I am writing a special blog on Ottis, it being my favourite accompaniment in Coorg Cuisine. Akki Ottis are Rotis made with cooked rice and rice flour. We Kodavas, usually eat a wholesome breakfast, which includes accompaniments like Puttus, Bread, Vermicelli Upma, Dosas, Idlis, Rotis or Parotta. While I am not a big fan of Dosas, Upma or Idlis for breakfast, I am always down for unlimited Ottis! Which I team with Honey or Bamboo Curry.
Ottis can be eaten for any meal, and tastes amazing with Ehll Pajji (sesame seed chutney). Another popular Coorg breakfast combination.
While Ottis remain versatile, making it involves some patience and effort, especially for first timers.
Method for Making Akki Ottis (Rice Roti/ Rice Flat Bread)
Ottis are made with a mix of Cooked rice or even left-over rice and rice flour.
3 cups of rice: 1 cup of rice flour
The two are mixed (using a mixi) or kneaded in to a firm, soft dough.
Add more or less of either ingredients to get the right texture. Since the Ottis are made with rice flour and cooked rice, the combination cannot be wet, or gooey. Therefore add no additional water.
The dough, you will find to be rough on the outside (because of the poddi), but once broken, softer on the inside (because of the cooked rice. Divide them into medium sized balls (6-8 for the qty given above) to roll out, just as you would do with Rotis/ Chappatis/ Flat breads.
When you use the rolling pin, with each roll, you will notice that the Ottis sometime tend to give way/ break apart, and are not bound as well together as a Flour/ Wheat dough.
To solve this, keep sprinkling rice powder before each roll. Keep a bowl of water next to you, wet your finger tips and use your fingers to mend the edges of the rolled Otti. By joining them together inch by inch.
While making Ottis is a tedious and time consuming method, the results are rewarding. The method described above is the traditional way of making Ottis, however we now have mechanized rolling tools (such as the "Otti Press") to make the job easier.
Ottis unlike other Indian breads, need to be made and immediately heated (cooked) on a flat pan, only as an when you are ready to it them. You can save the rolled out Ottis in an air tight container as well, however it's best to use them within 2 days and not more. Ottis tend to get spoiled soon, and will form red spots on heating as a sign of expiry!
I have watched elders in my family, making Ottis without any tools, rolling them out without a rolling pin either. But they all made sure we kids ate to our stomach's content. I am listing some of my favourites with Akki Otti that we ate growing up:
Otti & Jam
Otti & Home made butter & Coorg Honey
Otti & Pandhi Curry (Coorg Pork Curry)
Otti & Koile Meen Curry (Coorg Tiny Field Fish Curry-only available in the monsoon)
Otti & Baimble Curry (Coorg Bamboo Curry)
Otti & Ehll Pajji (Coorg Sesame Chutney)
Otti & Egg Fry
Otti & Chekke Curry (Coorg Jackfruit Curry)
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