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We took the kids to this great restaurant the other day for dinner. We all had roti + dhal and every last lentil was eaten up. I decided that we should make roti breads at home. And then, I decided to employ the children to do this. Arlo's now old enough to do the cooking while K likes a spot of dough-kneading and both can roll the breads. We had an extra child around after school today to help in the making, and one batch of these disappeared within ten minutes. 

I'm sure you can think of ways to eat these. As well as eating them plain or with a little butter, we've also paired them with this vegan curry/soup for dinner. Recommended for cosy autumn evenings.

This is how we make the flatbreads:

1 1/2 cups flour (you could use a mixture of different flours if you like)

1 cup boiling water

2 spoonfuls oil (vegetable, olive, etc)

Tip the flour into a bowl and add the boiling water and 1 spoonful of the oil. Mix together into a paste. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. (Dough might be too hot for kids- in which case do this step before enlisting their help.) Rest the dough for about 5 mins. Then roll it into a large disk. Sprinkle this with the oil and let the kids spread it all over the surface. Then roll the disk up into a long roll (kind of like when you make pinwheel scones.)

Divide the dough into about 10 pieces. Meanwhile heat a large frying pan on the stove- it doesn't need any oil or anything like that. Flatten each portion of dough with your hand and roll into a flatbread. Doesn't matter how round/misshapen it is. Then fling it in the pan. It should only take about 20 secs to cook on one side. Then flip it over with tongs and cook the other side until it bubbles up and gets a bit browned. Continue until you have a plateful of flatbreads.

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13 responses to “kid’s flatbreads”

  1. Mar Avatar
    Mar

    Thanks for the recipe. I love roti!!
    It doesn’t look difficult. I will try it…
    xxx-mar-

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  2. Ellie - Petalplum Avatar

    Yum! Kids love making dough and bread-ish things, don’t they. So fun – and messy, but easy to clean up.
    We smother these in butter, while they’re still hot, and then Vegemite. But yum with dhal / curry as well.

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  3. Zara Avatar

    Flat breads are a favourite here. i use a River Cottage recipe which is basically the same as this one. they are so simple and yummy.
    x

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  4. Charlotte Avatar

    Yumm, these look tasty! I made some last week, but had to use yeast, think I will give this recipe a go next time, thanks!

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  5. Becky Avatar
    Becky

    excellent – i was just planning to make dhal for dinner anyway, and now you’ve inspired me to make roti with my son first. thank you !

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  6. bar Avatar

    I have believed the best of every man. And find that to believe is enough to make a bad man show him at his best, or even a good man swings his lantern higher.
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  7. Cecilia Avatar

    They look a lot like Tortillas. In Arizona we eat the with just about every traditional Mexican-American food.

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  8. Polly Avatar

    Oh wow they sound so easy to make, we really must have a go! Thanks for the recipe.

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  9. sharilyn Avatar

    hi Melissa! I just wanted to stop in quickly and say hello! Thank you for this – we are all big indian fans here and I’m going to try some this at home with my little people. Big hug to you! xoxox sharilyn

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  10. sharilyn Avatar

    made them tonight – Addie and my man flipped out! I will have to double the recipe as they were actually fighting over them. thank you!

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  11. Marieke Avatar

    Hi Melissa, thank you for the recipe, we loved the flatbreads. I’ve tried stuff like this before: chapati’s, tortilla’s, but they always ended up being more like crackers. I guess that the boiling water is the secret ingredient, because these turned out just perfect!
    By the way: I’d had cold hands all day & making these was a good remedy 🙂

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  12. Katherine Avatar

    Ah, I had no idea how to make roti, now I need to have it for dinner tomorrow!

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  13. Fionaeason Avatar

    Thanks so much for this recipe – it is more than 13 years since I lived in Welly, and frequented Roti Chenai…oh how I miss their amazing curries and roti breads! The last time i had a roti was with choc spread and banana on a beach in Thailand several years ago…it will be wonderful to try them out with our weekend curries.

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