Mandua Ki Roti (Finger Millet and Wheat Roti)
Prep 5 min · Cook 10 min · Serves 2
Make
Ingredients
- finger millet (mandua) flour — 1 cup (plus a little for dusting)
- wheat flour — 1/2 cup
- salt (to taste)
- water (as needed for kneading)
Method
- Combine both flours and the salt in a bowl.
- Add water gradually and knead to a stiff dough.
- Divide the dough into equal balls. Dust each one well with flour and roll it out into a thin round.
- Get a tawa hot, then cook each roti on one side, turn it over and cook the second side. Serve hot.
Tips
- General practice: mandua dough dries out quickly; keep the balls covered while you roll and cook the rest.
Fresh atta: grind small, use soon
- Millets keep for months as whole grain; flour is best ground as it is needed, because it turns rancid. (FAO, Sorghum and millets in human nutrition (1995))
- Bajra changes fastest: its grain stores for months, but its milled flour has a very short shelf life. (ICAR-IIMR scientists, Food Chemistry Advances (2023) (DOI 10.1016/j.focha.2023.100190))
- In an Indian study, untreated bajra flour stayed within the quality limit only about 2 days at room temperature. (ICAR-IARI, Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences (2016))
- Ragi flour keeps better than foxtail, barnyard or bajra flour (it carries less fat). (Planta (2024), review)
- Keep atta closed and cool: bajra flour kept best in polythene and worst in gunny sacks; grains should be dry and in airtight containers. (Chaudhary & Kapoor, J Sci Food Agric (1984); ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines (2024) (DOI 10.1002/jsfa.2740351113))
- Going off shows first as smell and taste — sour, musty or dusty, then bitter. (Lai & Varriano-Marston, Cereal Chemistry (1980))
So: buy the grain, grind a week’s worth at a time — less for bajra in summer.
Recipe from FSSAI, Shree Anna (Millets) Recipes, PDF p. 36 (printed p. 22), written in our own words.