"real" roti

I titled this "real" roti, not that I think Trini roti is fake, but that I have now seen roti being made by Indians from India. THis was pretty much what we would call sada roti in Trinidad and the method was quite similar.

That's one thing about living in such shared housing, and as a matter of fact going to a college with one of the most international student bodies: interacting with other cultures.

There I was minding my own business waiting for my rice to boil when two indian girls come in the kitchen with all their stuff. So I was htinking they were going to take a long time preparing things as they usually do (cooking seems to ALWAYS be quite a social occasion for them) But not this time! The dough was already prepared and one started rolling while the other put what would be equivalent to a tawah on one burner and a wire grill on another. Now the tawah had a handle and was slightly concave. And the bilna was basically a non-descript stick, near uniform thickness throughout, slight taper towards the ends.

The speed of the whole business was what really fascinated me. Each roti (she did refer to it as roti to a friend who came in to look) was only about 6 inches in diameter but still, they must have made 30+ while my rice was boiling and they were still in there when I left. The one girl rolled out the dough, each starting out about golf ball size. Then straight onto the super-hot tawah. That lasted about a minute, including turning. Then it was moved over to the grill, almost touching the burner (we have electric). Immediately it puffed up, the entire thing, like a balloon. It was enthralling, uniform, each one like the one before. And it was at this stage that the roti acquired the colour we are used to. Of course, this demanded the undivided attention of the cook to ensure the initial tawah stage was just right to allow the puffing up stage which also demanded deft handling of the thongs to turn and turn the roti over the grill to avoid burning.

I was thinking they probably making roti like that since they small to be that skilled and nonchalant about it. I guess it's like me making stew chicken now. LOL yeah whatever. I just thought of the fact that I have never made stew chicken in Trinidad hahaha. But here? ooohh there have been a couple that were magic! Could you imagine if I make a stew chicken ONCE home? It would be the end of "eating for free"
;-)

It's late in the day but I really had no time today, still I'm in under the wire: my 4th consecutive day posting! woohoo!