Pakistani

Koki

“Whole-wheat flatbread kneaded with onion, green chili, and cilantro, double-cooked for nutty crispness — the Sindhi breakfast roti.”

Easy45 min

Where it comes from

Koki is a thicker, more substantial cousin of paratha — distinctively Sindhi, distinctively breakfast. Whole wheat flour is kneaded with finely chopped onion, green chili, cilantro, cumin, and salt into a stiff dough. Each ball is rolled thick (not paper-thin like paratha), partially cooked on a tava, then re-rolled and finished on the same hot surface — the double cooking is what gives koki its signature crisp-and-chewy bite. Eaten with butter and yogurt or sweet pickle.

On the plate

Thicker than chapati, more savory than paratha, studded with green chili and onion. Crispy on the outside, slightly cakey inside. Eaten with butter and yogurt for breakfast; in Sindh, koki and chai are the working day's start.

How it works

The cumin seeds, raw onion, and chili are kneaded into the dough rather than topping it — this distributes flavor throughout and prevents the toppings from burning during the high-heat pan cook. The trick is to cook on dry pan first, then add ghee at the end.

Variations

Punjabi-style koki adds more chili; Sindhi Hindu koki sometimes adds pomegranate seeds for sour-crunch; Karachi versions use less onion — across the diaspora, koki adapts.

On the Palate

Ingredients

Serves 4

How it's made

5 steps · Show ↓

31 min active · 14 min waiting

1
9 min
Mix 400g whole wheat flour, 1 finely chopped onion, 3 minced green chilies, 1 small bunch finely chopped cilantro, 1 tsp cumin seed, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp oil. Add water gradually to form a stiff dough. Rest 15 min.
2
9 min
Divide into 8 balls. Roll each to 4mm thick (thicker than paratha).
3
9 min
Heat a heavy tava or skillet. Cook each koki 90 seconds per side — until pale-spotted but not crisp. Remove.
4
9 min
Roll each koki out slightly thinner (to 3mm), then return to the hot tava with 1 tsp ghee. Cook 2 min per side until deeply golden and crisp.
5
9 min
Stack hot kokis on a plate. Serve with cold butter, yogurt, and mango or lime pickle.

What you'll need

Cast-Iron Skillet

A heavy, single-piece cast iron pan, 25-30 cm across, weighing 1.5-2.5 kg. Once preheated, the thick mass holds 230°C+ even when a cold steak hits the surface — that's the secret to a deep crust. A well-seasoned skillet (multiple thin layers of polymerized oil baked into the iron) is essentially nonstick, gets better with use, and lasts a century. Lodge skillets from Tennessee have been in continuous production since 1896.

Kneading