A simple recipe to make simple but tasty godamba roti.
Godamba roti or roti canai as know in some South Asian countries, is one of most simple flat breads that can be made. Godamba roti can be enjoyed as it or once cut up into small pieces can be used to make Kottu; another popular dish in Sri Lanka.
And, same un-cooked godamba is used the wrap for the snacks like vegitable roti. fish roti etc…
Godamba is made literally with 4 ingredients; plain flour, water, salt and cooking oil.
Ingredients
Below recipe can do 10-12 rotis. And, it should be enough for 4 people.
- Plain flour – 500g
- Lukewarm water – 250ml (or 250g)
- Salt – 1/2 tea spool
- Cooking oil – 3 table spoons
- Extra cooking oil for preparations.
Note: 2:1 ratio for flour and water works quite well.
Time
- Preparation – 15 minutes
- Dough resting – 4-6 hours (even better if the dough can be rested over night)
- Cooking time – 15 minutes
Steps – Preparing the dough
- In large bowl mix the flour and salt.
- Add the oil and the water to the flour mix.
- Knead the mix until all the flour is combined well.
Note: Don’t add more water. Take a little more time and knead until everything is combined well.
Note: Don’t apply any oil on the dough yet.
- Cover the dough with cling wrap directly on the dough to stop drying out. Additional layer of cling wrap covering the bowl is preferred.
- Let the covered dough rest for 1 hour in room temperature.
- After 1 hour, break the dough into 10-12 pieces. Roll the pieces into smooth balls. Without oil, it’ll be much easier to make the dough balls.
- Apply a thin layer of oil on a baking tray.
- On the oiled baking tray, lay out the dough ball so they are not touching each other.
- Apply a little oil on each dough ball.
- To avoid drying out, cover the dough balls with cling wrap directly on them. Another layer of cling wrap covering the baking tray would be even better.
- Leave the dough balls to rest for 4-6 hours in room temperature. 6 hours would be better. Resting overnight will give even better results.
Steps – Getting Ready to Cook
- You need a large flat workspace to flatten the dough. Apply a little bit of oil on this workspace so the dough won’t stick.
- Heat-up a griddle of a large pan on medium low heat.
Note: In a cooker with heat levels 1-10, level 4 is good enough. Roti will be quite flat and will be cooked fast. So, it’ll be hard to control cooking under high heat.
Steps – Cooking
- Apply a little oil on the palms.
- Put a dough ball on the workspace and flatten the dough with the heel of the palm.
Note: If the dough jumps back when trying to flatten, dough is not rested enough. Leave the dough to rest 1 more hour and try again.
- Keep spreading the dough until it’s almost see-through. Once done correctly, it’ll be large than 1 square foot.
Note: If you can, after initial flattening, lift the dough from one side with both the hands and flip. After a little practice, the flipping method will become faster than spreading the dough on the workspace.
- If the griddle or pan not very large, fold the dough into a manageable size. This won’t change the taste or texture.
- Take the flattened dough off the workspace carefully and lay it flat on the griddle or the pan.
- Cook the roti for about 1 minute. By then roti will get nice brown colour with a slight burn at places.
- Flip the roti and cook the other side for 1 minute more.
Note: Keep the cooked rotis in covered plate or a container to keep them warm and soft longer.