Growing up in Mauritius, dhal puri was a common street food you'd find anywhere on the streets of the island. It is an Indian flatbread stuffed with seasoned yellow split peas ground up into a smooth paste. This vegan roti is similar to a tortilla but made using yellow split peas. It was always a part of their breakfast and was served with a variety of curries and pickled vegetables. Try it and let us know what you loved pairing it with!
Ingredients:
For the dough:
500g All-Purpose Flour
Lukewarm dal water (around 350 ml)
3 TBSP of oil
¼ TSP Salt
For the filling:
250g Split peas
1 TSP Turmeric Powder
1.5 L water
½ TSP Cumin Powder
½ TSP Fennel Seeds
1 TSP Salt
Directions:
1: Filling
Add 1.5l of water, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt and the washed split peas into a large pot and bring it to boil. 5 minutes into cooking, you will see a layer of froth built on the top. Scoop the layer froth out.
Boil the split peas for about 20-30 minutes until tender but not mushy.
Drain the yellow split peas reserving the water to make the dough. (You can drain it using a strainer too, but do not use the residue that’s left on the bottom of the pot).
Place the boiled split peas in a large tray allowing them to cool completely. In the meantime, dry roast ½ tsp fennel seeds and ½ tsp cumin seed in a small pan.
Grind it and set it aside. Once the split peas have cooled off, add it to the food processor portion by portion and grind to a smooth powder (if it is mushy, it means the split peas are over-boiled).
This will take some time as you need to scrape every bit of it and grind it to smooth powder.
Once done, add the roasted fennel and cumin powder to the processed split peas and mix well.
Make small golf-sized balls out of the split peas mixture and set it aside to make the cooking process faster.
2: The Dough
In a large bowl, add the all-purpose flour, 3 tbsp of oil, and ¼ tsp of salt, and mix it slowly with your hands or in a mixer by gradually adding the lukewarm dal water.
Mix it until you get a super soft dough. Apply some oil to the dough, cover it, and set it aside for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, Break the dough into small golf-sized balls around the same size as the split peas ball and set it aside.
Take 1 ball and flatten it out into a small disc and make a depression in the middle. Fill the depression with a ball of split peas powder and seal it by rolling it back into a ball. Repeat with all other balls until all are filled
3: Assembling
Dip each stuffed dough ball in the flour and carefully roll out/flatten it using a rolling pin on a floured surface, until the bread is very thin (the thinner the better).
Keep flouring the surface to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the surface, which may cause the roti to tear and spill the filling.
4: Cooking
Heat a pan over medium heat and brush the surface with oil.
Place the stuffed roti on the pan and brush the top of it with oil while cooking. The stuffed roti will take about 30 seconds to cook.
Flip the stuffed roti frequently and remove it from heat immediately once done. Serve with pickles or your favorite curry
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