Haryana Cuisine ~ Besan Ki Masala Roti

My husband got in touch with a close friend through online search after a 17 years gap. And naturally both got real excited and emotional over the phone. This summer, when we planned to visit Delhi during our India trip, he insisted that we visit his home in Haryana. Mr. & Mrs. Kaushik are no strangers to me. They had traveled all the way from North to Bangalore along with their toddler daughter, just to attend our wedding. No way we were going to refuse their heart felt invitation.
And we indeed went to meet the family. Mrs.K acted a gracious, perfect hostess not letting us lift a finger while she cooked delicious dishes one after another during our whole stay. They made sure that we felt at home and were comfortable. Not only Mr. & Mrs. K had taken days off from their work, their kids also did not attend their colleges to give us company. They even accompanied us to Haridwar and Amritsar, along with one of their close family friend who happened to be a Sikh who gave a good tour of The Golden Temple and other attractions of Amritsar.
And as a food blogger, I had to talk about the food we got to taste though I would have been embarrassed to take pictures of the same. The food we ate at their home was simple, tasty and less spicy as we prefer. The food was kind of a typical Punjabi fare though they were Hariyanvis. Not a surprise considering the region's proximity. Dalmakhni, paneer dishes, chole - bhature, rotis loaded with pure desi ghee, buttery sandwiches and that kind. I also got to taste some kind of chutney with pink colored small tart berries that she got from Delhi. I have forgotten the name of those berries now, though I think the name started with K. The next day after we landed, we had a hearty breakfast of chole bhature. Along with those, they got 2 special Haryanvi sweets they wanted us to try. One turned out to be Andhra pheni kind and it had a similar sounding name. The other one I ate was for the first time and it was tasty and I don't remember the name now even after trying. Besides we had Agra's petha pedas and Mathura pedas that we carried. All those desserts were too much for us during the breakfast time and really I wished I had time to savor them leisurely so that I could remember the flavors better. 
My husband suggested that we will give them a call to get an authentic recipe for my Haryana post. The idea seemed ridiculous, disturbing them asking for recipes. I went to the trusted source instead - the online and found Besan ki masala rotis at Sanjeev Kapoor's. This is the first time I came across this recipe and had no idea that just a spice mixture can be used as a filling for parathas. It can be served along with a gravy curry. However plain yogurt and a pickle will also suffice the purpose since the rotis are spicy.

Ingredients for the roti dough: (Yield 5 - 6 rotis)
1 cup besan / chickpea flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
2 tbsp ghee / oil
Salt to taste

Method:
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add enough water and make a firm dough. Don't skip the ghee / oil from the recipe as the dough contains more chickpea flour and dough would be more towards the sticky side without ghee / oil. Cover and keep it aside. I rested it for an hour though the recipe did not recommend it.

Ingredients for the filling:
1.5 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp dry mango powder / amchur powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1 green chili, finely chopped
2 tbsp melted ghee

Method:
Combine everything in small bowl. If the mixture seems hard, add a little water.

Ingredients to make rotis:
Flour for dusting
Oil / ghee to toast rotis

Method:
* Divide the dough mixture into 5 or 6 portions. Roll them into balls. Roll out a ball into a circle, dusting with flour if needed. Apply the spicy paste on it leaving the edges.

 * Fold it into half and again one more into half to get a triangle.

 * Again roll it out into a thin triangle, dusting with flour if needed.

* Heat a tawa / flat pan and toast the rotis using ghee until you see golden spots on both sides. Serve it with yogurt and a spicy pickle if preferred.

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