Hi,
I came across this recipe in an Indian cookbook while vacationing on
Vancouver Island this past summer. My wife and I love Indian food
and we often have a dinner of lentil dahl and curried vegies, all
slurped down with this warm, chewy Indian flatbread...easy to make
and soooo much fun to eat!
This recipe makes 8 chapatis:
Ingredients:
2 cups Atta flour - a very finely ground hard durum whole wheat flour
found in south Asian groceries.
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1) Mix the flour and salt...make a well and add the water...mix by
hand or spoon into a dough and knead on a floured counter for 8-10 minutes.
OR
In a food processor, pulse the salt and flour, then add the water
slowly while pulsing...process for 15 seconds after dough
forms...then knead briefly on the counter.
2) Cover dough with plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes to 12
hours in a cool, dark place (I find 6 hours is plenty).
3) Divide dough into 8 pieces...roll each one into ball, then flatten
and roll outward until it's around 8 inches in diameter.
4) Rub a skillet (preferably cast iron for best results) with a
little cooking oil and set at medium-high heat.
5) When your skillet is hot, sautee a chapati on one side for 15
seconds...then flip it over and cook for approximately 1 minute until
small bubbles begin to form on the surface of the bread...then flip
it again and finish cooking for another 1 minute...in this last
cooking stage, a perfect chapati will start to balloon...gently press
on any bubbles that form to help the bread balloon (I use my egg
lifter)...avoid burning the bread.
6) Repeat step 4 &5 for each of the chapatis.
Is that easy or what...eh??!!...if you like Indian food, you will
LOOOOOVE these chapatis. I even use them for wraps to make tuna or
chicken salad sandwich wraps...the kids love 'em and they are so much
tastier than the store bought wraps.
For a variation, you can add 1-2 tbsp of oil or butter to make a more
tender bread...add this to the flour before the water...you can also
add more oil to the skillet to achieve a similar outcome.
Next up, I am going to try my hand at other Indian breads: dosas,
naan, idlis, hoppers and dhokla...I post any noteworthy results in
the near future.
Mike