Ajwain roti
Preparation Time
15 minutes
Cooking Time
20 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Lunch
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Ajwain Seeds
About This Recipe
Ajwain roti is the everyday North Indian roti made with carom seeds, from homes that keep ajwain in a small jar for its sharp, pungent taste. It is a plain bread, simpler than the parathas and puris that also carry the seeds: atta, salt, water, a little ghee and one spoon of ajwain, rolled thin and cooked on a tawa.
In this recipe the seeds are kneaded into the dough rather than pressed onto the cooked roti. Kneaded in, they stay put through rolling and cooking instead of dropping onto the tawa to burn, and the whole roti carries the flavour, not just the surface. The salt goes into the dough with the seeds, so the roti carries both; this is the namak ajwain roti of home cooking, also called ajwain wali roti. The roti cooks entirely on the tawa: the first side 30 to 40 seconds, then the flip, pressed with a cloth so it puffs, with no open flame needed.
The result is a soft roti with brown spots and a warm, pungent bite from the seeds against the plain wheat. Leave the ajwain out for a plain phulka; whole khapli flour works in place of the sharbati atta. The dough should be soft but not sticky, which keeps the rotis easy to roll and soft after they cool.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Dough
- Whole wheat flour (atta), plus a little for dusting — 2 cups
- Ajwain Seeds — 1 tsp
- Salt — 1/2 tsp
- Warm water — 3/4 cup
For cooking
- Ghee — 1 tbsp
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Serving Suggestions
Serve hot with any dal, a dry or gravy sabzi, pickle and curd; the roti holds a spoonful of sabzi well. Each roti is rolled from 30 g of flour, so two rotis make a serving. Brush one with ghee and fold it around a sprinkle of jaggery powder for a sweet version. The ajwain laddu is the sweet way to use the same seeds, and the ajwain guide has more on the spice.
Tips for Cooking Ajwain roti
Add the water little by little and stop when the dough turns soft; too much water makes it stick to the board. Rest the dough for the full 15 minutes so it rolls thin without springing back. Keep the tawa hot on a medium flame, and lift each roti off as soon as the second side shows brown spots, or it stiffens as it cools. Brush on the ghee while the rotis are hot.
Chef’s Note
Ajwain is strong: one teaspoon seasons the whole batch, and more than that can turn the roti bitter rather than warm. Two rotis come to about 231 kcal, 6.6 g protein and 7.0 g fibre, nearly all the fibre from the whole-wheat flour. Leftover rotis keep for up to two days in the fridge, wrapped in a cloth, and reheat in 30 seconds on a hot tawa.
Per serving (approx.): 231 kcal, protein 6.6 g, carbs 39 g, fat 4.9 g, fibre 7 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Sep 05, 2026
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