Tag Archives: Pol roti

Pol Roti and Sambol

My recipe for today is pol roti and sambol, which is a quintessential Sri Lankan breakfast. The Sri Lankan roti’s uniqueness stems from the addition of grated coconut to the dough.

In my house, it has been a favourite meal across generations. One of my mother’s favourite childhood memories is that of her mother making roti for their tea on rainy days. My grandmother apparently added her own twist to the coconut roti, by adding chopped chilli and onions, making it a spicy roti which she served with plain tea. As it was an occasional treat reserved for rainy days, my mother and her siblings came to regard it as a favourite food and a special treat. They passed on this partiality to my generation and my cousins, siblings and I all seem to share this preference for roti and sambal. It is not breakfast food at home though, but a dinner meal. Apparently, the tiniest member of our family, my two year old niece, has also acquired this preference for roti after having her first little bite of roti this month.

Katy of Untold Morsels recently asked me what comfort food I made that reminded me most of home. I immediately thought of pol roti and sambol and then I realized that I was yet to share the recipe of pol roti on this blog. So, I decided to remedy the situation immediately with this post.

Pol roti & sambol.jpeg

Do try making the Sri Lankan pol roti and sambol at home! You will surely enjoy the treat!

Pol Roti and Pol Sambol

  • Servings: 3 or 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

Roti:

  • Flour – ¾ cup
  • Coconut – ½ cup, freshly grated
  • Salt, to taste
  • Little water
  • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • For spicy version of roti:
    • Atta flour – ¼ cup
    • Green chillies and onions – 1 or 2 tbsp, chopped
    • Crushed chilli flakes

Pol Sambol:

  • Coconut – ¾ cup
  • Red chillies – 5 or 6
  • Onion – ½
  • Curry leaves
  • Salt, to taste

Method

  1. Sift the flour and add the salt and grated coconut.
  2. For the spicy roti version, add the atta flour, chopped green chillies and onions and crushed chilli flakes as well to the flour mix. My mother loves the spicy roti while I prefer it without the chopped onions.
  3. Add a little water to the flour mix and make a dough.
  4. Add a tbsp of oil at the end so that the dough does not stick.
  5. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 balls and keep aside for 5 – 10 mins.
  6. Heat the flat pan.
  7. Flatten each ball and cook it over low heat, on the flat pan. Ensure it sufficiently browns on both sides by flipping it.
  8. Prepare the sambol by lightly frying the chopped chillies, onion and curry leaves and then grinding it with grated coconut and salt.
  9. Serve immediately with warm rotis and a cup of Sri Lankan tea.

spicy roti.jpeg
Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.