Well, yes the round up for Eid has started. With just about a week left, I can’t wait for all the delicacies on the table. While Sheer Khurma is the absolute essential, I want to try new things for the Eid dinner menu so I have started trying out new recipes for the Iftar/dinner times from now itself.
Yesterday as I was looking for some inspiration to try something new, I remembered the nights at bademiyan stalls with baida rotis being ordered one after the other. I miss Bombay. I had recently tried soya mince vegetable fry. It was a perfect substitute for mince meat. But this recipe can be made without any filling as well. It will be like an egg parantha.
It took me 3 tries to get the perfect baida roti. And so in the 4th one, I decided to take step-by-step pictures because I know there will be many like me who want to know how to make this awesome snack at home . And it’s healthier too! No offence to bademiyan, but all that butter and white flour didn’t really matter as much when we were 20 somethings but now it shows up pretty quickly. More so nowadays, I prefer using whole wheat flour for most of my bread recipes.
Baida Roti
By Ashima Goyal Siraj
Prep time: | Cook time: | Serves: 2
for the dough
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
warm water to knead
for the filling
100 gms minced soya (or minced mutton)
2 onions, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp meat masala (or use rajma masala)
Salt to taste
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tbsp oil
2 eggs, well beaten
Oil or ghee (clarified butter) for frying
- If you are using minced soya, soak the soya in 250 ml boiling water.
- In a wide mixing bowl, add wheat flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and oil. Mix well. Using warm water, knead the flour to a soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest while preparing the filling.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add chopped onions. Sauté until the onions start to turn soft.
- By this time, the soya would have absorbed all the water. Add the minced soya (or mutton), green chillies, salt and meat masala. Mix well and cook till the mince is cooked and the mixture is completely dry.
- note-If you don’t have meat masala, you can use rajma masala as well. I have noticed the two have very similar spices in similar proportions too.
- Knead the dough again for a minute and divide into 6 equal parts and shape into balls.
- For each ball, roll out into a 4-5inch diameter circle, apply oil on the top side and then fold from four sides to make a square. See the picture below. You can skip this step and straight away roll each ball into a square chapati, but this step gives it a layered texture and makes it more flaky and crispy.
- Dust with a little flour and roll the square into a thin square chapati.
- Put some soya mince masala in the centre and fold in from all sides to close. dust with a little dry flour and again roll out again into a thick square.
- Heat a non-stick pan and place the baida roti on it. Pour 2 tbsp of beaten egg on top. Drizzle a little oil on the egg. Slowly flip the roti. Don’t worry too much about spills, you are flipping a roti with liquid on top of it, there will be some spills :).
- On the other side as well, pour 2 tbsp of beaten egg and drizzle oil on top of egg. Turn over and cook the other side. Cook on low flame till both the sides are crisp and golden.
- Repeat for the remaining dough balls.
- Cut into squares and serve hot with green chutney and some lemon wedges.
Nice. Shall try at home.
Btw, why not pour a bit of the egg mixture and immediately put the roti on it, to avoid spills?
Hey Prachee,
I did try that too (in one of the 3 trials when I was trying to get it right :)). But the egg spreads quickly on the entire pan and by the time I put the roti on it, it is just thin layer under the roti. Also on the other side, I still did need to put the egg mixture and then flip it. The spills weren’t so much when I flipped it quickly. and I wanted all the egg to envelope the roti.
Hope that helps when you try it at home! Do share your experience of cooking them and how they turn out :).
love,
ashima
the food looks nice
thank you for the recipe
Thanks a lot!