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Learn Bhatia cooking

Kitchen skill 7 of 15

Roasting on the tawa

Sekaru: roasting

Say it: say-kuh-roo · Hindi: sekna or bhunnana

Sekaru is roasting on a tawa (iron griddle) or straight over a flame. In Bhatia cooking, roasting isn’t done in a tandoor: breads, pappad and aubergines are roasted on the tawa or over the fire. Once it was done over charcoal, whose smoke gave the food a flavour of its own.

How to do it

  1. Heat the tawa on a medium flame until it is properly hot.
  2. Lay the rolled phulko on it and cook until small brown spots appear underneath, then turn it.
  3. When the second side has spots, lift it with a chimto (tongs) onto the open flame. It puffs up in seconds.
  4. Take it off as soon as it puffs, dab on a little ghee and fold it in four.
  5. Koki is the slow one: a low flame, turned 2–3 times with ghee at intervals, for 10–15 minutes until golden brown.

You’ll know it’s right when

  • Brown spots, not black ones.
  • The phulko balloons over the flame.

Watch out for

  • A tawa that isn’t hot enough makes phulko hard and leathery.
  • Leaving it over the flame after it puffs: it scorches.

Tips

  • For Vanghar jo Bharto, roasting the aubergines straight over the flame gives the smokiest flavour.

Practise it

On the path to learning Bhatia cooking.

PhulkoEveryday puffed whole-wheat flatbreadStage 1: The everyday mealVanghar jo BhartoSmoked aubergine mashStage 3: Dinner saagsTheplaThin spiced fenugreek flatbreadStage 4: Nashto and breadsKokiThick, slow-cooked ghee unleavened breadStage 4: Nashto and breads

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