Sunday, February 28, 2016

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Chapati, a soft Indian flat bread made from the wheat flour(also known as chapati flour / aata) and it's one of the common & staple flat bread in Indian households. Making chapati at home is super easy ! Chapati, roti and phulka all are made with the same ingredients like wheat flour, salt & water. The main distinction between one another is the cooking technique and in some places the names are easily interchangeable with one other.

Commonly, chapati is thinner than roti and oil is used to cook chapati. Roti is a bit thicker than chapati and usually cooked on stove top or oven without any oil. Phulkas are basically chapati cooked partially on tava and then placed over direct flame to puff up.

Roti & phulkas became famous in South Indian after the arrival of many North Indian restaurants only. Since i grew up in South Tamilnadu, i never heard about roti & phulka while growing, all we knew was only chapati, so i'm kind of inclined to that than the other two. It's one of the common bread that we used to make for any three meals of the day in my house. For other variety of roti, check out here

How to make Soft Chapati?

First the flour, it should be fine wheat flour. I like to use Ashrivad brand of wheat flour aka aata flour here in Canada and used the same when in US. But back home in India, the freshly ground wheat flour from the mill is usually used in our home.
The dough should be soft and pliable and at the same time non sticky.
The tava should be hot to make soft chapati and it takes less than 2 mins to cook a chapati on both sides.
More time on tava makes the chapati harder.

Can i use the Whole wheat flour instead of Aata flour ?

Yes, you can use but the chapati is bit on hard side not as soft as made with aata flour.

Ok, now let's check out on how to make this famous indian flat bread, Chapati.

Related:How to make Roomali Roti/Thin roti

How to make Soft Chapati

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 8 to 10
Recipe Category: Roti | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 2 cup

Water - 1 cup (approx)

Salt - to taste( 1/2 tsp approx )

Oil - 2 tsp
* See the notes section for soft chapati

Procedure

Take the flour in a bowl, add salt and oil and mix it with flour well.

Now it looks like a crumble, then add water to the flour.

Mix it with your hand and gather it together as a single mass , now knead the dough well until the surface looks smooth. It may take 3 mins of kneading. Cover it with lid and set aside for minimum 15 mins.

Pinch medium lemon sized balls from the dough and roll it as smooth. Flour the rolling pin & surface well, take one ball of dough and sprinkle with flour

Roll into thin disc using rolling pin and do the same for the all dough. Heat the tawa & grease with oil.

Once the tawa gets hotter, add the rolled chapathi and apply oil on top too, once the top slightly bubbles up, flip it over and cook on other side. Remove it on plate when both sides have brown spots.

Serve it with your favorite side dish.

Related:How to make Malai Kofta Curry

Related:Roti Varieties and side dishes

Notes:

The dough should be pliable and smooth.
I have used ashirvad wheat flour, it requires 1 cup of water for 2 cup of flour. The water quantity varies among the brands and home made flour.
Try to add almost all water at once , it helps to make soft dough.
Cooking chapati in high flame gives soft chapati even after it cool down.
If your tawa is really hot, it may take only less than 2 mins to cook a chapati.