Roomali Roti, the soft and thin Handkerchief flatbread was on my to-do list for a very long time. Growing up, any time when eating out, I was fascinated by the name of the roti and how thin it was and ordered it quite often. The chewy and soft roti was a perfect flatbread to eat with rich paneer gravies. Rumali Roti is a popular flatbread from the regions of India and Pakistan. Roomal / Rumal means handkerchief and since this bread is as thin as a handkerchief, it got the name as Roomali / Rumali Roti. It was interesting to read that during the Mughal period, the Roomali / Rumali roti was used as cloth at the end of the meal to wipe the grease off the hands.
Let’s talk about tools
I am a big fan of kitchen tools and gadgets and it can be anything as simple as a simple Wok. I love my wok! It is nothing extraordinary and I made sure I got an all-metal wok with no coating and I have been using it to make literally everything. If you are looking to buy a wok, go ahead and buy one. I use it not just to make Asian stir fry and Noodles, but also to make subzi, a large quantity of mixed rice, and now to make this Roomali / Rumali Roti. I shortlisted the Roomali Roti for the alphabet R but was confused about what pan to use inverted and cook these rotis in. That is when my husband said, why don’t you use your wok? It is all Iron and large and will be perfect to cook these Roomali Rotis. There we go… I spent no extra time thinking about the recipe and went ahead making it for dinner. It was so much fun rolling the rotis really thin stretching them as best as I can and then placing it on the inverted pan. The large wok gave me enough room for mistakes and the result was this amazing soft and thin Roomali Roti that I ate in restaurants.
Ingredients Needed
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup All Purpose flour - 1 ½ cups Salt - 1 tsp Oil - 2 tablespoon + 1 TBSP Water - as needed to make the dough
Process steps for Rumali Roti
Add the flour, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl and add water slowly to make a very soft and slightly sticky dough.
I used my stand mixer to make the dough. Knead the dough until it is elastic. The dough has to be slightly sticky as that will help in rolling it out thin.
Grease the dough with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. If you can let it rest longer, it is even better.
When ready to cook, make even-sized 10 to 12 balls from the dough. If you have a large wok to work with, then the dough ball can be slightly larger. If your cooking surface is smaller, make smaller balls so you can make smaller Roomali roti.
Dust the dough balls with flour and roll them as thin as possible. If the dough retracts back too much when rolling, let it rest for 5 minutes and then roll again.
In the meantime, heat a wok or any wide wok-shaped pan inverted on the flame. We will be cooking these Roomali Rotis on the outer side of the pan.
When the pan is nice and hot, place one of the thinly rolled roti on the pan and cook until bubbles appear.
Flip it once and let it cook on the other side as well. Fold the cooked roti on the pan and then place in between layers of kitchen towel to keep it warm and soft until we make the rest.
Serve the rumali roti warm with some rich Subzi.
Knead the dough very soft to help roll better.
Rest the dough. This helps relax the protein and stretch the dough better.
Roll the dough as thin as possible to get the best handkerchief feel. If the dough retracts when rolling, rest it for a couple of minutes on the counter and then roll again.
A large really hot surface helps cook the roti evenly. Wok works great for this purpose.
Similar Roti Recipes
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