Recipe: Farali Rotli/Gluten Free Roti
Farali Rotli/Gluten Free Roti is unbelievably soft and easy to roll. Perfect for fasting days like Ekadashi, Ram Navmi, Shivratri or Navratri. Or include it in your daily diet especially if you cannot consume any gluten products.
Why Farali Rotli For Fasting Days?
Mainly because for Ekadashi, Ram Navmi, Shivratri and Navratri Fasting the Gujarati community does not include any cereal, grains, beans, onions, garlic, etc in their diet or cooking. Many communities have their own regulations or rules that they follow. Which means some of them include cereals, grains, beans etc but no garlic and onion. Definitely meat or fish are not included during these auspicious days.
Instead we can use amaranth, barnyard millet, buckwheat, tapioca pearls,water chestnut, quinoa,etc. The flours of the products mentioned are very useful to make different dishes for fasting.
Usually when my family and I fast, I think we land up eating more than normal. I always find that the food we prepare for fasting is so much tastier even though we don’t use many spices. Most of what we prepare during fasting is full of carbohydrates.
To give the menu a change, I sometimes prepare farali rotli instead of samo khichdi or sabudana khichdi.
What is Farali Flour?
Farali flour usually is a mixture of barnyard millet(samo), tapioca pearl(sabudana) and amaranth flours (rajgira). In some brands you may find buckwheat and water chestnut flours are added. The proportions used will vary from brand to brand. Luckily, back in Kenya I would get farali atta from either the ISKCON or Swaminarayan temple. However, being in Canada is a different story. I did get farali atta once but found that it contained too much sabudana flour, making the rotlis a bit too starchy. Therefore, I try and make the flour at home. It is pretty simple.
The Proportions For Making Farali Flour At Home
- 2 cups of barnyard millet (samo, moriyo, sama chawal)
- ¼ cup of tapioca pearls flour (sabudana)
- ½ cup of amaranth flour (rajgira, rama dana)
- ½ cup of water chestnut or buckwheat flour ( singhada or kuttu atta)
This is just a rough estimate. If I get kuttu atta then I add that too along with the singhada atta. You can play around with the proportions to come with farali flour that you like.
As you’ve noticed all the ingredients used in the flour are gluten free. This makes it a perfect flour for those who suffer from celiac disease. Their digestive system cannot handle gluten products.
What Else Can I Make With Farali Flour
Use it to make Farali Paratha. Just make sure you make a slightly stiff dough. Or how about some Farali Thepla? Farali Thalipeeth with farali flour is so easy to put together. Make pancakes, uttapams with the flour. Can also use it to make Farali Puris.
Farali Rotli/Gluten Free Roti Dough
If you add water and make the dough using farali flour, you will not be able to roll it out easily. As it is gluten free, there is no gluten structure to hold the dough together. Therefore, to allow the dough to be more pliable and easy to roll or handle I add boiled and mashed potato. It works wonders. Makes the rotli soft and pliable. If you don’t want to use mashed potato then use boiled and mashed plantain sweet potato.
Sharing Farali Rotli/Gluten Free Roti Recipe With Foodies_Redoing Old Posts
This recipe was first posted on 04/03/2016. Though between then and now I was able to update this post with only one better photo, the structure of the post was okay. It really needed some attention. Finally, thanks to Renu’s initiation of this group, I finally got down to redoing the whole post. Better photos and write up. Posted the newer version on 09/10/2026.
Ingredients Required For Farali Rotli/Gluten Free Roti Dough
Farali Flour
Homemade or ready made. We will be using 1 cup for the dough and some extra for dusting and rolling the rotli.
Water
Normal warm water. Usually I need ¼ cup or a little less. It all depends on how much water is absorbed by the flour. The dough should be soft and pliable and not hard. Don’t make it sticky soft.Remember because of the potato you will need less water. Add little at a time. If the dough becomes too soft you may need to add more flour.
Oil
I like to add a little oil to the dough. Sometimes you may need oil to rub all over the dough to make it less sticky. Do not use corn, mustard, oil as that is not suitable for fasting days. I use sunflower or peanut oil. Sometimes I add a bit of ghee.
Potato
Boiled, peeled and mashed or grated. We need about ½ cup. Make sure the mashed or grated potato is not hot or warm.
Salt
Adding salt is optional. I don’t add any. If you do you must use sendha namak or rock salt.
Ghee
Clarified butter, we will use some to smear on the cooked rotlis. Tastes superb. Can omit if you want to.
FARALI ROTLI/GLUTEN FREE ROTIS
Ingredients
- 1 cup farali flour
- ½ cup mashed potato
- 1 tsp oil
- ¼ cup water
- extra farali flour for dusting
- 4-6 tsp ghee optional
Instructions
- Put the flour in a bowl.
- Add mashed potato and oil and mix it into the flour.
- Add salt also if you are using any.
- Add water gradually and make a soft pliable dough.
- Cover the dough and let it rest at least for 30 minutes.
- Heat tawa or frying pan over medium low heat.
- Divide the dough into 10 parts.
- Take one part of the dough. Roll it into a ball.
- Coat it lightly with the extra flour.
- Place on the rolling board or worktop and roll into a circle of 5-6 inch diameter.
- In between if the dough sticks, just dust it with more flour.
- Put the rolled roti on the tawa.
- Roast it till bubbles appear.
- Turn it over and roast for 20 -30 seconds.
- Can let it puff up over naked flame if you like.
- Repeat steps 7 to 14 with the remaining dough.
- You can smear a bit of ghee over the rotis before serving.
Notes
- Use normal tap water. The amount required will depend on how much water is absorbed by the flour.
- Can add a bit of salt to the flour if you like.
- Add ghee instead of oil.
- Make sure the mashed potato is cold before you add it to the flour.
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