Sada Roti

Sada roti is a hearty flatbread in Alica’s Guyanese family cooking, made for dinner or breakfast. Her selected baking-powder recipe uses butter in the flour dough and cooks the rolled rounds on a tawa, with the edges exposed to the fire to help them swell.

Flour is sifted with baking powder and salt. Butter is rubbed into it with the fingers until small crumbs form, then water is added gradually and the dough is kneaded into a ball. The dough is cut and shaped into smaller rounds.

A little oil is rubbed on a plate and over the dough rounds. They rest on the plate under a damp paper towel. A surface is floured, and a rolling pin is used to flatten each round to the selected thin shape.

The tawa is heated and each roti cooks until large bubbles appear, then is turned to cook the other side. In the selected tawa method, the roti is moved around the edge over the fire so it swells. It is served hot.

The dough makes a soft but hearty bread with the roasted flavour of tawa cooking. Alica describes fried potatoes as a popular breakfast accompaniment; this is an optional serving suggestion alongside the roti.