rather rubbery rotlis

i don't know what inspired me to make indian food tonight for my family... maybe guilt because i spent too long at Joann's and frantically rushed home super late?... feeling like my children needed something homemade and special in their bellies... okra in my fridge looking like it wouldn't last another day... not sure exactly.

i have worked on my raita recently and so now i'm fairly confident that it's good... BUT making okra and rotlis is another story.  i quickly chopped half an onion and started my version of a "vagar" (?sp)... added a pinch of cumin to the oil (all i had was olive... i am so not indian) then as the seeds sizzled i threw a pinch of hing... sizzle... threw in the chopped onion... more sizzle.  rosie (nanny) had already chopped the okra (vertical not horizontal) so threw that in, also added some chopped tomato... let it all cook.  a few minutes later added spices (mitu, murchu, dhanajeeru, hulther and a little bit of my adu murcha) and turned the heat to simmer.

meanwhile i took out my wheat flour... this is where i really start to get out of my element.  i put some flour in a stainless steel bowl... add some olive oil... add some water... start to knead... wow... really not easy!  all those times i watched my mother and our old nanny do it... i thought it looked easy... my left arm gets tired...i add more water... and then more oil... more water... more oil... slowly it starts to stick together.  now i pull out my orussio and welland  and start to roll out my rotlis.  this is easier... start to feel a little more confident... this isn't so bad... i can do this... maybe i'll make rotli's for the kids everyday... wouldn't that be nice?  amiya decides she wants to help. she runs to the basement to get her miniature orussio and welland... asks for some dough... and starts to roll.  now roro wants to help... i pull out my second welland (who knew i had all this equipment?) and give him a small ball of dough... he uses the countertop to roll out his rotli.  I put marty in charge of cooking the rotlis... and this is where things start to get difficult.  i couldn't remember how high the heat needed to be... i also couldn't remember if ghee needed to be on the skillet... we tried to figure it out... but sadly they all seemed to have a rubbery quality.  they still tasted ok... edible in my opinion... both my kids and husband ate them though i'm pretty sure that if my mother was given one she would probably have quite a lot to say about it... and probably not eat it.  the okra turned out good, and of course the raita was a hit.

this is one that amiya rolled... seriously

for the first time in my life  i tried to make rotli's from scratch... not a success but i will try again and hopefully they will be better.