CHAPPATHI

 Chappathi , roti ,paratha, phulka. Lots of names for this whole wheat flat bread. A good friend of mine from bombay  told me the difference. Roti is basically made from refined flour , chappathi from whole wheat flour. Paratha contains oil in it. Phulka is chapathi that puff up when it comes in contact with heat.


RECIPE

1. 1 cup atta (whole wheat flour , Indian variety)
2. a little above 1/2 cup water
3.  salt to taste

METHOD

• In a bowl , take the atta , add salt and mix it.
  

• Make a well in the center and pour water into it(Don't pour all of the water .Leave out a Tbsp of water). I mix the flour mixture with my index  finger. If there is flour at the bottom of the bowl , add a little water till it all comes together.When there is no more flour at the bottom of the bowl , the water added is sufficient. Now using your hands , mix it till it comes together into one big ball. 
  

• Knead it into a smooth dough.

Cover and keep. I make my chappathis in the morning , so I prepare the dough and keep it covered overnight.

• Just before making the chappathis ,roll the dough into a tube shape and pinch out small balls from that. Keep the balls on a plate. 

                                           

         

         

Rolling out the chappathis

• Place the chappathi rolling slab on an anti-slip mat. Put 1/4 cup of atta in a small bowl.
  
• Line a baking tray with a plastic cover .( I cut out the plastic cover in which the atta comes in, to line the tray.) This is for placing the rolled out chappathis.

           

• Dust your hands with flour ,take a ball of the dough , roll it using your hands into  a smooth ball , dust your hands with the flour and roll the dough with your dusted hands.  Dusting your hands avoids the dough from sticking to your hands.Place the ball dusted with flour on the  chappathi slab and press it slightly to form a disc shape.

• Roll the disc with the rolling pin. Dust the rolling pin if necessary. After rolling out a number of chappathis you will get the hang of it. If the chappathi tends to stick to the slab , flip over the chappathi , dust it with flour and roll again.
  

• Place the rolled chappathi in the plastic lined baking tray.

Cooking the chappathis

• When there are only 2 more balls to be rolled out ,  place the chappathi tawa on the stove. Turn the stove to medium high.
  

• By the time the tawa is hot , all the chappathis will be rolled out.

• Place one chappathi on the tawa. Wait for 20 seconds . The color of the chappathi will become slightly lighter.
  

• Flip it over to the other side. Wait for the chappathi to puff up here and there, slightly . About 30 seconds. 
  

• Flip it over to the other side.  Allow it  to puff up again. Now with the slotted spoon , press the side that puffs up , giving slight pressure ,  as if not allowing the puff to  to grow big. At this point the chappathi will puff up into one big bubble. About 20 seconds.
• Control and maintain the temperature of the tawa. Basically the first side should be cooked on low temperature, the rest of the flipping and cooking should be done at high temperature.

• Store the chappathis in a hot pack.
• Serve with any curry of your choice.

NOTES

• Smaller chappathis puff up faster than bigger ones.
• 1-1/2 cups flour require 1/2 tsp salt
• The chappathis are very soft when consumed within an hour. It becomes dry , the longer it sits. I have tried adding oil to the dough (it helps a little ), yet by evening it becomes dry.
• The more wet the dough is , the softer the chappathis. But handling the dough and rolling out the chappathis require a little more practice.
• For more softer chappathis , incorporate 2 Tbsp oil or ghee into the salted flour. Rub the flour between your fingers to get the consistency of bread crumbs. 

• Then mix in water as usual and make a dough. Follow the same recipe as above and make the chappathis.
• Kneading the dough into a smooth ball is not my favorite . My favorite is rolling out the chappathis. So instead of kneading the dough into a smooth ball , I just knead the flour with water till it comes together to a ball. Then I wet my hands and wrap the ball with my wet hands , so that the dough is covered with water. Set it aside for 30 minutes or overnight.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• After the said time , I wet a melamine plate , I wet my hands , roll out the dough into a tube and pinch out balls and keep it on the wet plate.

  

• Dust your hands in flour , then take each ball and roll out as usual. This method need a lot more flour for dusting and rolling , but makes softer chappathis because of the increased amount of water.