Home » Chapatti, Chapatti!
Chapatti, Chapatti!
There is a little ditty we sing when we make chapattis around here. Um, it has one word. Chapatti Chapatti. I guess it’s not really a ditty, it’s more of a singsong word.
Anyways. Chapatti is awesome. I’ve never fully appreciated it before now, before Jaya, really, because she makes the best chapatti that I’ve ever had. So light, so fresh, so not tasting like dirt. (I only include the last point because of my Rainbow Gathering experiences of “dirt chapattis”.)
Because Jaya’s recipe is as approximate as all her recipes, I went and looked up a few to see what kind of deal I could find on measurements. What I found was this:
For every 3 cups of whole wheat atta (chapatti flour) you’ll need 1 cup of cool or lukewarm water. (The recipe said lukewarm, but we don’t have hot water in our taps, so we just use cool water and it works just as well.) You’ll also need 1 tbs of oil, and 1 ½ tsp salt.
Chapatti, or roti flour is very fine whole wheat flour. (By the way, Roti is a generic term for bread in India- Chapatti refers to this kind, unleavened, whole wheat bread. There are other kinds of roti, like parantha (fried and possibly stuffed) and naan (leavened white flour bread) and puri (deep-fried).) You’ll need to find the finest grind of flour that you can. Even whole wheat cake flour would be good.
These photos look like they’re taken in the dead of night. They’re actually taken on a very stormy day, in a kitchen with little light.
Jaya started with the flour in a deep pan. She added the salt, and mixed it in.
Then she added the water…
So that it looked like this. She patiently posed and waited while I tried to get my lighting right. Part of my problem was that in the humidity, the inside of my lens was fogging.
Time to mix. Mix mix mix.
Just play. Muck around.
Until it all starts to come together.
It gets quite sticky, but keep mixing. You’ll add the oil later to help with the stickiness.
Notice how my lens is getting foggier and foggier? Good thing the weather has taken a change, recently. Otherwise I would have had to cry and cry, because I couldn’t stand the foggy lens.
You really don’t have to knead this chapatti dough very much. Just enough to mix every bit of flour in. Add a little water if you need more.
You want the dough to be firm, but not wet.
I missed the shot of Jaya adding the oil, because I was worried about my foggy lens. But she added it, and everything became smooth.
And then we touched the dough, to see the consistency. Springy and firm.
Okay, so it works best if the dough sits for awhile before rolling. At least an hour. Jaya usually makes enough chapatti dough for a couple of days and leaves it in the fridge.
Form the dough into balls about as big as large walnuts. It works best to form all that you’re going to use ahead of time, since things get pretty speedy while you’re cooking the chapattis.
Get some kind of rolling surface and a rolling pin, and flour them well.
This dough is so soft that it will tear if you roll it too hard. Use barely any pressure… almost just the pressure of the roller itself, back and forth.
Smooth some more flour over the chapatti if you need it. Turn it to keep it round.
Roll it out until it’s the thickness of a crepe, or a loonie, or a key. Something like that. It needs to be thin, but not so thin that it will tear if you pick it up.
Now for the magic.
You need a griddle pan, or a cast iron skillet, large enough to work in. Here they use a chapatti pan called a tawa. Getting the chapatti onto the pan is no easy feat. I know because I’ve done it and it isn’t always pretty. It seems to work well to slap the chapatti back and forth between your hands a couple of times and then quickly let it drop onto the pan.
If that makes any sense.
At this point the griddle is well heated, but the gas is on low.
When you see little pockets of air beginning to form, turn the chapatti. What you’ll do now is help it to fill with air.
Grab a clean piece of cotton or dishcloth.
And gently press the edges to encourage the other parts of the chapatti to inflate. At this point you’ll want to turn the heat up to high.
A couple of things are key here. One… when you flip the chapatti over, use your finger tips to move it toward the edge and then quickly pick it up and flip it. This is where a flat griddle really helps. Don’t use your nails. If any holes form in the chapatti, it won’t inflate. Two… be really gentle when pressing, because you could form a hole by pressing too hard. Jaya turns the chapatti in a circle while pressing on the edges. It just occurred to me that I should really put a video up on this.
Flip it again and keep working it so that it inflates.
Wow, perfect. If there is any goal for me, it is to make chapatti like a true Indian woman. You should see my attempts. They are not so round, and sometimes burnt. But I’m learning.
For a last touch, you can hold the chapati directly over the flame to cause it to puff out that much more. It practically turns into a ball at this point. This is optional.
The kids love to watch chapattis puffing up.
Jaya rolls the next chapatti out while the first one is cooking. If you can do this, you’ll be able to have a steady rhythm going and your chapatti will be done in no time. Make sure that you clean the griddle with a dry rag everytime you finish with a chapatti, just wipe it off. It’s also important to make sure that the chapattis are well floured when you roll them, so that they don’t stick on the griddle.
They are eaten with any North Indian dinner. Rip a small piece off and use it to grab your food. Just use your right hand.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:29 am
I don’ think this would work so well on an electric stove, as it takes too long for the heat to respond. Maybe I could cook them outside on a campstove! Yes, I think that would work. Yumm. I’m so glad you have Jaya. Please tell her that I’ve made her dal and aloo gobi twice now and they’re both very good. Love the recipes!
August 30th, 2008 at 5:09 am
Don’ laugh at your unworldly friend… but is a chapatti like a pita?
August 30th, 2008 at 5:15 am
That looks wonderful. We may have to give it a try. I think it is one of those things that is more fun with a few people.
August 30th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Chapatti. Chapatti. Cahpatti. I want one.
August 30th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I can’t tell you how many times I have tried to make these and failed. Thank you for the post!
August 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Rebeca, I was thinking about that when I wrote the post… a campstove sounds like a great solution!
Tj, it puffs up like a pita, but it is a lot thinner and smoother, and you don’t open it to eat it. The puffing is just so it is light.
August 30th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
You can make these on an electric range–my Indian neighbor, who makes wonderful beautiful chappati’s that rival Jaya’s has an electric range and hers turn out perfect all the time. In fact, I marvel at how perfectly round hers are. Mine sadly look like every state in the Union (U.S.)–but they taste good so it doesn’t matter…I buy atta at the local Indian grocery…it is very fine and I wonder why we here in the U.S. can’t get whole grain flour ground this finely…more people would use it I think. There is a white whole wheat flour by Bob’s Red Mill that is similar in texture to atta…also whole wheat pastry flour is similar.
Thank you for going to the trouble to post these recipes…I look forward to more.
September 8th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Thanks for the detailed, lovingly recorded steps! There is one thing I am confused about… “springy and firm” seem to be opposites. I still haven’t found a website that adequately describes the right state of the dough, yet it is the most important piece! Please help clarify if you can. Thank you!