Chaaler ruti and mera pitha / rice four roti and mera pitha

Chaaler ruti and mera pitha / rice four roti and mera pitha

Chaaler ruti or rice flour bread , though similar in look to regular chapati or roti , because of it’s unique flavor , it has a special place in the heart of all the Bengalies. It has always been a special item in every occasion, served with special dishes of course !!!!!!
Mera pitha is our very own steamed dumpling kind of thing . It can be preserved for a long time and can be enjoyed in various ways. You can enjoy mera pitha with beef bhuna , smashed dry fish ( shutki bhorta) , or frying them ( I’ll later upload the recipe of fried mera pitha) can be a great variaton!!!!! If you don’t like any side dish with it , eat as it is ! 🙂

The interesting thing is , you can made both chaler ruti and mera pitha from the same dough .. 🙂

Chaaler ruti/ rice flour roti:

Ingredients:

Rice flour 1 cup
Water 1 cup
salt to taste ( approximately little less than half teaspoon)

Procedure:

1. Dry roast the rice flour a while in a wide pan , not too much , just until the flour is fragrant .Boil the water with salt . When it’s boiling hot add the rice flour slowly mixing it with a turner . Mix well . Turn of the heat . The flour is boiled now . Cover the dough and let it be as it is for at least half and hour .

2. After half and hour , wet your hand with warm water and knead the flour well on a rice flour dusted board . Don’t mix any rice flour at this point, your roti might get hard .

3. make small balls from the dough and roll them out using little extra flour .

4. Fry them on heated pan at high flame . Don’t keep them on fire for a long time . The roti gets harder if you do so.

5. After frying , transfer them on a cotton cloth and cover the rotis with it . It will keep your roti softer for a long time as the vapor of the hot rotis will be sealed if you cover them and that will make moisture inside.

Mera Pitha:

For mera pitha use the same dough . But after boiling the flour, don’t add any extra rice flour . Just knead them on a slightly dusted board for a while and shape the pithas with your hand and steam them for 10/15 minutes.
🙂

Notes:

1. As I said earlier , don’t fry the rotis too much . The heat makes the rotis harder . So always fry roti at high heat and in short time.

2, After boiling the flour . Cover it with a lid for half n hour . It’s an Afgani trick , I got from one of my friends . The vapor inside makes the dough moist and the rotis become soft.

3. The water as mentioned above for boiling , is not the ultimate measurement . Depending on the rice flour quality , you may need less or more water . If you need more water , then add hot water into the flour bowl . Don’t ever add cold or room temperature water .