Kerala Porotta

An easy way of preaparing Kerala Porotta.Usually in restaurants and Thattukada(small hotels seen on the road side),they prepare porotta by beating the dough well.Instead of doing that excessive beating which need expertise,my aunt tried an alternative ,and to our surprise it came out quite well.Now in my family we prepare porotta quite often.Leelamma aunty is really an expert in this.Her porotta tastes great.After trying it out 3-4 times ,you can also be a master in it.

Ingredients for the dough :-

Maida – 2 cups
Luke warm Water – as needed to prepare the dough
Veg Oil/Dalda – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste

Method:-

Step 1:-
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead the dough together thoroughly just like you prepare chappathi/roti dough.Keep it for 1 hr..covered with a wet muslin cloth.Also you can keep it in an air tight container.Otherise the top of the dough may become dry.
Step 2:-
Divide the dough into 10 equal portions of size a little less than tennis ball.
Step 3:-
Take a portion and apply some oil on it.
In a flat surface apply oil again and roll out the portion to the maximum .(Make it as thin as possible both length wise and width wise..no need to be worried about the shape..eventhough it breaks in between..its fine..Our objective is to make it as thin as possible..)You can use a rolling pin for this one also.We are doing this instead of the excessive beating required to prepare porotta.

Rolling the dough

Apply a little more oil over the rolled dough.

Applying oil over the rolled dough

Step 4:-
Using both hands make pleates on the rolled dough(just like saree pleates) starting from one end.(It’ll be more clear when you see the picture below.)

 

Making pleates

Step 5:-
Then holding at one end of the pleated dough ,rotate it just like a spiral.Keep aside.See the picture below.

Step 6:-
Repeat the above procedure for each portions and keep it aside.(Its not as difficult as you read the recipe)Again use wet muslin cloth to cover it or keep it in an air tight container.

Dough pleated and rotated into spirals

Step 7:-
Heat a sauce pan until medium hot.
Roll out each portion just like roti,but not soo thin.Porotta should be a medium thick.Remember do not apply any flour on it.You can apply some oil/ghee if you like.

Spiral shaped rolled out like a roti

Cook each roti with a little butter/ghee for 1 or 2 minutes,turning frequently ,until speckled brown and firm.Keep the cooked porotta in an aluminium foil or in air tight container.

Kerala Porotta

Step 8:-
When 3 or 4 porottas are done,place them in a flat surface and holding them between hands ,beat the hands together.(Just like clapping,but 3-4 porottas are between).do not beat them soo hard such as you break the porottas..:)
We are doing this,just to seperate the different layers.Remember this does not add anything to the taste..

Now tasty Kerala Porotta is ready to serve..Its a long process..isn’t it?But as i told you before its not that difficult ,but time consuming…

This goes well with any non-veg,Egg roast,Green Peas Masala….or any veg masala/Korma.
Yesterday we had porotta and Hot & Sour Egg Roast(Recipe in Traditional Kerala Dishes-Egg)