Rotis, Restaurants and Me

I am so obsessed with food :) And I find that my metabolism rates are at an all-time low...How else can I explain the sudden fat accumulation? Okay, I know I am digressing...We'll keep the association between food and me for another post. Yes, coming back, I had been to one of these so called 'hippie' restaurants with striking ambience, posh settees and couches, haute couture-d bearers, where you can see etiquette-conscious elite men and women speaking English with the tip of their tongues, dining in finesse, on one hand and lots of young blood with their phirang-clients(most of whom have this uncanny habit of laughing out real loud!) and PMs and TMs (read old men, institutionalized in the company they work for), having a whale of a time (obviously at the company's expense:)), on the other. And we ordered for some Shorba(this is a multi-cuisine restaurant, specializing in Moghlai cuisine but I must say, it offers food on AWESOME cutlery). We were offered complementary roast and rolled papads with tangy pudina chutney and we were left munching that for about half an hour by the end of which we were really scratching the base of the papad basket groping about for pieces, all the while engrossed in conversation (sounds awful I know, but I hate to wait long when I am really hungry!). And then, when it came to the main course, it was Romali Roti, which is precisely (going to be) the object of discussion of this post.

Now, Romali Roti is an Indian (if I am right, Kashmiri) speciality - soft and bright white(now, other Indian rotis are all shades of brown) with a distinct maida flavour. Now, the characteristic feature that gives it the name, is its thickness - or thinness rather. It is akin to a 'rumal' (handkerchief in Hindi) in that. And it also has a very dry but smooth nevertheless, melts-in-the-mouth texture. In short, just imagine munching an ultrasoft muslin-cloth that just tastes delicious! And the best thing about this roti, is the way in which it is prepared before it is cooked. Now, there is this bright yellowish dough, which is rich in maida, and it is set into medium sized balls and covered with a wet muslin cloth. The chef takes one of these balls and rolls it roughly in to a thin white flat sheet. Then he takes the rolled roti and just tosses it into the air high. It is here that one can see the elasticity of the dough in all its splendour! And this tossing and rolling is done twice apiece by which time the roti becomes as thin as a veil. And its, cooking time! The chef just lays the roti on a special tava which is in the shape of an inverted wok/round-bottomed dekchi/chatti.And in a few seconds, you can see brownish blisters/bubbles appearing all over the roti and there, it is done. This's what India brings to you, in the form of Romali Roti.

I have tried this in several places(read intersection of 'wherever I go' and 'wherever it is available') and it really surprized me that this posh restaurant served this roti that was of a 'hang-out' kind of standard. In the first place, it wasn't in its thinnest self and the corners were uncooked! And why do these places boast of authentic cuisine? When you say authentic, you mean that specialized food is served there in the truest and best possible form. And wouldja believe it if I say that of all the places in the North/South of India that I have tasted the Romali Roti, the best place is in my very own Coimbatore ?!!! Seriously! There is this Hotel(or should I say 'was', now that it has been taken over by the Taj Group) where once upon a time, my erstwhile friend Ravi was the roti-chef! I was a very small girl then and this Romali-roti used to be prepared in a glass windowed enclosure by Ravi, for all to see. Ravi was deaf and dumb and so, his style of communicating with me was using the maida meant for dousing the wet dough! He used to just strew the maida on the black granite and write his words and I used to answer back the same way. And all our conversations ofcourse, were followed by a small treat that Ravi could afford (not everyone used to acknowledge him for his talent, so he felt that it was a like a treat from me, mind you I was very generous!), a big piece of what he called 'Romali Papad', which is the result of slightly over-cooking the roti. He had a very admirable style of tossing the roti which is deeply etched in my memory and till date, his romali rotis are the best and the finest ever, in my dining experience. He left the hotel after sometime and I have never heard about him since. Though now-a-days the fact that The Residency, Coimbatore, also offers great romali rotis, makes me think Ravi works there :) Though no-longer in a see-through cubicle entertaining children and first-time guests alike! I remember I was so smitten by his style that I never used to fulfill the purpose of a family night-out together, and used to run over to him as soon as we entered the lawns of the restaurant, so much that my parents even threatened to stop bringing me there!

Wow! Now, I feel like having a soft bite out of a good Romali-roti :( And its lunch time here and I can hear someone grumbling inside!! I am off to the sodex-ho cafe we have here, to resume my quest for India's tastiest Romali roti :)