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Guyanese paratha oil rotis folded on a round wooden board. A bowl with oil is visible on the left and a metal rolling pin is visible on the right
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Paratha (oil) Roti

Guyanese Paratha (oil) roti is a flaky flat bread with beautiful light layers. It is a staple in most Guyanese and Caribbean households. This simple flat bread made of all purpose flour, oil (or ghee or butter), baking powder and water is the definition of comfort food! Give it a try for all our your saucy curries and stews.
Course Breads, Breakfast/Side Dish
Cuisine Guyanese
Keyword best guyanese oil roti, best guyanesee oil roti, Gluten Free Guyanese Roti, guyanese paratha roti, guyanese roti ingredients, paratha, roti
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Resting time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 5
Calories 537kcal

Equipment

  • Rolling Pin
  • Tawa or flat skillet or griddle

Ingredients

For the Dough

  • 3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour plus 1 cup for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon butter or ghee may also use oil in this step
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water
  • 1/2 Cup Oil Use a light high smokepoint oil, such as avocado, extra light tasting olive oil or sunflower oil

Instructions

  • Combine flour, baking powder, salt in a large bowl and mix together well. Then add 1 tablespoon of butter or ghee (may also use oil) and blend into the flour mixture with your finger tips.
  • Form a well in the center of the ingredients and add water a little at a time, pinching together with the flour mixture to form a shaggy (loose) dough.
  • Squeeze shaggy dough together to form a soft and sticky dough. Continue to squeeze the dough in a slight kneading motion for about 5 minutes. Do not fold over and knead like bread dough. Just squeeze and massage the dough in the palm of your hands and bring it together into a ball.
  • Rub a tablespoon of oil over the dough, cover dough with a damp paper towel to prevent the top from crusting and let rest for at least 30 minutes but up to an hour

Shaping the roti (adding the layers)

  • Divide the dough into 5 pieces, then working with one piece of dough at a time, place the dough on a floured surface, press with your finger tips to flatten. Using a rolling pin, roll into a large thin disk about 1/8 inch thick (similar to a large tortilla).
  • Add about 1 tablespoon of oil over the surface of the rolled out dough followed by a sprinkle of flour. Then using a knife make an incision from the center to one end of the dough, and roll dough to form a cone. Tuck the ends into bottom of cone, flip over and push the cone tip into the base.
  • Repeat for the remaining 4 pieces of dough. Then cover with a damp paper towel and let rest for 15 minutes before cooking.

Cooking the roti

  • When ready to cook, preheat a tawah or large cast iron skillet on medium heat. While the tawah is heating up, roll out your roti (loi/loya) on a floured surface and press to flatten. Then using a rolling pin, roll into a large round disk about ⅛ inch thick
  • Place the roti on the preheated tawa and cook until tiny bubbles / air pockets appear on the top of the roti then flip and brush with oil. Once the roti the surfce is completely covered with oil, flip and brush the other side with oil. Then flip again and let cook for 15-20 seconds.
  • Fold the roti in half, then remove the roti from the heat and clap immediately to release the flaky layers and prevent your roti from getting stiff. Serve your roti with your favorite saucy side dishes.

Notes

  1. Making Guyanese roti the traditional way takes time and practice.  For best results, allow the dough to rest so that the gluten activates and the dough becomes stretchy. A stretchy dough is easy to work with and will result in a silky and flaky roti. 
  2. You can also use a combination of butter and oil between the layers of dough when making your lois/loyas. But do not use butter to cook your roti as it will burn and the roti will be crispy. You can use ghee to cook the roti if you like or just oil like I did here. 
  3. Don't let dough sit for more than 1 hour in the first stage or it will get dry and crusty. If you need to rest it for longer than 1 hours, please place the dough in the refrigerator. 
  4. You can substitute 2 cup of all purpose flour for 2 cups whole wheat flour in this recipe.
  5. Traditionally roti is cooked on a tawah. If you don't have a tawah a flat cast iron skillet or heavy bottom frying pan works really well. 

Nutrition

Calories: 537kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 224mg | Potassium: 94mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 70IU | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 4mg