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AKKI ROTTI
If you visit Bengalurucity of Karnataka city, often you will find boards saying ” Akki and raagi rotti is avaialble for lunch or breakfast” In many households it is a week end special.
Akki Rotti is a rice-based breakfast item unique to the state of Karnataka, India but extremely popular. Akki-Rotti means rice-bread in the native language, Kannada. It is made of rice flour which is mixed with salt and water and kneaded well to make a soft dough. Sliced onions and chilies, curry leaves, chopped coriander and cumin seeds are added while kneading the dough. Oil is spread over a griddle (tava and a small amount of the dough is stretched to a thin sheet to cover the entire griddle (rotti). A small amount of oil is spread over it and the griddle is placed over heat till the rotti turns golden brown. Akki Rotti is served hot and is eaten along with chutney. A dash of fresh butter or ghee with Akki Rotti is also preferred. In some parts along with butter, ghee people use molasses and coconut chutney on side for the taste. Traditionally women use banana leaves to spread akki rotti and will transfer to a tava on a clay oven.
Regardless of its origins, parathas soon became popular all over South Asia. All south Indian states have their own versions of the ubiquitous paratha, the most popular being “Kerala Porotta,” which is mostly made of ‘maida'(white flour) instead of ‘atta'(wheat flour). The Kerala Porotta is popular and is usually devoured with egg roast, chutney, yogurt, avial and non vegetarian curries
A paratha is a flatbread that originated in the north of the Indian Subcontinent. Parathas originated in Peshawar and then spread all over the former northern parts of India. It began as a wholesome meal often eaten at breakfast. The paratha is stuffed unleavened bread with various fillings that could be added according to your choice. It is still quite prevalent in the north of India, where wheat is grown and is the traditional staple of the area. Paratha is an amalgamation of the words parat and atta which literally means layers of cooked dough. There are number of varieties of parathas – Plain paratha with no stuffing but smeared with butter and ghee, Aloo paratha -popular variety with stuffed potato with little or no spice, gobi paratha -stuffed with cauliflower, methi paratha – flour mixed with fenugreek and cumin powder, cabbage paratha – stuffed with cabbage, mixed vegetable paratha, laccha paratha – contains few layers inside and round or triangle in shape, palak paratha, raddish or mooli paratha, tomato paratha and there are few non vegetarian parathas that are popular too.
Bhakhri is gluten free Indian flat bread which is common in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Rajasthan. It can be made with bajra (pearl millet) flour, ragi (finger millet) flour, sorghum (jowar) flour, wheat flour or rice flour. Most of these flours are gluten free and hence requires some practice to make. These flours are also high in dietery fiber and hence makes it a healthy meal. Bhakhri contains pearl millet, salt and water. Bhakhri is typically biscuit-like bread flavored with ghee and cumin seeds. Generally, there are two types of bhakhris—one is cooked like a biscuit while the other is puffed up and served with ghee.
Naan is one of the most popular flat breads served with South Asian food. In particular, accompanying food from the Northern Area of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajizkistan and surrounding areas. Originally from Middle Eastern countries, naan occupied hearts of Punjabis, India. The first recorded history of Naan can be found in the notes of the Indo-Persian poet Amir Kushrau in 1300 AD. Naan was originally cooked at the Imperial Court in Delhi as naan-e-tunuk (light bread) and naan-e-tanuri (cooked in a tandoor oven). During the Mughal era in India from around 1526, Naan accompanied by keema or kebab was a popular breakfast food of the royals. The word Naan is derived from the Persian word ‘non’ which refers to bread, and initially appeared in English Literature dating back to 1780 in a travelogue of William Tooke. In 1926, overlooking the hustle and bustle of Regent Street, Veeraswamy, Britain’s oldest Indian restaurant served Naan on its menu. A typical naan recipe involves mixing All purpose flour with salt, a yeast culture, and enough yogurt to make a smooth, elastic dough. The dough is kneaded for a few minutes, then set aside to rise for a few hours. Once risen, the dough is divided into balls, which are flattened and cooked.
The ‘World’s Biggest Naan Bread’ was made in 2004 by Honeytop Specialty Foods. The Naan measured exactly 10ft by 4ft and celebrated the launch of Brewers Fayre’s Curry Nights in the UK. It took over five hours to make and required eight staff to carry it! Varieties of Naan that are available are garlic, onion etc.
The word roti is derived from the Sanskrit word रोटिका (roṭikā), meaning “bread” Tandoori roti is a very popular bread which is made from whole wheat flour and made in a clay oven commonly known as tandoor. Tandoori roti is considered to be healthy food than naan. It contains whole wheat flour/ atta, little baking powder, yogurt, salt and water. There is no oil, butter or ghee added. It is a dry roti.
In some regions of Nepal and western India they are only partly cooked on the skillet, and then put directly on a high flame, which makes them blow up like a balloon. The hot air cooks the chapati rapidly from the inside. This is commonly called Phulka. Phulka is smaller round prepared from wheat flour but is rolled first, then one side is cooked on a pan(Tava) and the other side directly on heat.
The word chapat (चपत) in Hindi means “to slap”, and the traditional method of forming rounds of thin dough is by slapping the dough between the wetted palms of the hands. With each slap, the round of dough is rotated. Ayurveda dates it back to the Vedic period – where purodhashas, from where the word pataha or parota eventually came, was usually stuffed with dry lentils or vegetables and offered as thick pancakes during yagnas and homas in Indian tradition – there is little mention of the humble chapati. Available literature on chapati is noted in Ain-i-Akbari, a 16th-century document by Mughal Emperor, Akbar’s vizier, Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak as one of the Great Emperor’s favourite.
A dough is prepared with atta and water, kneaded with the knuckles of the hand made into a fist and left to prove for at least ten to fifteen minutes for the gluten in the dough to develop. After proving, the dough becomes softer and more pliable. Small portions of the dough are pinched off and formed into round balls that are pressed between the two palms to form discs which are then dipped into flour and rolled out on a circular rolling board (chakla) using a rolling pin (velan or belan) into a perfect circle. The belan is formed differently according to region. The rolled-out dough is then thrown on the preheated dry tava (griddle) and cooked on both sides.
An interesting story about popularity of chapathi is in our history. It dates back to 1574 when Bikrmi Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji reached Manikaran with his two disciples Bala and Mardana. After days of walking, Mardana began to starve, but with no source to cook meals he had abandoned the idea till Guru Nanak asked him to lift the stone and find hot water spring underneath. He then instructed his disciple to roll out chapatis in the spring. But to Mardana’s despair the chapatis drowned. And then a few minutes later they appeared on the surface, perfectly baked. Since then it is believed that anything you put in the Hot Spring will float. Many believe that this may have been the first puri as well.
