Dhalpuri Roti

Ria’s dhalpuri is a thin, soft stuffed roti from Trinidad’s Indo-Trinidadian cooking. A ground pea filling, flavoured with garlic, hot pepper, bandhania and roasted cumin, is enclosed in the dough before rolling.

The peas boil with turmeric and salt until cooked but still firm. They are drained, cooled and dried, then ground with the aromatics into a fine mixture.

For this selection, the filling is parched briefly in vegetable oil with roasted cumin and salt. Ria describes the finished filling as light, fluffy and grainy.

The four-cup flour dough is mixed with baking powder, brown sugar, salt and water, then rubbed with oil and rested. It is divided into balls, filled, sealed and rolled thin on a dusted surface.

The roti cooks on an oiled tawa, with further brushing and turning until cooked. Ria lists curry channa and aloo among the dishes served with dhalpuri; her four-cup dough batch uses only part of the larger filling batch.