How to make Instant Khakhras (Crispy Oven Baked Rotis)

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. right? Then what do you do when you have left over rotis? Simple, do what the Gujjus do – make Khakhras 🙂 And I have found a super easy way to make them too. Just spread the rotis with some butter / ghee and pop them in the oven for a few minutes and you have crispy Khakhras for your evening chai 🙂

When I was a kid growing up in Mumbai, we had a Gujarati  neighbor next door and I would frequently be seen in their house since that aunty’s kids were older and she loved having me around. I must have been around 9-10 years old and I used to be a non-stop chatter box 🙂 This aunty wanted to learn english and so she would ask me to recite my poems from school or tell her stories in english while she did her daily chores. One of the things I frequently saw her doing in the evenings was making khakhras with left over rotis from the previous day. She would stack them up together and then place the stack on a pan on low heat and press them using a towel adding ghee frequently. As the bottom roti would get crispy, she would remove it and continue with the rest of the stack. I loved watching her and of course eating those piping hot khakhras dripping with ghee:)

Fast forward to my kitchen – I never like to waste any food, period. And rotis, gosh never! They take an effort to make as it is. So I used to try and do my neighbor aunty’s method sometimes but that seemed too laborious! So one day I thought why not bake them in the oven?. Thus I started experimenting with various oven temps and finally figured out the best temperature and time to get the best khakhras. At least the best Khakhras from left over rotis:) Khakhras are in itself a big category in Gujarati cuisine and there are many varieties of khakhras that are made.  Will explore those later. For now, i am happy with my easy instant ones. Crunch. Yum Yum:)

“How to make instant Khakhras(Oven baked rotis)” time=”about 10 minutes” difficulty=”Easy”

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat rotis (recipe for rotis)

Ghee or butter to spread

Method:

Pre heat oven to 400 deg F (or 200 deg C).

Line a large baking tray with Al foil and liberally coat the foil with melted butter or ghee. Place cooked rotis in a single layer on the pan and do not overlap. Brush their tops with ghee/butter and place the tray in the oven on medium rack.

Bake at 400 Deg F (200 deg C) for about 4-5 minutes on each side. (Remove tray after 4 minutes to flip the rotis to other side and bake again for 4-5 minutes).

Serve hot with tea/chai!