To really impress friends and relatives with your culinary skills, learn this simple recipe and surprise them by serving warm, home made rotlis. Rotlis, which can be thin or thick, are served with almost every meal in Gujarati households and make an ideal accompaniment for either a vegetarian 'shaak' or meat dish.

To make perfect rotlis each time follow a few simple steps. Click on any of the images for a larger picture.

Rotli is best made with wholemeal flour that comes milled roughly, smoothly or with a medium grain. Occasionally cooks mix chapatti flour with plain flour to attain a texture that suits them, but you can also use the flour straight from the packet. Try to use up the remaining flour within a few months as you can make better rotlis with fresher flour.

Preparation Time - 20 minutes
Resting Time - 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 -30 minutes
Makes - 13

Ingredients

200g Medium Wholemeal Flour
150ml Luke warm water
2 Tablespoons oil
Ghee or butter to spread
Plain flour to dust.

Method

Take a mixing bowl and add the flour and oil. Mix the two together with your hands and whilst kneading gradually pour in the water. The final amount of water required will be dependent on the absorbency of level of the flour so leave a little until you have mixed the flour well. Add remaining 50ml if you want a softer mix. A softer dough allows you to produce a much thinner and pliable chapatti that will not crack at the edges when cooked. However soft rotli dough is hard to roll without some skill so practise a few times before hosting a dinner party!

Knead the dough for about 2-3 minutes. The dough should be smooth and pliable, cover and allow to relax for 10-15 minutes.

Apply a teaspoon of oil onto your palms and knead once more, very briefly. Divide the dough into 13 equal parts. Each portion should be about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Before you start to roll, dust each flattened ball with plain flour and use a rolling pin to make a thin circle measuring about 14-15cm in diameter. The trick to a perfect rotli is to ensure that it rolled out evenly. Do not grip the rolling pin too tightly. Place the palms of your hands on the tapered edges of the rolling pin and let the rotli almost roll itself. It does not matter how long it takes for you to roll the rotli- the result should be smooth and even. A common failing when rolling is to press too hard at the centre giving a rotli that is thin in the middle and thicker on the edges. This leads to uneven cooking.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Place your rotli into it. As soon as you can see little bubbles appear on its surface - usually within 30 seconds - turn it over onto the other side. Cook the other side for 30 seconds. Then place it under a preheated grill or directly onto the fire to bloat (little brown specks will appear on the surface). Turn it over during bloating. The preferred method to bloat the rotli varies from household to household. Many use a pair of smooth tongs (chipyo), some use a mesh grill and yet others place it under the grill. The key is to get air into the rotli to make it soft and pliable.

Place your cooked rotli in a plate and smear with a little melted ghee or butter.

Make all the rotlis in the same way and stack them on top of each other. Keep them covered with a clean tea towel, NOT a container, as steam given off by hot rotlis will dampen the rest. Serve hot with any 'redhot' curry!

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