Skip to main content

Sri Lankan coconut flatbread (roti) and sambol

            This flatbread (roti) can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner!


Ingredients - roti
1 cup desiccated coconut
2.5 cups white flour (2 cups initially)
1 cup warm water (approx.)
1/2 red onion
green chilli  - optional, more authentic
a few curry leaves - optional, more authentic
salt
1 teaspoon sunflower oil (plus more for greasing)

Serving size: makes 4 small rotis 

(Please note that flour/water quantities may vary slightly)

You can substitute chillies with grated carrots or some greens of your choice

Ingredients - coconut sambol
50g desiccated coconut
2-3 tbsp hot water (approx.)
1 - 2 teaspoon red chilli powder (or more!)
salt
1/4 lemon (approx.)

Important
In Sri Lanka these dishes would be prepared using freshly grated coconut. But as I can't find fresh coconut here I use the desiccated version found in most supermarkets.
If you add a bit of hot water into the desiccated coconut and mix well, the coconut appears looking fresher! (see details under the sambol section).

I've only prepared a small quantity as per the photo above, but for 2 people (and if you like chilli) I would recommend you make double the quantity.

If you don't want to add green chillies, add grated carrot or something green instead!

Rotis can substitute rice to accompany curry dishes.

Roti preparation
1.Peel and dice the onion, and mince the green chilli.
2.Place the onions, green chilli, 1 teaspoon of sunflower oil, curry leaves and a cup of desiccated coconut in a large bowl. Add a bit of warm water and mix the ingredients by hand.


 


 


3. Next, add 2 cups of flour (little by little) and mix well with hands, adding the water slowly. Clumps and dry spots will start to form, add small amounts of water to these dry spots and continue kneading.

 

 


4. Continue kneading until the ingredients form a soft ball that doesn't stick to the surface or hands. If the dough is still sticky, or if too much water was added, just sprinkle a bit of flour at a time to the dough and knead until the correct consistency is reached. Form a ball with the dough. (if the dough continues to stick, or when the dough is almost soft, you could move it to a work surface and finish kneading there). 
You do not need to over knead the dough.
5.Place the dough in an oil greased bowl and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes.


 



 



 


 


6. Divide the dough into 4 balls.


 


7.Place a dough ball at a time over a floured surface and start rolling them out with the help of a rolling pin. Stretch until the dough is thin, and try to make them round if you can (I'm not very good at this! 😆). You can always cut out the desired shape using a circular object.


 


8. Heat a frying pan (ideally a cast iron skillet) over a medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, cook the rotis, a few minutes on each side. The rotis are ready when both sides are covered with golden-brown spots like below.


 


9. Serve as soon as they are cooked.

Coconut sambol preparation
1. Peel and cut the onion into very small pieces.
2. Add the desiccated coconut into a bowl, add a bit of hot water and mix with fingers so that the coconut gains volume and is wet. Squeeze the coconut with hand to remove excess water (the coconut should just be wet). Also, do not worry if you added too much water, just drain it out. Be careful with hot water!

 

Moist desiccated coconut

 

3. Add the cut onions, salt, red chilli powder and lemon juice. Grind well with hands or a pestle & mortar until all the ingredients are well combined. You can always use a plastic glove if you don't want to get your hands covered in chilli!

 


 

4.  Adjust salt and lemon if needed, and only if you feel brave enough, add more red chilli!!

 

 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Lankan cutlets - fish and vegetarian versions!

🍠🐟 These cutlets (Sri Lankan croquettes!) are probably the most popular snack in Sri Lanka. They are normally prepared using tuna, salmon, or any fresh or canned fished. The tuna version happens to be my favourite as my mum always made them this way. It is definitely a snack I look forward to whenever I visit Sri Lanka, or any big Sri Lankan gathering! You may see them at teatime, lunch or dinner. They also tend to dissapear very fast!!!  I´ve recently updated with a tasty vegetarian version you can see at the end. If you prefer a non-spicy version you get omit the green chilli, or use less black pepper. They can be served with a chilli sauce or ketchup. Tuna Fish cutlets Ingredients 2 large potatoes 3 small tins of tuna 1 onion salt pepper (we add loads in Sri Lanka!) cinnamon sticks (or sprinkle of ground cinnamon) cardamom curry leaves 1 or 1/2 green chilli 1-2 eggs breadcrumbs sunflower oil for frying lemon juice garlic (optional) turmeric - 1/3 teaspoon 1. Peel, cut and boil...
2 comments
Read more

Spicy Sri Lankan fish patties

  Here comes another savoury and spicy snack from Sri Lanka commonly known as patties. Fish versions tend to be the most popular, but they can be made with chicken or vegetables. You can find these anywhere in Sri Lanka, tea-time snacks, road trip snacks, street sellers or parties! I made these with my mum on a recent trip to England. We used canned pink salmon, but it would work well with canned mackeral, tuna or fresh fish. More information It's easier to use tinned fish, such as salmon, mackeral or tuna, but you can cook fresh fish as well. For added flavour, if you have fresh spices, you can grind them  in a pestle and mortar. This gives you a much richer blended flavour of spices in your patties. R emove the cardamom pods by smashing/cutting them open and only grind the seeds) If you don't grind spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, remove these from the mixture along with the curry leaves and green chillies before adding to the patties. When the dough is almost a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Homemade hummus!

    We all love to pick this item up from the supermarket, but why not make it  fresh at home.  All you need are a few simple ingredients! Ingredients 200g cooked chickpeas (or a can of cooked chickpeas) half a clove of garlic 2-3 tbsp white tahini  lemon juice - 1/4 large lemon or 1/2 small lemon extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon cumin powder paprika  water salt Important Tahini is a sesame seed paste. I've bought a ready made bio version, but you can also prepare it at home by grinding sesame seeds with olive oil and salt. I  cooked raw chickpeas from scratch using my pressure cooker.  Soak raw chickpeas in water overnight (8-12 hours), covering the chickpeas by several inches. They will double in size by morning. Drain the water and rinse the chickpeas in the morning. I usually soak a large volume of chickpeas and use some for hummus and the rest for another dish. 1 cup of dry chickpeas will make approximately 3 cups of cooked chickpeas. The ch...
Post a Comment
Read more