Pol Roti

This is one of my most-favorite Srilankan dishes of all times. It was a rarity in my house and I would wait for occasions to press my mom to make these at home. It is and will always remain one of my favorites. ‘Pol’ means coconut in Sinhalese and is a very common dish across the entire nation. In Jaffna, it is called ‘thengapoo roti’. It’s a medley of all the Lankan ingredients – coconut, American maa and chillies – and is best paired with Katta sambol. Katta sambol is yet another typical Lankan specialty with just three ingredients. For those wondering what ‘American maa’ is, it’s nothing but maida or plain flour. Yeah, that’s right! Back in the olden days, plain flour was imported from America and hence the name. I make this for guests on special occasions, particularly our extended family and friends who love Srilankan cuisine. We serve it meat curries and katta sambal. This roti is extremely delicious and smells amazing when it’s cooking. It needs to be made fresh and eaten hot to be able to appreciate the taste better. This is one recipe that I strongly recommend you try at home.

Grated coconut and green chilies rolled into flatbreads or rotis!

Ingredients

(This recipe would yield 8 – 10 rotis)

• Maida/Plain flour – ½ kg

• Coconut – One whole medium sized; grated

• Onions - 2 large; finely chopped

• Green chillies – 2 chopped

• Salt – To taste

• Water – as required

• Butter/oil – as required

Method

1. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, grated coconut, finely chopped onions and green chillies. Add water slowly and combine everything until you have a wet dough. The dough should be wet and sticky. The consistency should be in between chapathi dough and adai batter. You should be able to pinch off the dough using greased hands.

2. Place a flat pan on medium heat and grease with oil or butter. Butter tastes best for this recipe and you can be generous with the amount of butter/oil. That is the reason I haven’t mentioned the amount of butter.

3. Grease the back of an ever-silver plate and with greased hands take a pinch of the dough (the size of a medium tomato). Pat it on the plate and flatten it out. These rotis are thick (around 1 to 2 cm in thickness).

4. Place the plate on the heated pan with the dough touching the pan and slowly remove the dough onto the pan using a laddle. Cook on medium-high for around 2 minutes on each side or until brown spots start appearing.

5. Remove from heat and serve hot.

*Note

• You can use any preferred oil. However butter works best.

• Adjust the green chillies according to your heat level.

• The plain flour can be replaced with whole wheat flour or atta.