My MaaIL’s Piri Rotli-  A breakfast Paratha made with leftover rice (pilau rice), AP flour, ginger~ garlic-chili pastes, salt turmeric, grated onion, and cilantro. A must have Sunday breakfast with ghee gur.

In my Gujrati household, there was a strong belief that prohibited food waste of any sort. Therefore, ultimately leftovers always got a makeover and came back in a brand new avatar of either Muthiya, Dar Dhorkri , Vagharelo bhaat, Vagharli Rotli, leftover Khicdhi na parotha or Bhaat na parotha.

My MaaIL, although not Gujarati, was a master at inventing recipes on the fly, and well known for her Piri Rotli~ a crossover between the Gujarati Bhatt na Parotha and Thicka Parotha.  Piri here refers “yellow” which is the color of the dough she got by adding turmeric and red chilli powders.

She was also not a bread and butter person, breakfast usually meant fresh rotlis, Mari wara Parotha, Lasan na ladwa or some sort of freshly made flatbread. I have never come across anyone else who made these like her, nor had heard of them before I got married, it was one of her inventions if you ask me. 

If you were lucky enough to end up at her house on a weekend, these would be on her breakfast table with a thermos full of morning chai and bowl of freshly made hot Ghee-Gur.  Wait a minute – I haven’t told you what ghee-gur is have I?   It revivals any breakfast condiment or spread, you can slather it on bread, flatbreads or pour it over crushed phulka rotis and mix it with the ghee-gur to make ghee-gur ne rotli na ladwa- an absolute comfort food.  It is basically Jaggary which is melted with ghee and then topped off with a splash of milk or malai ( milk skin) to get the most delicious caramel spread.  It is so decadent that it deserved a post of its own!

MaaIL usually made a huge stack of these, I mean maybe 60 or so, and platefuls would be sent off to neighbors across the street and friends as never ending rotlis came off the griddle.  She always used leftover rice from the Friday or Saturday pilau, the dough was made with white/plain flour not wheat. These parotha’s or Rotlis as she called them are studded with rice grains, had hand pound “lilo masalo”(ginger/garlic/chili and cilantro paste) the grated onions gave the “liquid” needed for binding hence there is no water used in kneading the dough.

The Rotli was rolled thin enough that if you hold it up to the light you should be able to see through it- well not literally but you get the idea- it was not like a thick parotha.

Today, what I learnt from her kitchen back then,  remains a constant in my life and I try to emulate her cooking in as many ways as I can and this is one of those recipes that I make on repeat from leftover rice just like she did, serving it with piping hot Ghee-Gur.  

She was the happiest if you fed her son’s right and not just “bread na ducha”! (fistfuls of bread!)if she were here today, I think she would highly approve.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups leftover cooked rice/ leftover pilau rice is best
• 2 cups plain flour (maida)
• 1 large onion grated (approx. 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon green chilli paste
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon dhana- Jeera (cumin-coriander powder)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper  powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder (optional)
• 2 teaspoons Pink Himalayan salt
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Extra oil for shallow frying

Instructions:

1. Grate the onion or blend it without water into a fine paste.
   
   
2. Warm the Pilau rice, remove all the potatoes/meat and whole spices.
   
   
3. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients for the dough: add warmed rice, flour, grated onion, ginger-garlic – chili pastes, chopped cilantro and all the dry spices as well as the oil.
   
   
4. Do not add any water.
   
   
5. Knead the dough without water- the onions should release water (but if needed add a teaspoon of water at a time).
   
   
6. Knead to form a soft pliable dough adding some flour if required.
7. Let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
   
   
8. Roll out each portion into a paratha of 12-15 cm diameter, fairly thin so that if you hold it up you can see the light through it.
   
   
9. Heat a griddle/frying pan/tawa pan medium heat, and place the rolled paratha on top.
   
   
10. Let one side cook for 3-4 minutes; then flip and cook the other side. You should see some light brown spots on the flipped side.
    
    
11. Spread a teaspoon of oil on the top side around right to the edges to shallow fry, then flip it again, fry for 30 second and flip for the final time, fry for an additional minute or so (both sides should have some oil now).
    
    
12. Remove from the pan and repeat with the next paratha.
    

Serve warm with Ghee~Gur,  chutney or pickles.

Notes:

My MaaIL made these with leftover rice from pilau, it really gives it a depth of flavor.


Always warm the rice, it helps with binding the dough, and also makes the parotha softer