Hey I found a lot of friends this week fighting the blues, wonder what it was that everyone had the blues bug at the same time?! Anyways, to drive my blues away, I visited the National Handicraft fair in the city recently & it sure lifted my spirits! What a fabulous collection of Indian handicrafts, both personal attire as well as home décor. As always, ended up spending much more than planned, but was worth every penny, especially when you are supporting super talented artisans who have come from all corners of the country to display their awesome handmade wares.
The reason to stray slightly off the food topic today is that I got myself this pretty hand-glazed ceramic oil dispenser at a throwaway price & was mighty pleased about it-would be ideal for so many reasons in my kitchen & for my food blog. So do take a look at it in the picture here & tell me if you like it too!
Anyway, getting back to the blues this week, I thought my family would feel better with some exciting food being a Friday night & decided on street fare which as always, beautifully fits into this ‘exciting’ category in my home. I’m completely a Mumbai girl with street food in the centre of my heart you see, if you haven’t guessed that already!
Kheema Baida Roti is this dream-come-true crispy flaky golden parcel of Indian flatbread or roti stuffed with heavenly juicy lamb mince & egg, perfectly cooked with Indian spices & flavoursome mint-coriander leaves until it lets off an irresistible aroma! Didn’t you just hear it say, pick-me-up?!
To the uninitiated, Baida is the common word for egg in Mumbai & hence this unique name for a Roti that’s stuffed with this egg-mince filling. You can also envelope the parcel in some golden egg batter from outside, if you wish. Remarkably popular street-fare during the Ramadan fast season when you see hordes of little carts & shanties selling these fire hot, crispy pockets of egg & beef /lamb stuffing in the evening & night markets outside mosques.
While there are differing opinions about its origins, some say this is a Mughlai recipe, others say its Burmese, I am proud to say that for me, it originated in the bylanes of Colaba, South Mumbai just behind the Taj Mahal Hotel.
Bade Miyan, a famous only-evening street side restaurant, really well known since forever, for its authentic kababs, roomali rotis, kabab kathi rolls, Bhuna Mutton & Bheja Fry amongst others. You only had to drive past & the entire street had divine aromas wafting through, of a variety of marinated meats being authentically slow cooked over coals in a hot tandoor (clay oven).
Guess I can really get carried away talking about food & forget to stop, unless I make a conscious effort to do so!!! Better get going cause It’s dinner time for me folks. Ciao for now!
Recipe for Sizzling Baida Roti Mumbaiya Style
Ingredients
For the filling
- 500gms lamb / chicken mince (Veggies can replace with soya granules)
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- ¼ teaspoon dry mango powder / amchur powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder / dhania powder
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup mint & coriander leaves, chopped
- Salt to taste
- 3 tablespoons oil
For the Dough
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour / maida
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Water as required to form a soft pliable dough
Procedure
For the dough:
- Make a well with the flour, add salt, oil and knead with water as required to form a soft pliable dough. Cover with a thin muslin cloth & let it rest for 15-20 minutes. In the meanwhile, make your filling.
To make the filling:
- Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Add bay leaf & stir. Add onion, green chillies, ginger-garlic paste & cook until the raw smell goes away.
- Add tomatoes, coriander powder, pepper powder, red chilli powder, amchur powder, garam masala & 2 tbsp water. Stir well to combine & cook for 2 minutes on medium heat.
- Add chicken mince, salt and mix well.
- Cook till the mince is done.
- Add mint-coriander leaves & mix well. Remove from heat. Allow to cool.
To make the rotis:
- Divide equal portions of the dough & apply some oil on the work surface.
- Take one ball of dough, pat to flatten & roll it really thin to form a long oblong shape. (See video)
- Break an egg in a small bowl & beat lightly. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of the cooked mince, and mix into the egg.
- Pour this egg-mince mixture into the centre of the rolled roti and fold over equally from all 4 sides to form a neat square parcel /envelope.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, place the parcel on it & cook on medium heat until golden brown then flip and cook on the other side.
- Repeat till the sides are also cooked through and you get a gorgeous crusty, golden brown parcel stuffed with fragrant juicy kheema.
- Serve with onion rings, fresh lemon wedges & mint chutney or tomato ketchup.
Making of Sizzling Baida Roti Mumbaiya Style
The Culinary Konnoisseur 
This is fantastic and rich. Oil dispenser is the ceramic one?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes thank you! Thats right, just bought it!
LikeLike
This is great! Got to make it one of these days, Amrita. I began slurping just watching the video!!
BTW, your oil dispenser is really cool. I hardly see that kind of ceramic ware these days. My mother and grandmother both had one with a wide opening and used it to keep cooking salt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad you liked it too, thank you! Yes my grandmom used this kind of ceramicware to store the annual homemade pickle! Do let me know if you like the baida roti when you get to make it! Cheers for a fab weekend !
LikeLike
Actually, have not tasted this in Mumbai. So will try it in my kitchen before too long.
LikeLiked by 1 person