"Buss Up Shut" Roti

I grew up with Roti in New York whenever Grandma was around. But! She would always pick up the roti from a trusted West Indian shop in Queens (or make my dad do it lol) she wouldn’t want to take the time to make it herself. Roti is a type of bread we eat in Trinidad. There are different kinds. Traditional roti has ground chickpeas inside the layers, where as “buss up shut” which is how we say “bust up shirt” (because it looks like a torn t shirt) is the just bread portions purposely broken up and without the chickpea filling. Still, it is eaten traditionally with curry chicken, curry potato, curry goat, curry beef…basically, curry! So when I wanted to make this at home, buss up shut seemed simpler since I wouldn’t have to worry about grinding up chickpeas and I could still get the roti I love. I called grandma and she told me…look up a video! So I found this wonderful video and instructions from cooking with ria. I’ll link the video for you (click here) but here are my notes.

• I used a mix of Ghee and Vegetable oil (California Costco sells Ghee!)

• Eventually Ryan got me dabla and a tawa but I used wooden spoons and a stove top griddle just fine!

• Enjoy rolling the dough and turning them into little cones that you get to squish because the secret to all the flaky layers is that part in particular :)

I’m so excited for you to try this, lemme know if you do! It’s a little labor intensive but worth it! *pro tip * make a double batch and freeze it so you can eat it when you’re in the mood next time without having to do the work again.

Cheers!