Chiroti -South Indian 'Emperor' pastry

If Mysore Pak rules the hearts of Kannadigas, then Chiroti rules their weddings. I do not remember a wedding in my family that did not serve Chiroti. I have seen them in my parents' wedding album. (Obviously I was not invited to their wedding), It was there in my cousins' wedding, my wedding, my sister's the list goes on. Everything on the menu can change, you know 'Gobi Manchuri' taking the place of 'Pakoda','fried rice' instead of 'Bisibelebath'. But Chiroti has its place. Nothing says indulgence like Chiroti. So it has remained on the wedding menu for ages and looks like it will stay around for a while. While most of the meal in weddings is served on plantain leafs, mid meal extra steel plates are placed for Chirote or sometimes Pheni the noodle like cousin of Chiroti. So a lot of people who love either of these delicacies adjust their appetite or game plan after they see these plated being served at a distance. Boy demolishing an entire serving of chirote still remains a challenge to me and requires some degree of planning ahead.
The way it is served is also interesting. Chiroti in itself is just a pastry, it is not sweet but extremely rich. So once the  Chiroti is placed on a plate, powdered sugar is generously sprinkled followed by warm Badam milk. So people who like it crisp (like me) avoid the Badam milk. But those who love it softer, allow the Chiroti to sit in the warm milk for a few seconds.Even as I write these line, my mouth starts to water. I am craving for a wedding meal- the plantain leaf, the assorted nibbles on the top part of the leaf and the Chiroti in a steel plate next to the leaf- Ah! that is how I grew up, that is what my Sunny boy is missing.

I never took to these flaky pillowy buttery goodness as a kid. I simply hated the plate sized pastry staring at me mid-meals when my stomach is already loaded. As I grew older and my capacity increased and my tolerance for grease increased, I came to appreciate it better. It still remains an indulgence, something I can afford to have once in may be a year or two. I made these after a long research. Actually, Chiroti is flaky and tender, they are not crunchy/crisp at all. They are also super rich, so rich that every bite should leave a 'fatty' after taste, mostly 'shortening' or 'Dalda' ish taste. While making it, all I could think of was the person behind this delicacy. How could so much fat be incorporated in one single dish. Must have been Mughal or some Royal kitchen behind this dish. Only a royal kitchen could have afforded so much fat and only a king could have digested it in the by gone era.

So, let us be kings for a day and indulge in Chirotis. Only change is that the original recipe calls for shortening and I hate it. Worked out mine without the shortening. In fact substituting the shortening for the butter and ghee in the recipe makes it much easier to work with the dough and faster too.

We will need,

All purpose flour  1 cup
Butter 60 grams
Salt a pinch
Ghee 1 tbsp
Rice flour 2 tsp
Ice cold water a few tablespoons
Ghee / refined oil to deep fry (oh! yes more fat)

To serve
Sugar powdered
Cardamon
Milk
Badam Milk Mix

Method:

• Place the flour and salt in a food processor. Cut the cold  butter into small pieces and throw it into the food processor. Pulse till the mixture is crumby. 
• Add ice cold water by the tablespoon till the mixture comes together into a dough. 
• Remove the dough and wrap it in a piece of plastic and rest it in the refrigerator for an hour or two.
• Meantime, mix the ghee and the rice flour till pluffly and smooth paste like. It is called 'Saathi'
• Once the dough is well rested, divide the dough into 4-5 parts, using a rolling pin roll out each part like a roti. Smear the Saathi using a pastry brush and set the roti aside. Follow it with another roti and a layer of Saathi till all of the dough is used up.
• Now gently roll the stack of rotis a bit using a rolling pin and brush it with more Sathi. Start to roll the roti from the edge on one side and roll it into a cigar/log shape. Gently all the while.
• Cut the log/cigar of roti into two and then the twos into two and so on to end up with twelve pieces of dough. 
• Roll each of the piece of dough between your palms to give it a roundish shape. Place it on floured surface and roll it into 4-5" discs. 
• Deep fry these discs in hot ghee till they  fluff up and the color changes slightly. Flip them once.Cook  till the color changes and remove. Drain these on several layers of paper towels.
• Once the Chirotis are cool, serve it with a mixture of powdered sugar and cardamon and hot badam milk. Both on the side. That way everybody can decide how sweet they want their Chirotis to be.

Phew!! I need to hit the elliptical after this.