Trinidadian Roti Lab25 recipes
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What goes into Trinidadian roti

The main ingredient list of all 25 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Most trinidadian roti recipes use oil (51%); 51% use butter, and 20% use both.
  • For sugar, 48% use brown sugar alone, 44% no sugar at all, and 8% white sugar alone.
  • For leavening, 92% use baking powder alone and 8% baking powder and yeast together.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 500 g of flour, the size of a typical batch. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical batch on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

Baking soda, baking powder or both

Each recipe counted once, by what it relies on to rise.

  • Baking powder only

    median 14 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Buss Up Shut (Paratha Roti) (kingarthurbaking.com)

    92%23 recipes

  • Baking powder and yeast

    closest to typical: Dhalpuri (travelandmunchies.com)

    8%2 recipes

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 25 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 500 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. Baking powder100%

    25 recipes · median 13 g

  2. All-purpose flour96%

    24 recipes · median: all of the flour

  3. Water96%

    24 recipes · median 365 g

  4. Salt92%

    23 recipes · median 6 g

  5. Butter52%

    13 recipes · median 105 g

  6. Vegetable oil52%

    13 recipes · median 27 g

  7. Brown sugar48%

    12 recipes · median 9 g

Toppings and extras

36% of recipes (9 of 25) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Salt28% (7)
  • Garlic20% (5)
  • Jalapeño or chile20% (5)
  • Vegetable oil12% (3)
  • Water12% (3)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out (1 of them). Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 500 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.