Chal'er Atta'r Rooti
Rooti made with rice flour
- Cooking time3 hours
Calories106kcal
Chaal'er ruti is a type of flatbread made from rice instead of wheat flour. In the fourth episode of 'Pasher Barir Ranna' with Salma the Chef, Salma casually displays her absolute mastery of rice flour. Rice flour is hard—both literally and figuratively. To turn raw rice flour into thin, translucent, pristine-white bread that remains soft even the next day is a mind-bogglingly hard task, as anyone who has worked with rice flour will attest.
These breads made from rice flour are staples in Bengali Muslim homes. Salma learnt this from her mother while growing up in West Midnapore. In this episode she generously shares everything that she has learnt over the years making chaal'er ruti.
Chaal'er ruti can be eaten with anything that you would normally eat with rooti but it goes best with meat curries. Especially in winter these rice rotis are served with a spicy duck curry. As Salma mentioned, chaal'er ruti and chhola'r dal'er halwa are staples in Bengali Muslim households on Shab-e-Barat.
Interestingly, we found that rice roti is also common in Coorg where it is called otti or akki roti. We remember having otti with their delicious Coorgi pandi curry many years back!
Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredients
- 350 g rice flour (made from non-parboiled, aatop rice) + extra for dusting
- 775–800 ml hot water
- 8 g salt
Method
- In a kadai, bring water to a boil. Mix in salt.
- Sift the rice flour.
- When the water is bubbling, turn the flame to low, and add in the rice flour while constantly stirring it in.
- Continue mixing and cooking on low heat until all the water has absorbed.
- Once you notice that there are no raw rice-flour patches visible and that the rice flour has completely cooked off, transfer the choux to a work surface.
- Knead it while it is still hot, dipping your hands frequently in some room-temperature water.
- Cover and set the dough to rest.
- After an hour, give it a second knead using dampened hands. Once again cover and set it to rest.
- When the dough is completely cool (after about another hour), give it a third and final knead before dividing it into 13 equal portions of about 70 g each.
- Dust your hand with flour and flatten each ball of dough, pinching the sides to seal them in.
- Roll on a bed of rice flour to about 24-cm diameter.
- Cook on a hot iron skillet ensuring that there are no blisters on the rooti.
- Reserve the cooked rootis between banana leaves to keep them fresh longer.
- Serve with murgir lal jhol or chhola'r dal'er halwa.
