Soft and delicious, these jowar flour (sorghum flour) rotis go great with all Indian mains. In this jowar roti recipe, I’ve added boiled potato and methi (fenugreek) leaves for extra softness, taste and nutrition.
With gluten sensitivity on the rise, millet flours are increasingly being brought back and traditional recipes like that of jowar roti (Sorghum), Bajra roti (Pearl Millet), ragi chappati (finger millet), amaranth paratha etc are coming back.
Since last few years we have also been pleasantly experimenting a lot with different types of millets and I love it when I finally perfect a millet recipe, like this jowar roti. Since jowar flour has no gluten, my rotis would break either while rolling or while transferring to the hot pan.
After becoming super comfortable with making soft ragi rotis, I slightly modified my way of making jowar rotis. I now knead the dough with hot water and also add some boiled potato in the flour. Addition of potato helps provide some binding to the gluten free flour and also makes the rotis soft. If you don’t want to use potato, you can also add boiled sweet potato or boiled colocassia (arbi).
Step by Step photos for How to make Jowar Roti
- Peel and grate the boiled potato. In a mixing bowl, combine together jowar flour, grated potato, methi leaves, ginger and salt. Combine the mixture by rubbing together with your fingers until it is crumbly.
- Add hot water (as hot as you can handle), little by little and knead into a soft dough. For an approximate measure, 1 cup of Jowar flour takes about ¾th cup water to knead.
- Divide the dough into 6-8 balls. Take one dough ball. Dust it with dry jowar flour and place between two clean plastic sheets. Lightly roll it to a flat bread. Since jowar or sorghum flour has no gluten, rolling the dough into flat roti is a bit difficult as the dough breaks easily. That’s why I use plastic sheets to roll jowar roti or other millet rotis like Bajra roti.
- Carefully the peel away the plastic sheet from top and place the jowar roti on the hot tava. After a minute, flip the roti. Press down with a cloth and cook until the under side has golden brown spots. Flip again and cook both sides till done.
I’ve added some fresh ginger and fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves in this recipe. These are optional. You can add any seasonal green vegetable of your choice or skip it totally. Especially when traveling adding some green leaves to the roti dough itself helps make it easier to have a complete meal with just the roti and some pickle or chutney. You don’t need to carry a vegetable dish along with it.
Jowar Roti / Sorghum flour bread
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- 2 cups Jowar flour / Sorghum flour
- ½ cup potato , boiled and grated
- ½ cup fresh fenugreek leaves
- ½ tbsp ginger grated
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Boil one medium sized potato. Once it is cool enough, peel and grate. I always prefer grating potato when adding it to dough flour as it ensures there are no big pieces. You can also mash them nicely with your fingers or fork.
- Wash the fenugreek leaves under running water. Squeeze out all excess water and roughly chop the methi leaves.
- In a big mixing bowl, combine together jowar flour, grated potato, methi leaves, ginger and salt. Combine the mixture by rubbing together with your fingers until it is crumbly.
- Slowly add warm water, little by little, and knead into a soft dough. Divide the dough into 6-8 small balls.
- Put a flat pan or tawa on medium heat.
- Take one dough ball. Dust it with dry jowar flour and place between two clean plastic sheets. Lightly roll it to a flat bread. Since jowar or sorghum flour has no gluten, rolling the dough into flat roti is a bit difficult as the dough breaks easily. That’s why I use plastic sheets to roll jowar roti or other millet rotis like Bajra roti.
- Carefully place the rolled jowar roti on the hot pan and return to rolling the next one.
- After a minute, flip the jowar roti. Press down with a cloth and cook until the under side has golden brown spots. Flip again and cook both sides till done.
- Repeat with other dough balls and serve hot with dal and sabzi. You can also smear the hot jowar rotis with some ghee.
Notes
- The same recipe can be used to make rotis or breads with other gluten free millet flours like rajgira (amaranth), kuttu (buckwheat), and singhada (water chestnut).
- Nutritional Information is the approximate information for 1 of 4 rotis.
Health Benefits of Jowar Roti
Jowar, known as Sorghum in English, is finding a revival in Indian cuisine as people shift away from refined flour. Jowar is a whole grain millet with many health benefits that lower the risk of obesity, heart diseases, blood pressure, diabetes, and digestion problems.
- Jowar flour is gluten-free.
- It is rich in fibre.
- It is a high protein grain. One cup of Jowar has 22g of proteins.
- Controls blood sugar: Jowar is a complex carbohydrate that is digested slowly and releases sugar in blood very gradually. This makes it a great wheat alternative for diabetic patients and also for weight loss.
- Jowar is full of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients. It contains vitamin B, iron, magnesium, potassium and phosphorous and traces of zinc, copper and many other nutrients.
Whether you have gluten sensitivity or not, including naturally gluten-free millets like jowar (sorghum) in your diet will really boost your health. Breads like this roti are an easy way of including millets in diet. You can start by adding just a little jowar flour to your regular roti/bread flour. Jowar flour can also be added to rice and lentil batter made for idlis and dosas.
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Hi
What are the other way create binding without adding potato??
Hello Ignace,
If you don’t want to add potatoes, you can add boiled arbi (colocassia root) or even sweet potato will work. If you are fine with gluten, then a little wheat flour will also provide the binding.
hope this helps.