How to make Sri Lankan paratha(godamba roti).

This roti recipe is going to be your guide on how to make paratha step-by-step.

This flaky stovetop roti is also known as godamba roti.

Once you’ve learned to make it at home, you’ll never go back to buying them.

These roti/Parathas(godamba roti) are one of the easiest dinner favourites among us Sri Lankans.

They are soft, foldable roti available at most roadside restaurants that sell hoppers, string hoppers and other Sri Lankan dinner favourites.

Roadside restaurants have delicious food but…..

Roadside restaurants for some reason serve the most delicious food, they tend to make the best rotis, hoppers and kottu.

The parathas are premade in large quantities to serve customers in various ways from preparing kottu to curried vegetables and meat buns to turning them into parathas.

Although I’ve found buying them from these restaurants easy and the best way to sort out dinner quickly(leftover meat and these rotis), I have always had reservations about buying them.

I find the person who’s handling the parathas to be quite, umm… how do I write it without sounding offensive, unhygienic.

Yet, once or twice a month, I make my way to these roadside shops to indulge my craving for these soft parathas(godamba roti).

Making your own “godamba rotis”

After a few trials and errors, I now make my own godamba roti at home.

 They turn out better and better every time I make them and yours will too, I promise.

I don’t toss or flip them as the roti maker does, I don’t use any special kitchen equipment to make them.

In fact, would you be surprised if I wrote, that I cooked these paratha roties on my favourite IKEA wok?

Just like I made the egg paratha rotis.

Yes, you read that right, by keeping the parathas slightly smaller in size, I make about 20-25 of these.

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Homemade paratha/godamba roti are the best

As I’ve mentioned earlier,

If you’ve never made these Sri Lankan parathas and always buy them on the way home after work then it’s high time you tried making them.

With a little prep work and planning, the godamba roti can be ready by dinner time.

And the best part is once you’ve made these rotis a few times, you can make the popular “kottu roti”any time you want at home.

It’s more hygienic and fresh than what you buy from restaurants.

What to serve with godamba/paratha roti

• Here are some vegetarian curries to pair with the roti.
  • chickpea and potato curry(chana aloo curry).
  • Sri Lankan spicy Dry Potato curry(ala theldala)
  • Sri Lankan Dhal curry(parippu, dal, daal).
  • How to make easy-pressure cooker dal tadka(Indian dhal fry).
  • Bombay potatoes(curried potatoes)
  • potato korma(aloo kurma).
  • easy button mushroom(canned) curry with gravy.
  • How to cook a Sri Lankan-vegetarian soya meat curry.

• Meat dishes to serve with paratha roti.
  • Minced beef curry(ground beef curry).
  • Slow-cooked beef curry(like my grandmother makes).
  • coconut curry beef stew with carrots and potatoes.
  • Sri Lankan Spicy Beef and Potato keema curry.
  • Chicken and Potato curry
  • Sri Lankan chicken curry.
  • Jack mackerel pepper fish curry(Sri Lankan).
  • Sri Lankan canned fish curry(tin fish).

Tips to make Sri Lankan roti parathas

•  While combining the flour to make the dough, make sure to pour the water gradually so that the dough doesn’t end up being too wet.

• The most important step in the making of these parathas is, submerging the dough balls in oil for a long period. 
• I have kept the balls of dough in oil for 3 hours to 6 hours. while both resting times work, I prefer to rest the dough for 6-7 hours. 
• The parathas turn out to be more pliant and soft just like the ones you buy. 

• Do not refrigerate the oil-submerged paratha balls, cover with a dish towel/ cling film and store them inside your microwave or oven.

• Once the dough balls have rested, they become easy to flatten into the thinnest parathas.
  

•  This should be your goal, don’t worry about any holes appearing, there would definitely be one or two at the end but these too can be avoided as you get better at making them. 

• rather than using your fingertips to make the parathas, use the flat palm of your hand.

• Use smoothing out movements to gradually flatten out the godamba roti.

• you can shape them any way you want as long as they are thin. 

• Don’t use any extra oil but a non-stick pan to cook the parathas. 

• Maintain low to medium heat, cooking time on each side would be a minute(I hesitate to give the exact times as your cooking time will vary depending on how much heat you are using but as a reference point, for me, it was 20-30 seconds on each side.

• It’s important you don’t expose the parathas to too much heat as this will result in dry parathas instead of soft ones. 

• this dough recipe is basic enough that you can increase the amount of flour and other ingredients as long as it’s not too wet or dry.     

FAQS: GODAMBA ROTI/PARATHA

• If I want to make these flat parathas roti for dinner, what time should I start making them?
  • Say you want to serve dinner at 7.30 pm.
  • You’ll want six hours(minimum) resting time for the dough balls in oil, I would suggest making the dough from 12.00-1.00 pm. 
  • As mentioned earlier if you make the godamba roti balls in the morning the soaking time will increase.

• Making parathas fora family of six.
  • If you are a family of six, depending on how many adults and kids, you will need to adjust the quantity of flour used.
  • As a reference point, I used 5 cups of flour to make just over 20 parathas. this may vary for you, depending on the size you make them.

Utensils and appliances needed 

• You will need two separate bowls to mix and submerge in oil. 

• a flat surface(I’m using a baking tray as seen in the image). 

• a non-stick wok to make the roti(preferably not a skillet or frying pan). If you do have a large enough flat surface griddle pan, then use it instead of the wok.

More flatbread/ paratha recipes

Sri Lankan egg paratha roti.

Sri Lankan coconut roti(pol roti).

Stove-top Naan bread.

Soft rotis/tortillas.

RECIPE DIFFICULTY-EASY

The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients to make godamba roti

Makes 8-10 medium-sized roti.

3 cups of flour

Salt to season

3 tablespoons of oil

1 cup water(you might need a little more)

Oil enough to cover the dough balls completely

How to make Sri Lankan parathas

How to make roti paratha dough

Add flour, salt, and oil to a large bowl.

Gradually pour water and combine ingredients to make a soft dough that is not too wet or dry. 5 minutes.

Once you’ve made godamba roti dough, continue kneading for another 12 minutes.

Divide the dough into equal-sized balls and set them aside.

These balls should be slightly bigger than golf balls.

How to soak the paratha dough in oil.

Pour 2 cups of oil into a separate flat-surfaced bowl and place the dough balls into them.

The idea is to completely submerge the dough balls in oil for several hours.

Turn them into disks, this way you can avoid adding more oil to the pan.

Try to keep the balls from touching each other if possible, you can avoid them sticking to each other.

Cover and rest the balls of dough for 7-8 hours. you can also rest the dough balls overnight. 

How to cook the godamba roti

Once the dough has been resting for a few hours.

Place a wok over low heat for a few minutes.

While the wok is heating over low heat, prepare a surface close to the stove to make the parathas so it’s easy to transfer them to the wok.

As mentioned earlier in the instructions above, on a flat surface(I’m using a sheet pan).

Flatten the dough first using your fingertips and then with the flat palm of your hand.

Smooth, stretch and flatten to shape them.

These don’t need to be perfect, they can even have tiny holes.

Use a smoothing-out movement to stretch the dough.

Once you have flattened the parathas, gently lift the paratha/godamba roti using both hands(similar to hanging garments on a clothesline)and place it on the heated wok.

Let the paratha cook for a few seconds(10-12).

Once the roti cooks and you can move them over the non-stick surface, using a wooden spatula start folding the roti while it cooks.

Continue to fold and unfold while it cooks for a few more seconds(try to keep the cooking under 60 seconds so the roti doesn’t turn out too dry).

Continue making the godamba roti until all the balls of dough are done.

Transfer any leftover oil to a container for later use.

Serve with any meat curries or try out the dinner ideas mentioned above.

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