How to make food author Naqiyah Mayat’s delicious mielie meal roti at home

Naqiyah Mayat has spiced up the narrative of modern Indian cooking with the release of her debut cookbook The Beginning: Indian Recipes from my Home. What started as a passion for sharing her home-cooked meals and fierce fashion on Instagram has evolved into so much more with the multi-hyphenate mother-of-four welcoming us into her home for a taste of her unique take on the celebrated cuisine with the book.

Below, a recipe extract from The Beginning: Indian Recipes from my Home:

MIELIE MEAL ROTI

This recipe yields a super soft roti once toasted which has floury smell and texture. It is thinner than the traditional roti and best suited to eating with gravy curries like fish curry, yam or madumbi curry, banana curry or even on its own (as I prefer, with a cup of tea).

* Mayat recommends practising roti-making at least three times before advancing to mielie meal roti.

Serves: 15

Prep time: 15 MINUTES

Cook time: 30 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS:

2½ cups water

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp fine salt

2 cups creamy maize meal

¼ cup water

1 cup flour

METHOD:

1. In a thick-base pot, add the 2½ cups of water, oil and salt.
2. When the water starts boiling rapidly, add 2 cups of creamy maize meal. Stir well.
3. Now add the ¼ cup of water, cover and leave to cook for 5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat. The steam will cook the maize meal.
5. Empty into a dish. Add a full cup of cake flour.
6. At this stage, you can use your food processor or hand-held beater with a dough hook to make the dough.
7. If you prefer using your hands to bring the dough together, break the dough into pieces and bring it together again into one ball and knead thoroughly until you get a smooth, velvety dough.
8. Break into 15 equal-sized balls.
9. Manipulate each ball into a disc and roll it flat until it is slightly bigger than a side plate.
10. Toast on a griddle on medium heat, turning once. You can add butter or ghee to toast.

TIP: Ratio is 2 cups mielie meal to 1 cup cake flour, ie if you use 4 cups of mielie meal, then use 2 cups of cake flour.