Sri Lankan pol roti(Coconut roti, flatbread).

Pol roti is also known as coconut roti is a Sri Lankan roti recipe(a type of rustic flatbread) that is made up of flour, grated coconut with diced green chilies and onions for extra texture.

This Sri Lankan roti is made with flour and coconut which also means it is a vegan, vegetarian roti recipe.

You’ll come across Sri Lankan roti as a street food/ tea-time snack at stationary carts or roadside restaurants.

They are served with a spicy lunumiris sandwiched between two roties with a curry, making it a very easy breakfast on the go.

At home, the ease of mixing the dough coconut and flour roti makes it an easy option for breakfast and dinner. 

And guess what?

It’s a stovetop flatbread.

I served the Coconut roti with an extra milky Dhal curry and Lunumiris but you can serve practically anything, even hummus.

Just make sure to serve the pol roti warm and fresh off the stove for the best results.

Shaping the coconut roti(pol roti).

I know a few ladies in my family who never need a flat surface to shape the dough into perfect circles.

They make it look easy as they shape and mold the doughs into perfect disks.

Except for me of course,

If you’ve been following and reading the blog you might have read about my problem with shaping any type of dough into circles.

You’ve heard about people being color blind, well let me introduce to shape blind me.

Perfectly rounded disks are beyond me.

I got these done thanks to a lid I used to cut the circles off if not, these will actually be squares.

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What can you serve with Pol roti?

For adults – you can serve it with a Dhal or Potato curry and Lunumiris with a good spicy chicken curry, even leftover meat curries would do.

For kids– they love it with palm sugar treacle or honey.

My youngest loves to dab pieces of roti with butter and Sugar just like I did at her age and still do.

Kitchen appliances and utensils needed.
A large bowl to knead the dough.
Flat surface or board to shape the roti.
A flat frying pan or tawa to make the roti.

More roti recipes!

Tuna filling stuffed Sri Lankan coconut roti.

How to make Sri Lankan paratha

Egg roti paratha.

Soft rotis/tortillas.

Stove-top naan bread.

Storing– once you’ve made them store in an airtight container and refrigerate. use within 3 days.

Freezing- do not freeze them raw.

Instead, semi-cook them over the stovetop for 3 minutes on both-sides and freeze them in an airtight container.

Use within a week. But these are so easy to make I would really recommend making them fresh unless of course, you are short of time during the week.

Reheating- remove from the freezer, let it reach room temperature and gradually reheat them over stovetop, over very low heat or use the microwave to reheat them.

Stop food waste by– great for breakfast, dinner, I’ve never had a time where they went in waste as there’s always someone at home who eats them even with a good slathering of jam and butter.

Another option of using leftover will be to make a pol roti kottu like following my bread kottu recipe.

How to make Sri Lankan coconut roti(pol roti)

Please make sure to read the recipe instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.

Ingredients

Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

Serving size- Makes 9 small rotis that are 5 inches in diameter.

2 cups of flour

1 tsp of salt or as per needed

1 cup grated Coconut

1-2 Onion sliced
1-2 Green chillies finely sliced (optional)

1 teaspoon of red chilli flecks(optional)

1/2 cup of water

oil as needed

Method

How to make the roti dough.

Sift flour(2 cups) with salt.

Add the grated coconut(1 cup), onions(1-2 medium) and finely sliced green chillies(1-2) or red chilli flecks(1 tsp).

One thing to keep in mind is the taste and texture of the coconut roti will change depending on how much scraped coconut to flour you add.

The more scraped coconut you add(maybe 1/2 cup more)the milkier and softer the pol roti turns out.

At the same time too much scraped coconut and you will find it difficult to flatten them so make sure you balance the ratio of flour and scraped coconut to make the coconut roti. 

Incorporate the ingredients into the flour thoroughly while mixing, season with salt if necessary.

Gradually add water to form a sticky dough.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Continue kneading and form a soft dough that leaves the side of the bowl. this should take less than 5 minutes.

If you add too much water the dough will still be sticky even after kneading for a few minutes.

If this should happen sprinkle flour over the dough and knead until you get the dough that is smooth and doesn’t stick to the edges of the bowl or in your hands.

Apply oil to your hands and transfer the oil to the dough.

Separate the dough into 8-10 balls.

On a lightly oiled surface, shape the dough into circles.

Yes, yes, I know my roti shape is a bit wonky, as I mentioned, me and perfectly round shapes never happen.

Let’s proceed, shall we?

Too much oil on the surface of the roti while you shape them and you might not be able to remove it from the flat surface and onto the Tawa(flat pan) without breaking it in two.

If this should happen dust a bit of flour to ease the removal of the roti.

Form roti that is not too thin as well or else they will break.

For an efficient way to form the roti while cooking them, on your second roti, place a flat skillet or pan over medium heat.

Lightly oil the pan and place roti to cook.

While keeping an eye on the skillet you can form the other Rotties.

Cook one side of the roti, 2-3 minutes and flip over to cook the other side.

Once all the roti has been cooked, serve with your favorite curry.

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