Cuisine: Punjab
Category: Breakfast
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 20 min
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Medium
🌿 Vegetarian
Hand-patted cornmeal flatbread cooked on a dry tawa — the essential winter bread of Punjab paired with sarson da saag and white butter.
Ingredients
- 2 cups makki atta (maize/corn flour — coarsely ground dried corn; NOT cornstarch)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Hot water — approximately 3/4 cup
- White butter (makhan) for serving
Method
- Place makki atta and salt in a bowl. Add hot water gradually, mixing first with a spoon then kneading with continuously wet hands as it cools.
- Knead 3 to 4 minutes with wet hands — corn flour has no gluten so keep hands wet throughout.
- The dough should hold together without crumbling.
- Divide into 4 balls. Keep covered with a damp cloth.
- Wet both palms. Place one ball on a wet surface or on a wet cloth.
- Pat outward slowly with wet palms to a round about 14 cm wide and 7 mm thick.
- Heat a dry iron tawa on medium. Invert the shaped roti onto the tawa — the cloth technique works well here.
- Cook on medium for 4 minutes until golden spots appear and cracks form on the top surface.
- Flip. Cook 3 to 4 more minutes. Finish over a direct flame for 30 seconds per side.
- Apply white butter generously while still hot.