Punjabi Chapati / Chapatis

LilKiwiChicken's Note:

I am learning to cook Indian food once a week, and absolutely loving it. This is one of my tutor's recipes, when I brought them home everyone gobbled them up. They were served with my tutor's Lamb Khemma recipe. You can use margarine or butter, depending on your dietary preference. You can also make a large batch of dough, roll the chapatis out and freeze (uncooked) until required. Also, you need to cover the dough tightly whilst it is resting, I put it in a ziplock bag or plastic container with a lid. I didn't do this once and the chapati just weren't the same. Finally, you can use 1/2 wholemeal & 1/2 plain flour if you can't find chapati flour.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 chapati

• 2 cups flour , chapati
• 2 tablespoons butter , softened (or margarine)
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1. Put flour into bowl & rub butter/margarine into it.
2. Add half of the water and stir to combine.
3. Add the remaining water slowly, stirring until all of the flour is hydrated.
4. Knead for approximately 3 minutes (be careful, the dough may be hot from the water). The dough will spring back slightly when pressed & may be slightly sticky.
5. Leave covered for 30 minutes (approx).
6. Divide into small balls (about half the size of a tennis ball) and dip into extra flour.
7. Press gently in your hand until slightly flattened into a disc.
8. Roll with a rolling pin into thin round pancakes.
9. Heat a heavy based frying pan (I used a cast iron one).
10. Put the chapati onto the pan and cook until small blisters appear. Turn and cook on the other side (they may puff up, don't worry).
11. Remove from the heat and wrap in a clean tea towel until ready to serve.

Reviews

[spookycook]

I was skeptical about whether or not I'd be able to make chapatis but can happily say that these turned out great!! This is good enough and simple enough that I will not have to buy them again.

[Bethany21]

They came out perfect! I rolled mine into balls and then let them rest. I set my griddle to 375 degrees. It took 3 minutes on one side and then about 4 on the other. They had a great flavor. ( I mixed the water in first, then kneaded the melted butter into the dough.)

[micro_ang]

It seems I still haven't mastered the art of making indian breads. I couldn't find chapati flour, so I tried the half white, half wholemeal idea, and I used ghee instead of normal butter to try and make it more authentic. It also took me a while to get the frying technique down pat, but i did get it right in the end. The taste was a little bland, so I will probably buy them in future, but thank you for the recipe, it was definately worth a try!