The online food and cooking world has given many fusion dishes to us that sometimes look questionable and often have a foreign name that makes the dish lose its real identity.
Something similar happened recently on the internet when a vlog called Cookist shared a recipe for so-called “balloon bread”.
The video shared by Cookist reminded many of roti.
A Twitter user, shared the screengrab of Cookist’s Facebook post which described the food as, “Balloon bread: the perfect alternative to usual bread.”
Describing the process of making the balloon bread, the Facebook post read, “Just mix flour, warm water, warm milk, oil, and dry yeast. The result will leave you speechless.”
Excuse me WHAT?😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/eT743jdXbM
— mocha mochi (@MochiMeringue) October 3, 2021
The post has collected a huge number of comments, many of which are calling out the handle for naming the dish as such, and some suggested ways to improve the recipe.
“It’s just a normal roti!” says one comment on the post.
“The name balloon bread is hilarious,” says an individual.
“In Trinidad, we call this Sada Roti,” comments another. “Roti? Balloon bread? For me this looks like Mexican tortillas,” reacts a fourth user.
What is roti?
Roti is a flat bread that is native to the Indian subcontinent. One of the great contributions to world cuisine from the subcontinent, it is popular around the world and has become a staple in many countries, thanks to it being simple to make and using easily accessible ingredients. It is a simple dough that is rolled out into a circle and cooked on a hot grill.
Roti can be stuffed with potatoes or lentils before it's cooked, used as a wrap, or simply served on the side of a plate of curry or dhal to help soak up all of the delicious sauce.
It can be served as a side with a curry or as a main, like a tortilla wrap, rolled with a filling, or stuffed with potatoes or lentils.
Below is how the vlog made the balloon bread. Do you also think the recipe should be renamed to roti?
Ingredients
70ml water
5g yeast
Salt
140g flour
Method
Make the dough by combining water, yeast, and salt.
Gradually add the flour.
Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Cut into pieces.
Roll out each piece into a pita bread shape.
Continue to flatten the disk until it becomes very thin, then cook for two minutes.