Jowar Roti / Sorghum Flat-bread

Jowar/Sorghum is a type of millet. It is called Cholam / Solam in Tamil, and is a very commonly available cereal in villages. Jowar flour has a pleasant and mildly sweet taste to it, so it's also being used in baking circuits in the West. It's also gluten free, rich in protein, iron, calcium, fiber etc., making it a truly wonderful substitute for regular flour.

India (and South-Asia) grows plentiful amounts of a variety of millets. Before the allure of polished white rice, most families had a heavy intake of millets. Somehow, millets lost their appeal and came to be branded as a lowly, peasant food. It was not fashionable to say you had millet-based porridge for breakfast or that you ate some archaic sounding food.

Now, with the surge of popularity in quinoa as a nutritious substitute for grains like rice (and even wheat), there has been a resurgence in millet consumption in places like India where quinoa is sold at exorbitant prices! In the last couple of years, people have rediscovered their very own indigenous crops, millets, and grains that help the local economy and their health! Everything has come a full circle now, and it's become fashionable to use millets again :).

Anyway, regardless of all that, it's good news that people are taking millets more seriously. For example, jowar has been a staple for hundreds of thousands of hardworking agriculturalists in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Flat-breads made from jowar  (known as Jolada Roti) are even served in many restaurants in Bangalore, and that's how I know of these rotis.

The only slight hitch with regularly making jowar rotis is that it requires skill and experience. It's an art to make Jowar rotis paper thin and round by just beating and shaping the dough with the palm of your hand and fingers! This requires years of experience. So, over the years I have often given up on making these, because it used to be hard to get sorghum flour in stores here, and it was always intimidating to make these rotis without the use of a rolling pin! But, experience comes with practice, and you practice by repeatedly trying and not giving up :)

So, with that in mind, here's the simple recipe to make these rotis. I'm not an expert, so don't judge the shape of my rotis! :). You can even start by adding some sorghum flour to whole wheat flour to make rotis that can be rolled. 

Ingredients (makes 16 rotis):

1. 3 cups of jowar flour / sorghum flour
2. 2 cups of hot water
3. a little salt, as needed
4. a few tablespoons of sesame oil / coconut oil

Preparation:

1. Take the jowar flour in a wide bowl or deep plate. Boil 2 cups of hot water. When it comes to a rolling boil, add salt and mix in until it dissolves. Slowly add 1.5 cups of the hot water to the jowar flour and mix with a spatula. Stir as much as you can and cover the bowl. When the dough is warm enough to handle, knead (with a little sesame oil if you like) to form a dough. If the dough is dry, add some more of the reserved warm water and knead. I used 2 cups of water, but you may need slightly less. Due to the lack of gluten, the dough will not hold together exactly like a wheat-flour dough. It may crack in places, but will still be soft and can be rolled into balls. 
2. Roll lime-sized balls of the dough. 
3. Heat a griddle (preferably cast-iron). Meanwhile, flour your board liberally with sorghum flour. Take a ball of dough and pat with the heel of you palm and keep turning it around to flatten it. If it sticks to the board, dust on more flour. Flatten the dough as much as you can and as thin as you can manage (if it cracks on the sides, and you don't get a perfect circle, don't worry. Look at mine, and feel good about your attempts!) Also keep in mind that you have to peel the flattened dough to transfer to the griddle, so in your enthusiasm don't overly flatten it and struggle to remove it from the board.
4. Transfer to the hot griddle (cook on medium heat). Sprinkle a litte water on the roti. When the water evaporates, flip the roti. Gently press the roti with a cloth or paper napkin to cook the other side. This roti will not develop as many brown spots as regular roti. You will know the bread is cooked when the flour doesn't look raw. 

Transfer to an insulated container. Brush a drop of coconut oil on top to keep the roti moist for a few hours.  

Note/Tip:

Another way to flatten out the dough is by smearing some oil on a plastic sheet, aluminum foil or banana leaf, and then gently pressing on the dough from the center to the outside to flatten it. This might be easier for some. 

Other dishes with Jowar:

My mom makes a simple and hardly porridge with jowar and ragi flours. I will post the simple recipe soon. You can substitute ragi with jowar to make these instant, healthy dosas/crepes!