Greedy Girl : Guyanese roti

Lunchables

I truly love roti, especially with curry or for breakfast as a wrap with bacon eggs n cheese YUM!. I make it all the time but could never manage to get that authentic flaky layered texture we get from the Indian restaurants here in Jamaica.So most times we would buy it from the restaurant in bulk. Interestingly enough It never once occurred to me to search online for an authentic recipe. However when I decided to make curry chicken wraps for my Lunchables month I did just that. I googled how to make Guyanese roti and boy did I find a winner.

I have never made a roti more perfect than this. The recipe belongs to Altee of metemgee.com. I found a very informative video on YouTube detailing how to make them and I am over the moon that I did. The only thing I added was salt, and I used salted butter on my roti. Hope you guys try this and use it to make your curry chicken wraps.

Altee's recipe

Ingredients (printable recipe)

2 cup flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup water

2 tablespoon salted butter

½ cup oil

Instructions: click here to watch Altee make them.

In a bowl mix the flour baking powder, shortening and salt
Form a well in the center and slowly add the water, incorporate to form slightly sticky dough
Cover with a damp paper towel and set aside for 30 minutes to an hour
Melt butter in the oil in a dish
After the dough has rested separate into four pieces.
Dust flour on a work surface and roll one piece into a large circle brush the entire surface liberally with the butter oil mixture
Make a radial cut from the center to the edge and roll the dough around into a cone shape
Fold the excess dough over on the top of the cone (the larger end)
Flip over and press the pointed end of the cone back into the dough
Let it rest for another 20 minutes after you have done all four pieces
After the time has passed on a floured surface roll each dough again into a large disk
Place on a warm pan and when it starts to bubble flip it
Brush the cooked side with the butter oil mix
Flip again and brush with more butter
After 2 to 3 minutes fold into four and place in a seal-able container
Vigorously shake the dough to release the layers and the flakes

Update to the 2014 recipe above: Been getting a lot of messages about this roti recipe, Over time I started to add my own spin on the roti by tweaking Altee's recipe. I almost never have time to let the dough rest as long and I don't use shortening. The recipe below uses less time and no shortening while still getting good results.

Here is my recipe 05/30/2018:

Ingredients (printable recipe)

2 cup flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

4 tablespoon salted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 cup water

enough coconut oil to brush the dough
to cook the roti
1/2 stick salted butter melted
1/4 cup coconut oil

Instructions

In a bowl mix the flour baking powder, butter, and sugar
press the butter and flour mixture into your fingers so that they become like small bread crumbs, or you can pulse in a food processor
Form a well in the center and slowly add the water, incorporate to form slightly sticky dough, if its to sticky sprinkle with more flour, the dough should be really soft and just barely sticky
form into 8-10 small balls or 4-5 large balls (I prefer smaller roti)
roll out each ball on a floured surface into a circle and brush the surface with coconut oil
Make a radial cut from the center to the edge and roll the dough around into a cone shape
Fold the excess dough over on the top of the cone (the larger end)
Flip over and press the pointed end of the cone back into the dough
Let it rest for 30 minutes after you have done all pieces
melt and mix together the salted butter and coconut oil
After the time has passed on a floured surface roll each dough again into a large thin disk
oil the bottom of the pan, add the roti, the top will start to bubble, brush with oil mixture and flip
Brush the cooked side with the butter oil mix
Flip again and brush with more oil mix
After 2 to 3 minutes fold into four and place in a seal-able container
Vigorously shake the dough to release the layers and the flakes
serve hot