Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (2024)

Thanks to some real-life social engagements, I went off-line for a couple of days and enjoyed the leisure time with family and friends. The self-exile did help in bringing some balance back into life .

Getting back to work again after a break can feel daunting. I was trying to re-sync my internet-based social media engagements and checking the in-boxes for any messages.

As I was trying to settle into the rhythm, a message popped up. It was from a friend ‘Raji‘ who congratulated me for a lovely feature in an Indian daily ‘The Tribune’. She also attached a copy (below) of that page with a small note at the end, “would you mind sharing the recipe of that Garlic spread (Lasun cutney) I had with millet flat breads (bajra roti) at your home…please..please”.

I checked the online link on the site of a popular Indian newspaper ‘The Tribunewhich published my interview a couple of days back. I was reading that article and grinning from ear to ear, as if I had just won the lottery 🙂

And why wouldn’t I, the article about food bloggers in India starts with a few snippets from ‘my journey into the world of food blogging‘ and ends with asentencefrommy about page!

Following your dream is never easy, but these are the times when the efforts you put in, to realize your dreams feel worth.

Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (2)

Featured in a daily ‘The Tribune’

1. Spicy Millet Flat-breads or Bajre ki Roti

So, here are the two traditional Rajasthani recipes my friend ‘R’ asked for, these flat-breads are a favorite breakfast at my home.

Millet flat-breads or Bajra rotis are widely eaten in rural India during winter season. As millet lack gluten, the dough becomes quite difficult to handle and makes it hard to roll the roti on a board without breaking it.

To easy my work during morning rush hours, I combine millet (bajra), sorghum (jowar), wheat (gehun) and store the flour. Gluten presentin wheat helps in two ways, it keeps the rotis soft in the lunchbox and also makes it easy to roll the rotis without breaking.

Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (4)

Villagers prefer to eat these filling Rotis with spicy garlic chutney after a days hard work in field. They don’t need any modern gadgets to grind the chutney or a griddle to cook rotis. Just a few wooden sticks to light the fire, a stone to grind the chutney and their day is done.

I still remember the earthy taste of the millet rotis my caretaker, an old lady in her seventies used to bring and share with me. She would cook the millet rotis on a wooden hearth at her home, wrap them in a muslin cloth and bring for her lunch.

She used to sit in a corner and gently open the folds of the aged muslin cloth to take out the warm rotis and eat them with sliced onion and a green chilly. Life is really simple, the piles of stuffs we gather to simplify it actually make it more complicated.

Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (5)

Ingredients;

(makes about 6-7 rotis)

  • 1 cup Millet (bajra) flour
  • 1/2 cup Sorghum (jowar) flour
  • 1/2 cup wheat flour
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 green chilly
  • 1/2 tsp. red chilly powder
  • 3 tbsp. chopped coriander leaves
  • 1 tsp Carom (ajwain) seeds
  • Salt to taste
  • water as required

Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (6)

Method; Peel and chop onion very finely. Dice green chilly into small pieces. Take a large bowl and add all the three varieties of fours in it.

Add all ingredients except water and combine to mix well.

Pour water little by little and knead a soft dough.

It is quite easy to roll these rotis in between two sheets of plastic or butter paper as shown in this recipe. Pinch small balls of dough and roll into circular rotis. These rotis will roll out slightly thicker and will not puff up like chapattis orphulkas.

Heat a griddle, place the roti on it and toast for a few seconds till the texture and colour of roti changes. Press the rotis lightly with the back of a spatula.

Flip again and toast it for another minute. Serve these healthy and filling Spicy Millet flat-breads or bajre ki Rotis with garlic spread (Lasun chutney) and yogurt raita (curd).

2. Spicy Chilly-Garlic Spread or Lasun ki chutney

Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (7)

Ingredients;

(serves 3-4)

  • 20-25 garlic cloves
  • 10 red chilly
  • 4-5 tbsp. oil
  • 1 cup Warm water
  • Salt to taste
  • Spices;
  • 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 tsp. mustard seeds

Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (8)

Method; soak red chilly in warm water for an hour. Remove the stalks from each chilly, if you wish.

Peel garlic, 2-3 whole pods of garlic (lasun) are good enough to get 20-25 cloves.

Drain the water from chilly and grind it with garlic cloves and salt into fine paste.

Add a little water if you find it difficult to grind the paste.

Heat oil and crackle mustard seeds, add fenugreek seeds (methi dana) and immediately pour the garlic paste into it.

Cook on medium heat till oil separates from the garlic and chilly paste.

This spicy-garlic spread or chutney stays good for a month in refrigerator.

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Check the Glossary for names of ingredients in Hindi and English here.

Notes;

  1. Use warm water for soft and more pliable dough.
  2. Wheat flour in the dough helps rolling the rotis easier.
  3. Knead the dough a day before and refrigerate. It stays good for 3-4 days.
  4. Add 1 boiled and mashed potato for another healthy variation of this roti recipe.
  5. Use dry red chilly powder if you need to make instant garlic spread and don’t have time to soak the chilies.

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Recipes | Millet Flat-bread and Garlic Spread (2024)
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