Akki Roti ~ Rice flour flatbread

“We all know that one kind soul who loves to feed us and share their treasured recipes without any reservations. Rashmi Patil is one such friend we have! Rashmi lives in Dubai where she loves to explore recipes from different parts of India and the world. An avid foodie and an accomplished home cook, Rashmi’s house always has delicious home-cooked food when we visit. She grew up in southern Karnataka with Maharasthra not too far away and that reflects in her food. She and her foodie husband love to experiment with new dishes and cuisines. These days Rashmi juggles work with raising her toddler and making him try new foods! Here, in our latest guest post, Rashmi shares her recipe for Akki Roti or rice flour flatbreads which is a popular breakfast dish. “ – Sakshi

Karnataka is known for many delicacies that are unique to its vast region. Akki roti is one such simple dish. In our native language Kannada, Akki means rice and roti, of course, means flat bread. A very popular breakfast item, particularly in south Karnataka households, Akki Roti has even found its way in the menu of many restaurants in South India.

This is a simple and nutritious dish which can be vivid and colorful with the addition of veggies and greens according to your preference. This happens to be an easy way to initiate vegetables into kids’ diets or sneak some veggies in to the diet of fussy eaters.

Akki Roti or Rice flour flatbreads, two ways!

Akki roti can be made in two different ways. One way is to make a plain Akki roti with just rice flour and serve with a sabzi. The other way is to make it with rice flour mixed with a variety of veggies (carrot/cabbage/cucumber/onion), greens (methi, dill leaves), green chilies, shredded coconut, coriander leaves and serve it with chutney or plain curd.

Let’s make some Akki Rotis!

Ingredients

Yields 4 rotis, Serves 2

Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 15 mins; Total Time: 30 mins

• Rice Four, 2 cups
• Onion, 1, chopped
• Carrot, 1, grated
• Cucumber, 1, grated
• Fresh Fenugreek leaves (Methi), 1 cup
• Curry leaves, 1 sprig
• Coriander leaves, 1 tbsp, finely chopped
• Green chilies, 2, finely chopped (can be adjusted to your palate) 
• fresh coconut, 1/2 cup, shredded
• Salt to taste
• Water as required
• Oil as required for cooking roti

(Measuring cup size = 250ml)

Method

Start by washing and cleaning any vegetables and green you plan to use. Then grate coconut; peel and grate carrots and cucumber and, chop onions and fresh fenugreek leaves.

Now take a big bowl and combine grated veggies/ chopped greens. You can use any vegetables in this recipe.

Next, add rice flour, salt and mix everything together.

Tip: You can also add cooked rice to the above mentioned dry mix. This makes the roti soft and is also a good way to use left over rice!

Start kneading the dough by adding water slowly so as to control the consistency of dough texture. The dough should be soft enough to roll using a rolling pin or moist enough to flatten the dough with fingers.

The rolling/cooking method can be chosen as per your comfort. I will elaborate the dough rolling/cooking methods in the subsequent steps.

Divide the dough in to equally portioned, medium-sized balls.

There are two method of rolling the dough as explained below:

First method (Traditional method)

On a flat griddle (tawa) greased with oil, place the dough ball and start spreading the ball with fingers to flatten it. Keep a small bowl of water close by to dip your fingers in and then press the ball to flatten and spread the dough.

Now, place the tawa on medium heat. Smear oil on the roti, cook till light golden spots appear on the bottom roti surface; flip and cook the other side on medium flame the same way.

Remove the roti once cooked. 

Now let the tawa cool for a while and then make the next roti. Alternatively, you can also use two tawas.

Second method

On a chopping board or rolling board (chakla), place a piece of aluminium foil, banana leaf or parchment paper and smear it with oil. Place a dough ball and start flattening it with your fingers as explained in the first method (suitable for moist dough) or use a rolling pin (suitable for soft dough).

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Heat the tawa on medium heat and then invert the foil on the tawa to transfer the flattened roti.

After a minute, slowly remove or peel the foil from the flattened roti. Smear oil on roti and cook till light golden spots appear on the bottom roti surface. Flip to cook on the other side on medium flame till light golden spots appear.

I prefer the second method as I feel it is quicker for making a bigger lot.

Serve the Akki roti hot with any chutney of your choice.

Enjoy the dish and let me know how it turned out!