Khasta Roti

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Khasta roti recipe with step by step photos. Khasta Roti is a leavened crisp and flaky bread made from whole wheat flour (atta), ghee and cumin seeds. It can be a nice change from your regular chapattis, rotis or even phulkas, when paired with dals, curries and sabzis. The methodology is more or less similar to that of rolling out a chapatti, it’s the composition of the dough that makes it ‘khasta’ or flaky, crispy as compared to the softness of a usual chapatti. Absolutely worth a try!

khasta roti served on a black plate with a bowl of vegetable dish kept on the top left side and text layover.

Khasta roti is one of the flatbreads from the Indian cuisine which is not very popular unlike Tandoori roti, Roomali roti and Naan.

The word ‘khasta’ means ‘flaky and crisp’. So the texture of these flat breads are crisp and flaky. Its not that they are crisp like papads. The crispness in the rotis is accompanied by softness too. Also the flakiness is not like the flakiness in a Kachori or Samosa. But some flakiness is there.

I have been making khasta roti for years now. The recipe comes from my home science notes and that’s where I learnt that such a roti existed. The original recipe uses eggs and milk. I skip both when making these rotis.

When I make some nice North Indian paneer or veggie or mushroom dishes, then occasionally I make these rotis. Though most of the time I end up making our regular homely Roti or chapati.

So if you want to enjoy having crisp rotis, then do give khasta roti a try. They do taste good when accompanied with a North Indian gravy or curry like paneer butter masala or palak paneer or chana masala.

Also goes well with lentils based dishes like rajma masala, dal makhani, dal tadka or dal fry.

This recipe can be easily scaled as per your requirements.

Step-by-Step Guide

How to make Khasta Roti

1. In a bowl take 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon slightly crushed cumin seeds, ½ teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt.

whole wheat flour, crushed cumin seeds, baking powder and salt added to a bowl.

2. Mix very well with a spoon or with your hands.

ingredients mixed well.

3. Now add 3 tablespoons of ghee.

ghee added

4. Rub the ghee in the flour till you get a breadcrumb like texture in the flour.

ghee rubbed in the flour mixture to get a breadcrumb texture in it.

5. When you press a portion of the flour mixture, it should hold itself and not break or fall down.

testing the consistency of the flour mixture.

6. Now add water in parts and knead. First add ¼ cup water.

first part of water added in the flour mixture.

7. Mix and begin to knead.

begin to knead

8. Add more water as required and knead to a semi soft dough. Not tight/firm and soft. I overall used ½ cup water for kneading.

Add water as required while kneading. Do note that if you end up making a soft dough, the crisp and flaky texture won’t be there. 

Cover the bowl with a lid and allow the dough to rest for 15 or 20 minutes.

dough for khasta roti

Rolling Khasta Roti

9. Later divide the dough in equal medium sized balls. Cover the bowl with the lid, when you are rolling and roasting the khasta roti.

dough balls

10. Place the dough on rolling board. No need to sprinkle any flour while rolling.

khasta roti dough ball

11. Roll to a regular chapati size, about 8 to 9 inches in diameter.

rolled khasta roti

Cooking Khasta Roti

12. Heat a tawa and keep the heat to high. Let the tawa become hot. Then place the khasta roti on it.

cooking khasta roti on hot tawa

13. When you see bubbles appearing then flip it using a spatula.

flipped khasta roti on tawa

14. This first side of the roti has to be ¼ cooked.

cooking khasta roti on tawa

15. When the second side is half cooked and you see golden spots, flip again.

cooking khasta roti on tawa

16. Press the edges of khasta roti with the spatula so that they get roasted well and become crisp.

cooking khasta roti on tawa

17. Flip again and press the edges with a spatula. Ensure that the edges are also cooked.

cooking khasta roti on tawa

18. Roast till you see golden or lightly charred spots on the khasta roti.

cooking khasta roti on tawa

19. Place them in a roti basket or casserole or a plate. Spread some ghee on top. You can serve the rotis hot or stack them up and then serve later. Once you are done making all the rotis.

applying ghee on khasta roti

20. Serve khasta roti hot with any North Indian paneer curry like kadai paneer, paneer lababdar, paneer makhani or veggie gravy/curry dish.

It also goes very well with rajma recipe, dal makhani, dal fry and dal tadka.

khasta roti

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khasta roti recipe

Khasta Roti

Khasta roti is leavened crisp and flaky flat breads made from whole wheat flour, cumin and ghee.
5 from 3 votes
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Cuisine North Indian
Course Main Course
Diet Vegetarian
Difficulty Level Moderate
Servings 3 to 4
Units

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour or 240 grams whole wheat flour
  • 3 tablespoons Ghee
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds – slightly crushed
  • ½ cup water or add as required
  • ghee as required to spread on roti

Instructions
 

making dough for khasta roti

  • In a bowl take 2 cups whole wheat flour/atta, 1 teaspoon slightly crushed cumin seeds, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  • Mix very well with a spoon or with your hands.
  • Now add 3 tablespoons ghee.
  • Rub the ghee in the flour till you get a breadcrumb like texture in the flour.
  • When you press a portion of the flour mixture, it should hold itself and not break or fall down.
  • Now add water in parts and knead. First add 1/4 cup water. Begin to knead.
  • Add more water as required and knead to a semi soft dough. Not tight/firm and not soft. I overall used 1/2 cup water for kneading. 
  • Add water as required while kneading. Do note that if you end up making a soft dough, the crisp and flaky texture won’t be there. Cover and allow the dough to rest for 15 or 20 minutes.
  • Then divide the dough in equal medium sized balls. Cover and keep, when rolling and roasting rotis.

making khasta roti

  • Place the dough on rolling board.
  • Roll to a regular chapati size, about 8 to 9 inches in diameter.
  • Heat a tawa and keep the flame to a high. Let the tawa become hot. Then place the roti on it.
  • When you see bubbles appearing then flip it.
  • The roti has to be 1/4 cooked.
  • When the second side is half cooked and you see golden spots, flip again.
  • Press the edges with the spatula so that they get roasted well and become crisp.
  • Flip again and press the edges of khasta roti with a spatula.
  • Roast till you see golden or lightly charred spots on the khasta roti.
  • Place them in a roti basket or casserole or a plate. Spread some ghee on top. 
  • You can serve the rotis hot or stack them up and then serve later, once you are done making all the rotis.
  • Serve khasta roti with any north indian paneer, mushroom or veggie gravy/curry dish. It also goes very well with rajma masala, dal makhani and dal tadka.

Notes

  • This recipe can be doubled or tripled.
  • You can use a stand mixer for mixing and kneading dough.

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This Khasta Roti post from the archives first published in September 2013 has been republished and updated on December 2022.

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Meet Dassana

Welcome to Dassana's Veg Recipes. I share vegetarian recipes from India & around the World. Having been cooking for decades and with a professional background in cooking & baking, I help you to make your cooking journey easier with my tried and tested recipes showcased with step by step photos & plenty of tips & suggestions.

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8 Comments

  1. Hi Dassana,
    Made this today along with your recipe for palak chole.Was delicious as usual.Love all your recipes and follow them with few changes as i really don’t have all the ingredients required.Still all of them turn out great.
    Thanks a ton.5 stars

    1. Welcome Shernaz. Glad to know this. Thanks for sharing positive feedback on recipes.

    1. you can use coconut oil. you can also use regular cooking oil like sunflower oil. with coconut oil there will be the taste and aroma of coconut in the rotis.

      1. hi dassana,… finally my comments are showing … i had written so many comments which did not show … i have tried a quite a few recipes … will surely give my comments again… thanks for replying…
        rgds n tk care..
        marina5 stars

        1. welcome marina, we are sorry you had to face this problem. your comments was lying in our spam folder. surely share your views, we look forward to reply you. thanks so much.