Pol Roti with Dhal Curry පොල් රොටි පරිප්පු
Author: Arnold Kuiper
A staple bread and curry of Sri Lankan cuisine
Yield: 4 Roti / Serves 2
Active: 20 minutes
Total: 4h20m
Heat: 🌶🌶/5
Diet: DF
Significance of the dish
A truly Sri Lankan Flatbread, Pol Roti, is a bread loved by most Sri Lankans and eaten for either breakfast or dinner with accompanying curries. Although its roots stem from the Indian flat bread roti, the Sri Lankans made it their own by adding grated coconut, and some versions also include red onion, and green chilis or extra flavor!
Growing up Sri Lanka, I used to eat this bread at least once a week with dhal curry or as the locals call it, Parippu. I loved the slightly sweet flavour the coconut brought to the bread along with the sharp heat from the green chilis and crunch from the red onion.
Ingredient Guidance
- Shredded desiccated coconut (unsweetened): Use frozen grated coconut but make sure to squeeze the excess moisture (the milk) out of the flesh.
- Green chili: You can pick what kind of heat level you would like; I normally use Indian green chilis, but other varieties would work too.
- Coconut milk: Make sure that it is not from concentrate.
- Curry leaves: Although they are edible, they are mainly used for the aroma/fragrance that it brings to the dish.
- Lime: Look for the yellowing spots, these limes tend to be juicier.
- Coconut oil: Fairly high smoking point (400f).
- Ground coriander: You can also use coriander seeds if you want a bit of texture in the dhal.
- Chili powder: Preferably Kashmir red chili powder but cayenne can also work.
- Cinnamon sticks: Sri Lanka has a native variety of cinnamon which is more delicate and brings a delicate warmth and spice to the dish, if you cannot find it, ground cinnamon will work too.
Ingredients
For the Roti (Makes 4 rotis)
- 200g All purpose flour
- 75g Shredded desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ medium unit Red onion
- 1 unit Green chili
- 60ml Coconut milk
- 60ml Water
For the Dhal Curry (For 2 people)
- 200ml Water
- 100g Red lentils
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 medium unit yellow onion
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 6 leaves Curry leaves
- 2 units Dried red chilies
- ½ tsp Cumin
- 60ml Coconut milk
- ½ tsp Black mustard seeds
- 1 unit Lime
- 15ml + 15ml (1tbsp) Coconut oil
- ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
- ¼ tsp ground coriander
- ¼ tsp cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp (to taste) chili powder
- 1 stick or ¼ tsp Cinnamon sticks from Sri Lanka or ground cinnamon
Method
To make the Pol Roti
Mix the dough — In a bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, coconut, salt, onion, and chili. Mix the coconut milk and water together and pour into the dry ingredients a little at a time. Use a fork to bring the dough together until most of the moisture has been absorbed by the flour, then switch to your hands to bring the dough together.
Knead — Add 1 to 2 tbsp of water if its too dry. Kneed until a dough has formed but do not overwork the gluten.
Rest and Cook — Let the dough rest for 4 hours. Divide into 4 small balls and roll out with extra dusting flour and a rolling pin to ½ a cm thickness. Heat a pan and cook the roti on both sides for about 2-3 minutes each or until they develop brown spots on both sides.
To make the Dhal Curry
Prep — Start by washing the red lentils in a bowl and rinse them thoroughly unlit the water is clear and no longer murky. Finely slice (emincer) half of the onion and dice (cisseler) the rest. Mince (hache) the garlic.
Sweat onions — Heat a small pot on medium low heat, add the coconut oil. Once it has warmed up, add in the diced onions and cook slowly to release the moisture.
Add aromatics — Once the onions have sweated (cooked to a soft texture without too much coloration), add in ½ the garlic, turmeric, chili, and a few pinches of salt. Cook for a minute.
Cook lentils — Pour in the water and mix. Stir in the lentils. Bring the ingredients to a simmer and cook until the lentils are tender using a lid to cover the pot.
Finish lentils — Add the coconut milk after about 10 minutes and continues cooking until the lentil have absorbed the liquid and begin to break down (about 15 minutes cooking total), then turn the heat off.
Temper spices (Tadka) — In a separate small sauté pan, heat the remaining coconut oil on medium heat and add in the mustard seeds. Make sure to cook them until they start to splatter/pop (it will try to jump out of the pan like popcorn so be careful!). add in the fenugreek seeds, coriander, and cumin seeds.
Sauté onions — Add the sliced onions and the curry leaves to stop the mustard seeds from popping and to continue the cooking process. Sear the onions in the oil at a medium heat until slightly golden and then add in the remaining garlic, dried chili, and about a 1.2 tsp of salt.
Combine — Turn the heat off and mix in the ground cinnamon, then while hot, transfer the mix into the lentils and mix through.
Season — Add a few drops (1/2 tsp) of lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper and more lime juice if required
Making ahead and storage
The roti dough can be made ahead by 24 hours, and it can also be frozen. The dhal is best eaten day of, or can be enjoyed on the second day
Variations
- Herbs: Some versions of the pol roti will add chopped cilantro/coriander leaves and or cumin seeds
- Gluten Free: you can make it gluten free by replacing the flour with rice flour, and adding the white of 1 egg as a binder (mix the egg white into the dough along with the coconut milk and water)
- Spicy Dhal: For the dhal, you do not need to add the coconut milk, some recipes up the chili powder and dried chilis but leave the coconut milk out to achieve a spicier finish
- One-pot: Some variations also skip the sweating of the onions and garlic and add it directly into the water along with the lentils to boil it all together
Co-founder of Snout & Seek. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Arnold's passion for food stems from both his Dutch and Sri Lankan roots. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, Arnold's career in the culinary industry has brought him from the Netherlands to Canada, where he now teaches at a cooking school.
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