Akki Rotti

Before you start

• Salt the chopped onion and let it sit 5 minutes — the water it releases goes into the dough and makes it easier to pat.
• Mix the dough only when you are ready to cook. Rice-flour dough goes slack and unworkable if it stands.
• Keep a small bowl of water beside the tawa for wetting your fingers while patting.

Method

1. Combine the rice flour, onion, carrot, dill, coconut, green chilli, curry leaves, cumin and salt in a wide bowl and rub together with your fingers for a minute.
2. Add hot water a little at a time, mixing to a soft dough just past the point of stickiness — softer than a chapati dough.Too stiff and it will crack on the tawa; too wet and it will not lift.
3. Smear 1/2 tbsp coconut oil over a cold tawa and place a lemon-sized ball of dough in the centre.
4. With wet fingers, pat the dough outward into a thin 8-inch round with an even edge. Make 3 small holes in it with your finger.Patting on a cold tawa is the trick — on a hot one you will burn your fingertips before the round is even.
5. Drizzle a few drops of oil into the holes, cover with a lid and set the tawa over medium heat.
6. Cook covered 4 minutes until the surface loses its wet sheen and brown spots appear underneath.
7. Uncover, loosen the edges with a spatula, flip and cook 2 minutes more until crisp and golden in patches.
8. Slide off and repeat, letting the tawa cool for a minute under running water before patting the next one.A hot tawa cannot be patted on. Cooling between rottis is part of the rhythm.

Storage

Best straight off the tawa. Keeps 1 day at room temperature in a covered box; re-crisp on a dry tawa for 2 minutes a side.