15 July

I recently discovered my love for Roti Rolls. It was a weekend and I had a laundry list of things to do, including cooking, shooting, editing, updating blog, updating Instagram and all that. I usually don't keep all of that on the same day, but it was just another day when I didn't have much of a choice. I wanted to cook something really easy and simple so that I could spend most of the time shooting. I had discovered the beauty of backlights and wanted to do a little experimental shoot. On any other weekend day I would have just cooked a bowl of ramen topped it off with loads of spring onion, a sunny side egg and be at peace. But this time I had to shoot as well. Looking at my pantry an idea occurred to me. There was some leftover Roti from the night before. And I also had some bite sized chicken pieces in the refrigerator. A quick wrap was the answer to question. 

I am from that part of the country where Rolls have almost got an iconic status - the city of joy, Kolkata. We practically ate rolls for any random excuse at least once a week back in the days. Especially when we went to coaching class, to endure the next couple of hours of derivatives and  thermodynamics we needed a happy tummy. There was a Roll and Chop er dokan aka a shop which sold Rolls and cutlets near to our coaching class. No matter how resolute we were of not having street side food, the aroma of the spices and the fried egg on a hot griddle drove us back to the shop every day. We were like giddy teenagers in love, the only difference was this love was not for any human but for those yummy rolls and chops which the shop owner would keep making with extreme dexterity. 

Rolls would always be made with parathas topped with a generous layer of omelette and then came all the wonderful filling ingredients which you wanted. Something like a roadside version of the modern Subway, you could pick and choose what you wanted the filling to be. Though it tasted just heavenly, it was not the most healthy of things. Parathas were oily and so were the chicken fillings. But that is when you shut your guilty feeling and just give in to temptations of good food.

But when you make the same roll at home, you get utterly cautious of how much oil goes into it. Though homemade rolls are healthy but still its something fried. So the calorie conscious folks would still be wary of it. That's when this random discovery made me very happy. It was easy to make (no frying parathas), it was resourceful (you could utilize leftover rotis) and it was healthy (no oil in rotis). I ended up making a marinade with the Mandi masala I had and it gave a lovely Lebanese flavor notes to the wrap. The masala is super easy to make and preserve. 

You can purchase frozen or refrigerated Rotis at Indian grocery stores, or you can make them yourselves at home. Alternatively you can serve this with naan, pita breads or a Western style flatbread or even store bought tortillas. 

Checkout some interesting recipes on my blog:

• Chicken Quiche
• Lebanese Toum - Garlic Sauce

Equipment:

• Skillet/ Tawa
• Skewers

Method:

1. Start by preparing the spice mix. Dry roast coriander, black peppercorn, cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks for about 1 to 2 mins flipping occasionally. Add all the roasted spices in a mixer grinder and add salt, ginger powder, red chilli, turmeric, and nutmeg ( coarsely ground) to it. Pulse it till you get a fine powdered spice mix. It will smell divine at this point! 

Note: This is actually known as Mandi spice mix. Check out my Mandi Chicken Rice Recipe

2. Now to prepare the marination mix, take about 1 tsp of the spice mix prepared above and to it add half a lemon juice and cooking oil. Mix well to prepare a paste.

3. Apply the paste on the cleaned chicken pieces and let it sit for about 1 to 2 hours. The longer the better.

4. Now slice the onions and chop the green chilies and fresh coriander leaves. In a bowl add all the three and add the juice of half a lemon. Add salt for taste and give it a good mix. Let it rest.

5. Now put the marinated pieces of the chicken in skewers. Add some slices of onions as well in between the chicken. Heat a tawa and add 2 tsp oil, let it get heated. Then place the chicken skewers on the tawa in one single layer. Let it cook on medium heat. Flip over every 2-3 minutes for the chicken to cook evenly. 

6. Now for the charred effect, hold each chicken skewer over direct flame of gas, it will sizzle. Keep turning the skewers to get the desired charred edges on your chicken. 

7. In the same tawa add 1 tsp more oil and lightly fry the sliced bell peppers.

8. Now to assemble, spread some base sauce on the roti. Here I have used Honey mustard because I love the flavor it adds to the wrap. Then I added a little amount of tomato ketchup over the honey mustard. Add a layer of chopped lettuce in the middle in a straight line. Add a layer of the onion slices marinated in lemon juice. Now place the fried bell peppers and finally place the grilled chicken pieces and onions. Add some more honey mustard sauce on top if you want. Serve immediately while still hot. Enjoy!

Note: If you are using a day old chapati then thaw it and warm it before assembling the wrap. You can also fry the roti in a tsp of oil and then use for the wrap.