Pictures: Dr. Sharda Prasad making chapatties
Chapatti is made of whole meal flour and it is the staple food North Indians, where rice is eaten in relatively smaller quantities, towards the end of a meal. In my opinion, there is no better bread amongst Indian breads than a freshly made, crisp chapatti, eaten straight off the fire, with a hot (temperature) vegetable or meat curry and a dal.
Some people like to smear each chapatti with a thin layer of ghee, immediately after it comes off the fire. Though it tastes lovely with ghee, I prefer not to use any. In the days of my childhood, it was considered mean or impolite to serve ghee-less chapatties to guests, but then people were neither fat/overfed, nor prone to heart problems early in life!
People in some regions of India add a little oil/ghee to the dough. This is very optional. As a North Indian, I NEVER add oil to the dough. Softness of a chapatti has nothing to do with the oil in the dough (see notes). Size and thickness of a chapatti is a personal choice. I prefer mine to be not too thin and papery, there is no 'bite' to very thin chapatties. The thin chapatties are also called 'Phulka'. Makes 10-15, depending on size.
Ingredients
| • | 250 gm. whole wheat chapatti flour |
| • | Enough water to make dough. |
| • | Ghee, for smearing the surface of each chapatti |
Instructions
| 1. | Making dough |
| 2. | Save 2-3 tablespoons of dry flour or use extra, for dusting while rolling out chapatties. |
| 3. | Place flour in a bowl and enough water to make a soft to firm-ish dough. If you are new at making chapattis, it is better to have a little firmer dough, which is easier to control while rolling out. Experienced Indian cooks prefer a softer dough which makes softer chapattis. |
| 4. | Knead for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle some water, cover and leave to stand for 10-20 minutes or so. Knead a little again. Now you should have a smooth, soft dough. |
| 5. | This process can be done quickly in a food processor. |
| 6. | Rolling out |
| 7. | Break dough into 10-15 portions, depending on the size and thickness of chapatties you prefer. Make each portion into a ball by rolling between your palms. |
| 8. | Heat a griddle or tawa. |
| 9. | Dip/dust each ball into the dry flour covering all sides and roll out into a pancake shape with a rolling pin. It should be rolled from centre out, with a flicking movement of the wrists, so that the edges are thinner than the centre. This helps them to blow up during cooking. You will need to dip/dust it in dry flour, on both sides, a couple of time during this process. |
| 10. | Cooking |
| 11. | Place the chapatti on hot griddle. |
| 12. | Turn it over when it becomes slightly darker in colour. |
| 13. | Cook the other side same way. When it has a few brown blisters, it is ready to cook on flame/under a grill. |
| 14. | To cook on a flame, pick the chapatti with tongs, flip over and place directly on a medium flame, it will balloon up. Move it around continuously, or it will burn. |
| 15. | Cook on the other side the same way, moving it from side to side. It should be cooked evenly all over. |
| 16. | For beginners, it may be easier to cook it under a hot grill. Place the chapatti under a pre-heated grill, with non-blistered side up, after step 13. Turn it over when it balloons up or gets brown blisters. Cook the other side. You have to be very watchful when cooking under a grill, because surface can burn very quickly as it comes closer to heat source when ballooning up. |
| 17. | Serve hot and crisp, with curries or dal. You can put a thin film of ghee or butter on one side before serving. |
| 18. | Variations: You can add various sag vegetables to the chapatti dough, like spinach (palak) or fenugreek leaves (methi), pigweed (bathua) etc. Any leftover dals and vegetable bhajies can also be mashed and added to the dough. |
Notes
| • | Keeping chapatti soft: I am often asked about how to keep chapatties soft. Try these things: 1. Leave the dough for approximately 10-15 minutes to 'prove', before you roll chapatties out. If you make dough immediately before making the chapatties, they tend to be stiffer. 2. If the dough is too firm, chapattis will get tough. Correct dough should be soft to touch and 'give' easily, when pressed with a finger. More experienced you become, softer dough you can handle and make softer chapatties. |
| • | 3. When rolling out, roll from outside in, by a rotating action of your wrist. Chapatties should be very slightly thicker in the middle than on the preifery. This makes them balloon up better, which in turn keeps them soft. 4. The 'tava' or pan should be heavy bottomed and quite hot but not burning hot, before you place your chapatti on it. Cold tawa will make stiff chapatties. 5. When you make chapatties, put them in a pile, one on top of other, immediately. Once finished, wrap the whole pile in a cloth towel and wrap in an aluminium foil. Some of my friends spread them out to cool. In my view, this hardens them. 6. I use tap water to make dough. In winters, when tap water is very cold, lukewarm water might help. 7. If you don't mind fat in your chapatties, smear a thin layer of ghee on each chapatti after it is cooked and before it is put on the pile. This also keeps them soft |
| • | If you do not have a gas cooker or a grill, the Chapatties can also be cooked entirely on a tawa. After step 13, press the chapatti gently, using a kitchen towel, coaxing it to balloon up, from the edges in, until the whole chapatti swells up into a ball. Continue to press it very gently all over, turning over on the other side too, until all areas are cooked. |
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