get ready your hands dirty. Yeah, it is a sticky dough, but my granny’s tip of using coconut oil in my hands while forming the dough made the process easier.
After forming the dough, it needs to be kneaded but not over-knead. Overthinkers can’t handle this dough properly. That’s why granny doesn’t like to give me that job. She knows what the perfect kneading would be because she is having her kind of super-power when it comes to cooking.
These roti are delicious and soft. The tip for this softness is associated with the next step, which is to keep the dough rest for a while and make liquid to hydrate the flour and coconut. We used to do a visual inspection to check whether the dough is with the right amount of softness or not.
Divide the dough into several pieces as your preference. Then comes the most interesting part of mine. Take the pieces one by one and roll out the roti, making them thinner. I like mine to be about 5mm thick with a different shape. We are using Macaranga peltate to form the roti into shapes. To my granny’s beliefs, it makes the cooking easier, and it adds an extra flavor to roti as well. I believe that is damn true since her roti makes my stomach a beggar of her roti.
While we are struggling with roti doughs my mom took the part of burning the wooden cooker. Guys, here in Sri Lanka we are suffering from many things. This result in that we don’t have gas to use the gas cooker. Somehow, after burning the wood put a dry pan and cook the roti until we see golden brown spots on a side of the roti. We have to check it. The most important tip is, that we must keep the flame lower. Then let them rest a while or you can have a taste before your mom gets to know it.
Here comes the most exciting step which is serving and tasting roti. Oh my god! I prefer to taste roti with butter, chili sambal, banana, and of course with a hot ginger tea. But you guys can name any curry and make it, believe me, you can eat pol roti with many more curries. Usually, we are eating pol roti for our dinner.
So Hivers, if you are bored with your routine food, try this and get addicted to this super delicious and versatile recipe. Don’t forget to thank me later. 🤝
Thanks for tasting roti with me. Until my next post laters Hivers! 👋
