Man, you won’t believe what I did today. So, I got this weird craving for Indian food, right? But not just any Indian food, I wanted to make it myself. I figured, how hard could it be? I’ve seen those cooking shows, it looks easy enough. I started with the basics, and that meant figuring out what kind of flour they use.
I remembered seeing something about this on the New York Times crossword puzzle. “Flour used in Indian cuisine”. Yeah, like that’s gonna help, I thought. Still, I looked it up, and guess what? They actually had some stuff on it! I started to look for the answer to the crossword clue.

- I searched “Flour used in Indian cuisine nyt crossword clue”, and found lots of crossword websites.
- Most of them just said “ATTA” is the answer.
- I also saw some dates, like March 19 and September 15, and October 24, probably when these clues were published.
Turns out, the answer was “ATTA.” Okay, cool, I learned a new word. Apparently, ATTA flour is the key to making ROTI, which is like a flatbread. It’s made from wheat and they roll it out super thin and cook it really fast on a hot griddle until it gets all brown and bubbly.
I managed to find some ATTA flour at the store. The package looked legit, all serious with Indian writing and pictures of yummy-looking bread. I grabbed a bag, feeling all adventurous and ready to go.
Now came the hard part: actually making the ROTI. I followed a recipe I found, which seemed straightforward enough. Mix the ATTA flour with water, knead it, roll it out, cook it. Easy, right? Wrong. My dough was a sticky mess at first. I may or may not have added too much water. Oops.
But I kept at it, adding a bit more flour until it felt right. Then came the rolling. Let me tell you, getting that dough into a perfect circle is a lot harder than it looks. Mine ended up looking more like a weird blob, but hey, it was a start.
Finally, I got to cook it. I heated up a pan, slapped my misshapen ROTI on it, and waited. It started to bubble, just like the recipe said! I flipped it, cooked the other side, and bam! I had made my first-ever ROTI.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was mine. And you know what? It tasted pretty darn good, especially with some curry I whipped up. I’m not saying I’m a master chef now, but I definitely felt a sense of accomplishment. Who knew a crossword puzzle clue could lead to such a fun (and tasty) adventure?
What I learned today
I learned that making ROTI is a journey, not a destination. And I learned that “ATTA” is the word I’ve been looking for all my life. From now on, I’ll be impressing my friends with my newfound knowledge of Indian cuisine, one misshapen ROTI at a time. I think I am really starting to love cooking!
