From the heart, the hearth and home

Passport & Plate - Pol Roti - Humble disks of memories

Sri Lanka | Tuesday, March 11, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients (Makes 2 Pol Rotis)

½ cup grated fresh coconut
½ cup flour (for a healthier option, can substitute with whole wheat flour)
A large onion finely chopped
Two green chillies finely chopped
Two tablespoons of curry leaves finely chopped
Salt to taste

Ingredients (Chilli Sambol)

6-8 shallots (can be substituted with 2 large onions)
6-8 Dried red chilli
Salt to taste
Lime to taste

How to prepare this recipe

Method (Pol Roti)
Combine onion, chillies, grated coconut, salt, curry leaves and the flour and mix together till fully integrated. Add a little bit of water and knead the ingredients together until it becomes a non-sticky, firm dough. Keep aside for ½ hour for the ingredients to absorb and diffuse flavour.

Divide the mixture into two parts and form two balls of dough. Flatten them to form round patties. Each pattie should be about 1.5 centimetres thick.

Next, heat up a griddle or a frying pan. Once hot, put the two patties on the pan and set it over low heat. Flip sides until both sides are golden and the aroma starts to rise. Take off heat.

Method (Chilli sambol)

Put the chilli, onions and salt in a small mortar and pestle and grind them to a smooth paste. In the absence of a mortar and pestle, a regular grinder or a food processor can be used.
Once ground smoothly, add lime to taste.

The rotis are best eaten while they are still hot. They can be eaten by themselves as a snack or or with the accompanying chilli sambol. Caution – if your palate prefers mild flavours, it’s probably a good idea to leave out the chilli sambol and have the rotis by themselves.

The story behind this recipe

Pol Roti being a traditional Sri Lankan dish and a family favourite has always made its presence known in our household. Its somewhat gritty texture, delicate yet vibrant flavour is something that I grew up with and over the years, gotten attached to. It would not be wrong to say that Pol Roti has indeed been an integral part of my childhood and my life as a whole, a taste that had indeed become intimate. Hot, sweaty afternoons spent in the kitchen kneading dough and finally settling down under the large, shady mango tree in our garden, fanning ourselves, surrounded by my mother’s bougainvilleas, we would sit sipping tea and burning our fingers ripping into these hot hot rotis fresh off the griddle. The smell of spices from the roti frying mingled with the smell of the tropical outdoors of jasmine, wild flowers, tree bark and earth would impregnate the air making us blissfully drowsy. This is comfortable. This is home.

This small round disk for me, captures within it a gamut of wonderful memories. Wherever I may be in the world, the taste and the aroma of Pol Roti will bring back memories of pink bougainvilleas, hot, tropical afternoons of refreshing tea, family, laughter and good times. Needless to say that these are memories that are very close to the heart. It’s amazing how the taste and the smell of a dish can transport you through time and space and open up a world of sentiments and sensations within a heartbeat. Pol Roti does that to me. It is love, entrapped between the shreds of coconut, the finely sliced onions, green chillies and the curry leaves. It is to me, home that I can taste and smell.