Adding Green Garlic to your Roti is a Game Changer

January’s recipe contest called for regional recipes that use winter’s fleeting tender green garlic. Like a shooting star in the market spread, these bright green shoots light up every stall in the market, ending in single young bulbs and glowing tendrils. Its subtle garlicky flavour enhances every dish; we’ve sprinkled them on slow scrambled eggs, and even liberally dusted them on every kind of winter soup. Writer and cook Sheetal says, “These warm green garlic rotis remind me of my paternal grandmother who belonged to the Bhaghnari community (the original inhabitants Bhag and Nar, in Southern Baluchistan). Bhagnari food just like its language, has subtle nuances in flavour and cooking technique, that set it apart from traditional Sindhi food.”

Garlic greens on a beige dinner plate by Indus People. Shop the collection here.

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Recipe: Thum ki Roti or Sindhi Green Garlic Roti

Serves 2

Ingredients
⅓ cup chopped garlic greens
⅓ cup chopped cilantro
4-5 green chillies
⅔ cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp oil/ghee
Salt, to taste

Method
Wash the garlic greens thoroughly and chop them roughly. (Size doesn’t matter as they will be ground into a paste).
In a food processor, grind garlic greens, cilantro and green chillies. Use water as needed to make the paste.
Add the garlic-cilantro chilli paste to the whole wheat flour, then knead the dough, and add oil during the kneading process. You may not need any additional water to make the dough.
Divide the dough into 4 balls and roll them into rotis.
Cook rotis on a flat iron pan (2-3 minutes on each side, or until lightly blistered) and top with ghee.
Serve with yogurt.

Note: The dough can be used to make puris as well.

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