Avarekalu akki roti

Akki roti ( rice flat bread)  is one of the famous tiffin items of Karnataka. Having grown in Bangalore, this was something most of my  kannadiga friends brought in their  lunch boxes.This time my mom had brought some lab lab beans during her visit and there is a special jadoo when she makes it and  so it was she made these rotis during her visit to my home.

 One of the disadvantage of this method in my style of making this roti is, the tava has to be washed under cold running water till  it is cool enough to pat again. Patting it while hot will burn our fingers.   My atthai ( father’s sister)  who travelled  and  lived in the interiors of Karnataka  and learnt many dishes makes it in a different way, she adds a boiled potato to the dough to make it crispy and she pats it on an iron kadhai. There are many variations in this dish by adding/deleting a few ingredients and also in the way it is made. . Although, my atthai makes it on a iron kadhai….i  generally make it in an iron tava

Ingredients for filling:

Rice flour  - 2 cup

Finely Chopped onions from 1 onion

1 medium sized boiled and mashed  potato

Carrot gratings from one carrot

Lab lab beans or avarai – ¼ cup

Coconut gratings – 1 table spoon

Green chillies finely chopped ( or you can even grind) – 2

Chopped coriander/curry leaf  -1 teaspoon

Jeera/cumin – ½ tsp

Salt ( according to taste)

Sesame oil for cooking

Method for preparing dough

Take a wide bowl….add all the ingredients and dry mix them till all the ingredients mix well.  Onions and the veggies will release water into the mix  helping you to bind the dough. Add sufficient warm water to bind it like a thick dough( slightly thinner than chappati dough and thicker than dosa dough).  Cover  it and  rest it for half an hour.

Method to pat:

There are various method of patting the dough but I pat directly on the tava.  While some pat it on a greased plastic sheet/ banana leaf and then release it on a hot tava.  I genereally take a cricket ball sized dough and pat it on a greased room temperature tava( not hot) . I make holes 3 holes in between  and then light the tawa.  After some time,  I drizzle oil around the roti so that it seeps close to theholes and cooks the roti in in the middle. When brown at the bottom, it has to be flipped over and cooked for a while.   The roti is  then ready crispy and soft at some points depending on how we have patted.

The roti tastes delish by itself since it has all ingredients but it can also be had with gun powder/ chutney or butter depending on one’s taste buds.

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The dough consistency

                                                            hand patted on the tava

                                                  The flipped over roti

                                         tastes good by itself  or you can eat with gunpowder, butter or chutney of your choice

Note: 

1.This can also be prepared with left over mushy rice in the ratio 2:1 (1 measure of rice flour) 

2 .veggies are optional

3. You can add veggies like finely chopped capsicum, dill leaves etc to suit your taste.

.I used the below lab lab beans and that is why it is called avarekalu akki roti