Dosti roti stuffed with Dill-Chana dal, Cardamom Iced Tea

My Dosti Roti stuffed with spicy Dill leaves and Chana dal goes to "Roti Mela" and to host Srivalli from "cooking for all 4 seasons", who got such a grand response to her Dosa mela, she has come up with Roti mela now! :D
Here is one from me Sri, thought really hard to come up with this one , enjoy! I can't wait for round up!:))


Roti:Roti, in general is a traditional Indian flat bread, eaten with gravies made of vegetables or meat. It is most often made with wheat flour or atta, sometimes with plain flour or Chickpea flour, any other flour made of grains, cooked on a iron griddle called a tawa. It is similar to a tortilla of Mexico, Lavash in Iran etc. When rotis are stuffed with dry veg or meat preparation, they are often served as they are or just with yogurt, ghee or butter on top.

Dosti Roti:
Dosti means "friendship" in Hindi. This popular roti recipe is influenced by Indian population settled in countries like Guyana, Trinidad etc and are made with slight changes such as adding baking powder to personalize to give it a bit of rise while cooking, which makes the rotis soft.
A dosti roti is made by two layers of thinly rolled out rotis, are then stacked one on the other (or hugged?! :D) just smeared with some oil and/or flour in between the layers, then pressed gently or rolled again to make a double layered roti without any filling and cooked on the tava or iron griddle, often brushed with oil on the rotis while they are cooking. I took the basic idea of Dosti roti and stuffed with south Indian style filling to make it mine!

I thought of making a collage of all the rotis I have made so far in both of my blogs like I did in this Dosa Mela post but list is too long!! So I am just linking to my roti section in my recipe Index. Have fun browsing, you can see all kinds of rotis there!!
Just eating one of these stuffed Dosti rotis will fill you up and very nutritious all in one meal. You can replace Dill with any greens you like or use different dals too. Hope you try.

Dosti Roti with Dill and Chana dal filling, served with Yogurt mixed with chilli and Chaat masala, my style! :)
Ready for you, grab one!Sneak peek inside the Dosti roti:

Step by step photos:
For filling, you need: 1/2 Cup Chana dal, 1 cup chopped Dill leaves, 1 small onion, finely chopped, 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp or more red chilli flakes, salt, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds powder, pinch of garam masala (optional), 1/2 tsp lemon juice.
For dough: 1 1/2 cups of wheat flour or Atta, 1/2 cup plain flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp Baking powder, 1/4 tsp chilli pd (my touch!)+enough warm water to make a firm dough. I use my stand mixer and knead the heck out to make a nice smooth dough! :D
Make the filling first:1. Wash 1/2 cup Chana dal, add 2 cups of water, 1/4 tsp oil and microwave for 15 mins or until it is cooked soft. Drain the water, and mash roughly until you get a thick mass, add 1/4 tsp salt. Mix and set aside.
2. Heat 1-2 tsp oil in a pan, add cumin, onion and chilli flakes, stir fry until onion is soft.
3. Add the Dill leaves, 1 tbsp of water cover and cook for 2 mins. Add in all the spice powders, salt.
4. Add cooked and mashed Chana dal, adjust the salt,lemon juice, mix well and cool the mixture.
For dough: Mix all the ingredients for roti to a firm dough with enough water, cover and let it rest for atleast 1 hour. Divide into golf sized rounds, about 10 or 12 pieces.
To make the rotis:
Heat a griddle until medium hot.1. Roll one dough ball out to thin 6"-7" circle, do the same with another dough ball.
2. Now take 1-2 tbsp of cooled dal mix, spread it with a back of the spoon, put the other roti circle on top of the mix and seal the edges by pressing it with your fingers.
3. Press the layered roti with your palm gently and put it on the griddle and cook one side for a minute. Drizzle a tsp of oil on top, flip the roti and drizzle some more oil.
4. Cook both sides until roti is crisp and golden. Serve with plain yogurt, sprinkled with Chaat masala and chill pd which is optional.
Note: Make sure you cook the rotis on medium heat so it cooks the inside as well since it has double layer of thin rotis. Roll out the rotis thin to layer them. If they are too thick, they won't cook properly on the griddle. Enjoy! :)

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Southern Iced (Green) Tea flavored with Cardamom, Honey, Balm Lemon leaves and Lime is my contribution to EC from "Simple Indian food" blog. She is guest hosting "Think Spice think.." event, which is started by Sunita of "Sunita's World". This month EC has chosen of Cardamom as her spice. Thanks for hosting EC, enjoy the chilled Tea! :)


Southern Iced Tea with a Indian twist!
Whenever you visit any homes in the Southern sates of US, specially in Summer months, first thing they offer is Iced Tea as we would offer Tea in North India, Lassi in Punjab and coffee or buttermilk etc in the south of India! Usually in the in South (US), they brew Tea in the morning in large jugs, let it cool, add sugar(for sweet tea) and lemon slices and/or mint to serve chilled or at room temp.
I have added a Indian twist to flavor the southern sweet tea with Cardamom and added honey instead sugar since I don't like my tea or anything for that matter too sweet. I like to taste the tea more than sugar in my iced tea. It's your choice how much sugar or Honey you would like to add. You can also use loose tea granules or any herbal tea to brew, I find bags are more convenient and less messy. Enjoy.

This is what WIKIPEDIA says about the tradition of Iced Tea in America:
"In the United States, iced tea is very popular as an alternative to carbonated soft drinks, especially in the hotter southern states: it is ubiquitous in restaurants, convenience stores, vending machines, and grocery stores. It may be freshly made on premises, or available in bottles and cans, and at self-serve soda fountains. Restaurants typically give the customer the choice of sweetened or unsweetened.
Sweet tea, sometimes known as "Southern Table Wine", is tea brewed very strong with a large amount of sugar added while the tea is still hot. The mixture of sugar and tea is then diluted with water and served over ice and garnished with lemon. Sometimes the diluted mixture is allowed to cool to room temperature. Other times the sugar and tea mixture is not diluted at all but poured hot over a full tumbler of ice to cool and dilute it.
The oldest printed recipe of sweet tea dates back to a community cookbook "Housekeeping in Old Virginia", by Marion Cabell Tyree, published in 1879. The term can also refer to plain tea with sugar or sweetener added. Sweet tea is the common type in the South; elsewhere, unsweetened tea is the standard.
Iced tea was popularized and believed to be created at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis by Richard Blechynden, but recent evidence has refuted this.[2] Iced tea's popularity in the United States has led to an addition to standard flatware sets; the iced tea spoon is a teaspoon with a long handle, suitable for stirring sugar into glasses".

Southern (US) Iced Tea flavored with Cardamom and honey:Personally, taking a photograph of a drink or a beverage in a glass is the hardest thing to do, pardon me for this unnatural color of tea! It's my shadow standing infront of it, photo taken on a cloudy morning! Look at the bottom part of the color in the second photo, that's how it should look! :P

To make Cardamom Iced Tea:
You need: 1 1/2 cup water, 2 herbal or regular Tea bags of your choice, (I used Green tea with Lemon, herbal tea bags), 3 Cardamoms, take out the seeds and powder or 1/2 tsp of powder, 1-2 tsp of Honey or sugar to taste, 1-2 Balm Lemon leaves (which has natural lemony mint flavor!) or Mint and a slice of Lime or Lemon slice for garnish.

To make it:
This recipe makes 1 large or 2 small glasses of beverage. Double, triple the amount if you like more iced tea, with 2 bags for each glass, approximately.
1. Pour the water in a glass bowl, add cardamom powder and heat in the Microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes.
2. Take it out, add both tea bags, honey or enough sugar, let it seep for 2 minutes. Stir to mix well, squeeze and remove the tea bags. Adjust the sugar or honey to your taste.
3. Take a strainer, strain the tea to a big glass to catch all the Cardamom bits. Let the tea cool or chill in the fridge.
4. Before serving, add lots of Ice cubes, Balm Lemon leaves or mint and a lemon slice in each glass. Very refreshing to drink on a Summer day! Enjoy, see you all later!:)