Week two:
In the land of the rotis, far far away, women (primarily but not exclusively) roll out hundreds of thousands of dough everyday. Why? Because Indians like balance in their diet and the roti provides a good source of grain, they are easy to digest, and are considered "nutritious." When eating langar, people traditionally rip the roti and form a spoon shape to scoop up daal or other sauce-based dishes. I must admit that I feel cool when I do this because I feel like it shows I slightly kind of sort of maybe a little bit understand what I'm doing. I even get the "girl-knows-how-to-make-a-spoon-out-of-a-roti" head nod every now and again. Yeah, that's right.
After being cooked on a griddle, the rotis are covered in ghee (clarified butter) and stacked as so. This helps them remain warm until being served in the langar hall. CLOSEST THING TO PANCAKES OVER HERE SO I'M INTO IT.
You may be thinking to yourself, "Why are Casey's feet so close to all those rotis? That's pretty gross." And if you're not thinking that then you should probably reread my whole entire blog because you're clearly not paying attention enough and uploading this picture alone took at least 30 minutes.
Well, it is gross. But it's okay because these are the day-old rotis. The Golden Temple typically makes about 10,000 extra rotis everyday. They try to plan ahead for the masses of people and want extra in case the crowd is larger than expected. The day-old rotis are brought to the roof of the langar hall and are spread out evenly to dry out in the sun. When dried, the rotis can last up to a year. These rotis are auctioned off to nearby farms to feed their livestock. The rotis are a good source of nutrients for the livestock and the Golden Temple makes a profit.
Well, it is gross. But it's okay because these are the day-old rotis. The Golden Temple typically makes about 10,000 extra rotis everyday. They try to plan ahead for the masses of people and want extra in case the crowd is larger than expected. The day-old rotis are brought to the roof of the langar hall and are spread out evenly to dry out in the sun. When dried, the rotis can last up to a year. These rotis are auctioned off to nearby farms to feed their livestock. The rotis are a good source of nutrients for the livestock and the Golden Temple makes a profit.
This is a picture of me "making it rain" rotis in my cool new Punjabi Suit. Honestly, check out my form.
"Sitting on a bed of rotis, watchin the rotis dry all day" (hummed to Sitting on the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding) or "Roti fields forever" (hummed to Strawberry Fields Forever by the Beatles).
pick your poison
pick your poison