Ah yes, the infamous rotli discussion. My family act as if my ability to make the perfect rotli has a direct correlation with my prosperity, fertility, and ability to attract a mate. My grandmother went as far as to buy me mini rolling boards and velans (rolling pins) as a child in the hopes that I would become a well-oiled rotli machine. Sadly, it was to no avail.
While I highly doubt that anyone cares how well I roll a rotli, I will acknowledge the fact that it seems like a very meditative process. I have a fairly large family, so I have seen my mom crank out hundreds of these babies and it is pretty impressive.
Rotli, better known as roti by the rest of India, is a popular north Indian flatbread eaten with various shakks, or cooked veggies. In its simplest form, rotli is just flour, water, and salt kneaded into a dough, rolled into a thin circle, and puffed up over a hot stove. But why do I care about making these Indian tortillas now?
I have FINALLY decided to learn how to make roti on my own for one reason and one reason only: I love vaghareli rotli. In order to get vaghareli rotli, I’m going to have to deal with the pesky intermediate step of making the actual rotli. And I guess it’s better to learn how to do it just in case my parents are right and my marital status lies solely on the quality of my rotli. I’d love to be on the next season of the bachelor, get all the way to the finale, and have some guy make me and some other chick have a rotli roll-off in hopes to get that final rose. So yeah, I guess I’ll start training for that day. Just in case.
