Dhal Puri, Chicken Curry, Channa Aloo Curry — Roti!

9 min readAug 17, 2020

In rural Nova Scotia, you don’t have many options for a traditional roti. I grew up with Trinidadian dhal puri (flatbread with a yellow split pea dhal mixture inside) with a uniquely spiced chicken curry with potatoes. I learnt a lot of my cooking from my mom and sister, but my mom made her own style of curry, which wasn’t the same as what I’d get from the roti shoppe.

For the first 2 months in COVID lockdown I have been dreaming about roti and how to make it, making dhal puri has always been the mystery. We would normally just go to the roti shoppe and bought a dozen shells and stuck them in the freezer. Upon researching, I found plenty sites revealing the mysteries of Trinidadian roti (links at bottom). For Father’s day, I could do no better than to put my studies into practise.

These recipes have been modified for local ingredients with a healthier leaning. Note this was a multi-day process for me to make both the dhal puri and curry. Typically you will want to make the dhal puri ahead of time and freeze it until you are ready to make the curry.

This recipe made about 20 large shells and 6 lbs of curry chicken and about 6 lbs of channa aloo.

Ingredients:

Dhal puri:

Flatbread (night before):

2⅓ cups each of Organic white, red fife, and spelt flour (7 cups total)
1 cup of sourdough starter
(probiotics to improve digestion)
3 tbsp nutritional yeast (powdered) for colour (and B12 vitamins)
1 tbsp turmeric for colour
2–3 cups of water

You may want to add these later so the rise is better, but I add my right away.

3 tbsp of baking powder
2 tbsp salt

Dhal Boiling (day of prep):

3 cups yellow split pea
9 cups water
1-2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp turmeric

Dhal Blending / Drying (day of prep):

3 tbsp Chimichurri sauce (in replacement for Trini “culantro green seasoning” sauce)
1 cup cilantro (half bunch)
1 Scotch bonnet pepper or 1 tbsp pepper sauce
8 clove garlic
1 tbsp ground cumin (geera)
Grapeseed oil

Chicken Curry:

Marinade (overnight prep):

6lbs free range chicken breasts, legs, or whole chicken
4 tbsp Chimichurri sauce (in replacement for Trini “culantro green seasoning” sauce)
1 tsp curry
½ tsp cumin (geera) powder
4 tbsp chives or green onion
3 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Stew (day of prep):

⅓ cup of grapeseed oil
1 tsp cumin (geera) seeds
1 large onion
4 clove garlic
2 tbsp pimento peppers
2 tbsp garam massala powder
2 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp cumin (geera) powder
4 tbsp curry powder
½ bunch / 1 cup cilantro (or 2 tbsp Culantro / Chadon beni if you have)
2 bay leaves
salt / pepper to taste

Channa Aloo (Chickpea and Potato) Curry:

Soak (overnight prep):

3 cups dry chickpeas
3 lbs of yellow potatoes

Stew (day of prep):
(exact same as Chicken Stewing, except has coconut oil / manna to finish)

⅓ cup of grapeseed oil
1 tsp cumin (geera) seeds
1 large onion
4 clove garlic
2 tbsp pimento peppers
4 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp cumin (geera) powder
2 tbsp garam massala powder
2 tbsp turmeric powder
½ bunch / 1 cup cilantro (or 2 tbsp Culantro / Chadon beni if you have
2 bay leaves
salt / pepper to taste
⅓ tbsp of coconut oil / manna (for finishing)

Recipe:

Dhal puri:

Flatbread (night before prep):
Since I used sourdough starter, I like to prep the night before (or 6 hrs earlier) to allow it to proof a bit. Just like making bread, flour, starter (and salt and baking soda option) and slowly add water until it becomes a mass. Fold and let sit for 30min, fold and let sit for 30min. Cover the bowl until morning.

If you didn’t add salt and baking soda previously, sift into the dough and keep folding. I fold and let sit for 30min. Next pull the mass and separate into ⅔ cup size balls, I weight them to 160g each, and set out on some flour, cover with damp towel or plastic wrap if desired.

Dhal Boiling (day of prep):
Yellow split pea cooks fairly quickly, so you don’t have to soak for long. Bring water to boil and add split pea, turmeric and salt. Boil for about 20–40 min, the peas should split when squeezed and be gritty. Careful not to boil too short (doesn’t break apart) or too long (smooth).

Dhal Blending / Drying (day of prep):
Rinse the peas out and add to a food processor, add the chimichurri sauce, cilantro, scotch bonnet pepper, garlic, cumin and a bit of grapeseed oil (not too much, we want it to be dry in the end, but we also want to distribute flavour). Blend it up evenly. Heat up a pan to medium and add the blended dhal and let it dry up a bit. Set it aside to cool.

Making Dhal Puri:
Lightly flour your surface and take a ball and flour it both sides, shape it into a small bowl. Bring it over the dhal bowl and stuff fill it generously with dhal in the centre, about 2 tbsp. Like making dumplings, pinch the edges and rotate until you pinched all the way around, and then you the space between your index finger and thumb to smooth up and round off all the edges. Flour another resting area and lightly flatten your ball. Repeat until there are no more flour balls left (you can eat the remaining dhal on its own or with rice, or add it do your curry if you like).

Next you want to get your pan ready (traditionally it is a tawa), I first time I used a large dutch oven and a cast iron fry pan, but the last time I used a cast iron 15" x 15" griddle which made much flatter and larger roti. (Extra instructions for griddle: put a corner on one large burner, rotate clockwise a corner every 3 min on low-medium heat until evenly heated, then rotate each roti once heated). Low-medium heat and lightly oil the pan for each roti, have an oil brush handy.

Going back to your first flattened ball, bring it to the floured surface and roll it out with a pin. Generously flour both sides as this will prevent tearing. You are trying to make it as flat as possible, yet no larger than your cook surface, and try not to break your roti (hard to make roti packages with “buss up shot”, to repair tears dust the tear with extra flour).

Once rolled out, it is ready to go in the pan. Some people use a flat wooden stick to flip, I wield 2 metal spatulas. Add the roti to the pan, and brush the top side of the roti with oil, you want the bottom to get some light brown spots, then flip and wait for brown spots on that side. Having a baking sheet ready, and fold it in half and then quarter for storage. Repeat until done.

Set to cool and I can slide about 5 folder roti into a large ziploc freezer bag. They can be heated / microwaved to unfreeze when ready to wrap your curry.

Chicken Curry:

Marinade (overnight prep):

Prepare your chicken, cube of breast meat, separate whole chicken, or chop dark meat for bone in (I prefer bone in as it has the most flavour). Put into a metal bowl or ziploc bag add chimichurri / green seasoning, curry, cumin, chives, salt, pepper and massage into chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Stew (day of prep):
In a dutch oven, set to medium-high heat, add oil and toast the geera seed until browned. Add sliced onion and diced garlic, diced pimento pepper and saute until a bit golden. Add the curry, cumin, turmeric, garam massala, stir in and brown. Add a cup of water and bay leaves, stir and reduce until your curry has become a wet paste.

Add the chicken and stir and coat all the chicken thoroughly with the curry paste. Cover pot and cook for less than 10 minutes, this will help release the natural water in the chicken. Uncover add salt, pepper and hot pepper if desired, add another cup of water and re-cover at medium heat to cook chicken through for an additional 10 minutes.

Uncover one last time, add chopped cilantro and stir in, allow most of the water to cook off to thicken the gravy.

Yum!

Channa Aloo (Chickpea and Potato) Curry:

Soak (overnight prep):
Soak chickpeas in bowl overnight (at least 8 hours) in refrigerator. Chickpeas in bowl should be covered with at least 2 inches of water over the top level of the chickpeas.

Cut potatoes into 8 pieces and add to bowl with cold water, and refrigerate overnight. Make sure all potatoes are fully covered by water.

Stew (day of prep):

Normally, chickpeas take about 45 min to cook properly, potatoes take about 20 min.

Wash the chickpea and add to pot and cover with double amount of water and bring to boil and slow roll for about 30min. Drain with sieve, and save the water, this is called aquafaba (chicken pea water), and can be used to a number of things (e.g. soup stock starter, egg replacer, dairy-free whipped cream).

In a dutch oven, set to medium-high heat, add oil and toast the geera seed until browned. Add sliced onion and diced garlic, diced pimento pepper and saute until a bit golden. Add the curry, cumin, turmeric, garam massala, stir in and brown. Add the chickpeas and bay leaves and enough water to cover by 2 inches. Simmer for about 25 min. Next add the potatoes, add more water until potatoes are covered, and then simmer until potatoes are soft. Continue to simmer until gravy is a nice consistency.

Yum!

Roti Wrap (day of prep):

Now that you have your dhal puri and curries, you can combine them. Take out a frozen dhalpuri, leave frozen and microwave for about 20 sec to melt the ice off. Unfold the dhal puri (I normally use a pasta bowl with lip), and fill the bowl portion with curries (I usually take equal portions of chicken curry and channa aloo). Add “slight pepper” which is usually a touch of Trinidadian bell pepper sauce (so good…).

Fold each side of the dhal puri into the centre to make a large square package. Carefully hold the flaps together and flip it so the flaps are down, this will allow the roti to steam and not dry out. Cover bowl with plate and place in microwave for about 3 minutes.

Remove and I sometimes will cut it in half or in quarters as this can be a very filling meal.