Sri Lankan Coconut rotti(pol roti, flatbread).
coconut rotti, a rustic flatbread made up of flour, grated coconut with diced green chillies and onions for extra texture.
Since the roti is made with flour and coconut the recipe is also vegan and vegetarian.
You’ll come across Sri Lankan rotti as a street food/ tea-time snack at stationary carts or roadside restaurants.
They are served with a spicy lunumiris sandwiched between two rotties 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.
They have a rustic feel to it and makes a quick breakfast carb for big families and crowds.
Of all the flatbread recipes out there, you’ll find the Sri Lankan coconut roti is the easiest to make.
Once you’ve made them a few times, you can just eyeball the ingredients without the usual measurement and make them as you want.
And guess what?
It’s a stovetop flatbread.
I served the Coconut rotti with an extra milky Dhal curry and Lunumiris but you can serve practically anything, even hummus.
Just make sure to serve the pol rotti warm and fresh off the stove for the best results.
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.
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.
The rotti is adaptable for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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/ flatbread
recipes!
How to make Sri Lankan paratha.
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.
Sri Lankan pol roti.
(coconut 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.
Sri Lankan Coconut roti(pol roti, flatbread). 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. 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. 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. Form roti that is not too thin as well or else they will break. 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. Have you made this recipe? Please don’t forget to rate the recipe on the recipe card so other readers find it helpful and show me your recipe by tagging me #islandsmile178 on Instagram. Nutritional information on islandsmile is provided as a courtesy. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on the site. these figures should only be considered as estimates.Sri lankan pol roti(coconut roti, flatbread).
A rustic flatbread made up of flour, grated coconut with diced green chillies and Onions for extra texture.
vegan, vegetarian, Sri Lankan breakfast.Ingredients
Instructions
HOW TO MAKE THE ROTI DOUGH.
Apply Oil to your hands and transfer the oil to the dough.
On a lightly oiled surface, shape the dough into circles.
If this should happen dust a bit of flour to ease the removal of the roti.
Lightly oil the pan and place roti to cook.Nutrition Information:
Yield:
9
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 217Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 335mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 4gSugar: 6gProtein: 5g
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I add a little bit of butter to the dough too.
butter works too, more the better!
Hey, which kind of flour do you use?
Hi Maurius,
you can use regular bread flour to make the pol roti.