Soft and delicious, you will enjoy these jowar flour (sorghum flour) rotis with any main dish. In this jowar roti recipe, I’ve added boiled potato and seasonal methi (fenugreek) leaves for extra softness, taste and nutrition.
During fasting days both wheat and rice are not allowed. Since roti (round flat Indian bread) is quintessential to an Indian meal, lots of other gluten free flours like jowar (sorghum) are used. I believe fasting in every culture is a way to detox the body and mind and that’s why foods such as wheat, rice, meat, alcohol, and many spices are “not allowed” to give the body a chance to cleanse itself.
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 one year we have been pleasantly experimenting a lot with different types of millets and I love 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. Then I slightly modified the original recipe to add a little 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).
Since methi leaves are currently in season, I also added some finely chopped fresh methi while kneading the dough. You can add any seasonal green vegetable of your choice.
I hope you like this recipe. Please do leave a rating below and/or a comment at the end. It will really encourage me to keep exploring and bringing traditional recipes back.
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 grains like jowar (sorghum) in your diet will really boost your health. Jowar roti is an easy way of including Jowar in diet. You can start by adding just a little jowar flour to your regular roti flour. Jowar flour can also be added to rice batter made for idlis and dosas.
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Would love to start a conversation, share recipes, cooking experiences and food stories from India and around the world.
Lovely recipe – I was wondering what to do with Sorgham flour
Thanks! I am so glad you found this recipe:-) Do let me know how it goes and if you need more recipes with sorghum millet!
Very good recipe, I am going to try very soon
Thanks Shiri!
Jowar roti is very healthy and tasty. It makes a great gluten-free alternative to wheat and is perfect for summers as sorghum or Jowar is a summer crop.
I am s glad you liked the recipe
I’m diabetic. You have added potato. What else may I add to prepare the dough instead of potato.
Hello Poulamic,
You can also add boiled arbi (colocasia) instead of potato or simply skip the potato altogether. Potato just makes it easier for sorghum or jowar flour to bind.
Hope that helps,
love,
ashima
Dear Ashima,
I just made your gluten free Jowar roti recipe for the 1st time and it was delicious ! I did not put the ginger, did put the fenugreek (dried leaves though, didn’t have fresh ones) : my non indian friend and I ate it with your green mung bean recipe and we loved it ! Thank you so much for making my day ! ❤
Dear Mary!
Thank you so much for your love and encouragement. I also use dried fenugreek leaves when the fresh ones are not in season. I am so glad you and your friend loved it. Your words have made my day 🙂 and motivate me to keep exploring, learning, and sharing new recipes! I am sorry I couldn’t respond earlier as I was in a 10-day vipassana course with no access to any communication mode.
❤
Hey Ashima, amazing blog there and a great help for those of us looking to integrate millet into our lives..it’s high time India went back to these gentle wholesome grains.
Could you tell of Amaranth, Bajra and Jowar me which one tastes better? And could I add grated potato to bajra and amaranth too?
Thanks, Samata! It is so nice to see more people wanting to try millets and switch to whole grains!
You are asking me to choose between Amaranth, bajra, and jowar! Well I love them all 🙂 And they all are so earthy and delicious. You can very well add boiled potatoes to all these flours. It will help in binding the dough and make it easier to roll the rotis. If you don’t want to add potatoes, you can also add boiled arbi (taro root). That will also have a binding effect.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Ashima,
Can we add tapioca (sabudana) flour instead of potatoes?
Hello, Farwa!
Yes, you can add tapioca flour instead of potatoes to provide some binding. Thank you so much for rating the recipe!
Loved the recipe! I also loved the link to the video. My skills are not there yet…My question is, “How long will the dough last before rolling out and cooking. Could I make the dough ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator?
Thanks!
Hey Erica,
Thanks for reaching out. I have not yet intentionally made Sorghum flour dough ahead of time but once I did keep some extra dough in the fridge and made more rotis the next day. It was okay. However, Jowar dough takes just about 5-6 minute to knead. Unlike Wheat, since there is no gluten in Sghum, the dough come together quickly so I will suggest making fresh dough.
A fast and detailed video or infomercial pic collage might help people like me…
it’s very helpful, thank you, ma’am. A video not more than a 2 min does the best.
Thanks for your feedback Vellanki!
I will try to make a video for it. For now I will surely update it will process photos as I realized they have been cut in the recipe card. I am actually stuck without my tripod or any video setup during the lockdown but I will keep it in mind.
HI Ashima,
Thanks for such and easy recipe, now i can also make roties easily. 🙂
Thank you, Bharat!
I am glad you found the recipe for Jowar roti helpful. Let me know if you have any questions about the process 🙂
Great recipe. Do you also bake with Jowar or Bajra? Please post more gluten free recipes.
Thanks, Tina!
I have not yet baked with Jowar or Bajra. But I did bake Ragi cookies sometime back and they came out nice. I will definitely try more gluten-free baking!
Hi Ashima,
I have a question about this roti: is it pliable? Can I fold it in half, or roll to make wraps? I am looking for a simple gf flatbread that can do that, and yours would be perfect.
Hey Didina,
First apologies for the late response! The jowar roti is not ideal for making wraps. It is not so soft that it will roll without breaking but you can try another gf flatbread made with finger millets – ragi roti. These are soft and can be used to make wraps. Let me know if this helps.
Hi Ashima.
What else could I use instead of Fenugreek as a substitute. I have only seen the dried type in little jars. If this is suitable, how much would I use?
Many thanks.
Hello Pauline,
You can use any fresh leafy vegetable that is in season. Try spinach or even mustard. You can also use dried fenugreek leaves but then reduce the quantity to about 2-3 tbsp depending on how strong you want the flavor. Also, if you do not have any greens in season, it is okay to omit them too.
Hope this helps.