Baida roti is a popular Mumbai streetside snack. I ate it for the first time when my brother took us to this popular roadside place called Bade Miya at Colaba. Its nothing but a roti – Indian bread, stuffed with minced meat and beaten egg and cooked on a griddle on low flame. It can be a meal by itself as it is pretty filling. Its normally made with all purpose flour and I tried it with a combination of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour. There was a difference in the texture, as the all purpose flour dough can be rolled very thin whereas this was not possible with the wheat flour dough.
Ingredients
- For Roti:
- Whole wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups
- All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
- Egg - 1
- Baking powder - a pinch
- Oil - 1 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Water - 1/2 to 3/4 cup
- For Kheema/filling:
- Minced chicken : 1 lb
- Oil/ghee - 2 tbsp
- Onions - 2, medium size, finely chopped
- Green chillies - 4, finely chopped
- Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
- Cilantro - 3 tbsp, finely chopped, divided
- Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
- Garam masala powder - 3/4 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Additional Ingredients:
- Onion, red - 2, finely chopped (to add to the filling)
- Eggs - 5 (to add to the filling as well as to coat the roti)
Instructions
In a wide open bowl, put in the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, egg, baking powder and salt. Adding little water at a time, make a soft pliable dough. Add oil and coat the dough and set aside for 30 minutes.
For the Kheema/filling:-
Heat oil/ghee in a skillet. add finely chopped onions and green chillies. Fry till light golden.
Put in ginger garlic paste and finely chopped cilantro (1 tbsp) and fry till fragrant.
Add turmeric powder and garam masala powder, mix well. Fry for just a minute or so.
Put in the minced chicken and mix well so that all the ingredients in the skillet are well combined. Also see to it that the meat doesn't clump together. With the help of a wooden spoon, keep breaking the meat into tiny pieces.
Add salt to taste when almost done. You add salt towards the end so that water doesn't exude from the meat and make it all watery. This has to be a dry dish.
When done, garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
Note:
The kheema/filling can be used as an accompaniment/side dish to rotis or naans - Indian bread.
Rolling baida rotis:
Whisk the eggs lightly in a bowl and add very little salt and pepper to it and set aside.
Heat a griddle or tawa on medium flame.
Divide the wheat flour dough into 8 golf sized balls and set aside.
Take one ball and coat it with wheat flour and roll it out as thinly as you can.
Spread about 2-3 tbsp of the kheema/filling mixture on the rolled out dough.
Add a tbsp of the finely chopped onions and top it with 2-3 tbsp of the beaten egg.
Fold the flaps on all four sides so you end up with a square "roti packet".
Spray or spread cooking oil on the griddle.
Place the 'packet' on the warm griddle and brush with beaten egg all over.
Also spray or drizzle oil over the 'packet' and let it cook on low to medium flame till its golden at the bottom.
Turn the packet over and do the same - brush with egg and drizzle with oil and let that side cook too. Flip it over till both sides are evenly cooked.
Follow the same steps with the remainder of the dough balls until the kheema/filling and the eggs are all used up.
Serve hot with mint coriander chutney.
Note:
- It is very important that it be cooked on low to medium flame because it needs to get cooked not just on the outside but on the inside too.
- You can make any vegetarian filling either with cauliflower or with Paneer or potatoes and green peas and follow the same steps.
BadeMiya
Bade Miya (literally “big man” or “old man”) is a popular joint in Mumbai. We had visited the location at Colaba at night (they are not open during the day) and it was quite an experience. To say Bade Miya is popular is an understatement, the stretch of the road near Bade Miya was packed with people feasting on delicacies such as seekh kababs, chicken bhuna, baida roti and so on. There is no seating per se, if you happen to be in a car, the server asks you to pop open your bonnet and he props it up with a soft drink bottle to form a table. He then spreads newspapers and the food is placed on top of the paper.
Bade Miya at Colaba, Mumbai
Service is pretty quick but depends on the crowd and this makes the wait for the food pretty interesting especially since the air is filled with the aroma of grilled kababs and chicken. Rajesh loves their baida roti which is pretty filling in itself, but he surprisingly has room in his stomach for their kababs, chicken bhuna and roomali roti.
Bade Miya’s famous baida roti, served in their inimitable style!
If you do happen to visit Mumbai, it is worth giving Bade Miya a shot.
2 Comments
Anoo Pie
March 5, 2014 at 5:35 amYummy stuff ,Aparna & Rajesh. will highly recomend another place for great baida roti.Its in Haji Ali, Opp central.Its called Nourani.Having eaten umpteen times in both Bade Miya and Nourani, I will rate Nourani baida roti 5 stars.Its sooo crisp and much better than bade miya (of course, bade miya kebabs r much better !)
Plus point for Nourani is tat they r a sit down place and also have an AC section.Do give it a try on ur next visit. Occassionally they make Nihari and haleem and kichada too !
Rajesh
March 6, 2014 at 11:11 pmThanks Anoo, we’ll give it a shot when we are in Bombay next. I love the Sitaphal cream from the Haji Ali Juice Center, so I know where to stop for dessert!