The Jerk Chicken Roti-rific Extravaganza!

So Thursday night, after a long day of working at school (see last post...) I had a much needed study break at Ves' house and we made some fantastic food for the department potluck Friday...although I think Ves estimated that only about one 10th of the food we made actually made it to school the next day.

I have only attempted to make roti a few times since I came back from Guyana. My "recipe" consists of very rushed hand writen notes which attempted to describe as much of the process as possible, when I watched Donna, our Guyanese roti instructor, do her thing. So last night we set out to document the whole process for future roti making endeavours...although I can tell you right now, it'll be awhile before I attempt THAT again.

Start time: 8:40pm.

Main ingredient: flour


Combine flour and baking powder...




...add water. Knead. (yes, your face will look like that. It's hard work!)


Roll into palm sized balls


For each ball do the following:

Roll it out flat...


VERY flat!


Cover with a thin layer of oil


Cut a slice from the centre to the edge


Keeping the centre still, roll up the outside edge all the way around making the dough into a cone shape


(it should look like this when you're done)


Gather the ends of the cone and shove it into the centre of the cone and do the same for the pointy part of the cone


Place aside and go to the next ball until all are done


Starting with the first ball you oiled and rolled, roll it out flat again


Carry carefully to a hot pan


Lay it on the pan


Flip often to avoid getting burnt brown spots...


...add oil as necessary to avoid drying out


Fold, remove from pan...


... place in a covered pot...


...and shake it!


shake shake it - yeah - shake it like a ... (sing as necessary)


And voila!


End time: 12:30 am.


The evening ended with a feast and some modified pong playing. I also found out Ves' roommate worked at the Cancer Centre in Waterloo right after I did! What a small world.