Indian Chapati or Whole Wheat Tortilla

When I say chapati to some of my friends they raise their eyebrow - it's so much of work?
 Last weak a friend who is originally Spanish said she'd rather make Tortilla than chapati.The problem is she doesn't know how to make chapatis.

The Spanish flour Tortilla is made with All purpose flour, milk, oil, salt and pepper. 
The Indian Chapatti is make with whole wheat flour, water, oil, salt. You can make Chapatti with milk too..  and the methods are similar.

So, you can say that Chapati is whole wheat tortilla. It's mainly the difference in flour and what you serve it with.
In fact, you could serve it with or without an Indian meal. You could make a whole wheat chapati/tortilla wrap. Right?
Some left over chicken, slice up an Avocado,tomatoes and greens..... a perfect wrap - just healthier!


So Let's get started.
Makes about 10 to 12 chapattis 

Ingredients 

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour or whole wheat flour (see note below)
2 tbsp oil ( canola or olive)
Pinch of Salt.
warm water as needed to make a soft dough.


Note: Super market brand whole wheat flour is sometimes quite coarse and makes tough chapattis. So I prefer to mix some AP flour in. If you have Chapatti flour available where you are, use all Chapatti flour. The consistency of chapatti flour is much better than whole wheat flour.

Method: 

Place both the flours in a bowl.

Add salt and oil. 

Mix well. 

 Add 1/2 cup warm water and mix with your hands.

Continue to add water until you have a soft dough. once you have all the flour incorporated, do not add too much water. If you add too much water you will have to add more flour! I did that so often as a kids..!
So, go easy on the water....wink! 

Knead the dough on a floured surface. You want a smooth, soft dough.
If you dough is not soft, the resulting chapatis will be hard.
If you add to much flour the chapatis will be tough.

Once your dough is kneaded to a soft, smooth consistency. 

Place back in the bowl. Cover with a clean damp kitchen cloth or plastic wrap. 
Leave in  a warm place for about 15 minutes. Don't rush this part. Resting the dough will make it easier to work with it. 

Next, divide the dough into equal size balls. About 10 to 12 should be a good number with this amount of dough.
Again, cover and let rest for a few minutes.

Time to take out the rolling pin. 

Take a ball of dough, dust with some dry whole wheat flour.

Roll into a disc of about 7" to 9" in diameter - approximately.
Do not add too much flour to roll it out.. Dry flour doesn't take good on a chapati.

See the thickness of the chapati ? or rather thinness of the chapati? Thin is good. 

In the mean time, heat a skillet on medium high.
I usually do this simultaneously.
Roll and cook at the same time but feel free to just roll them out first and then move on to cooking them or else you might end up burning a few.

Cook the chapatis
Important: Cooking the chapati is easy and best if you are not too impatient to flip them over.
Often I see videos where people do - flip, flip, flip, flip, flip over and over until you have a tough cookie. Be patient.
As a kid my mom said there are only three flips to a chapati. That's how I will show you here today. Once you get the hang of this method. It's comes naturally. 

Place the chapati on the hot skillet. (dust off any excess dry flour)

See those bubbles? wait for them. Then flip
This is your First Flip

Note - see those dark spots - those are the freckles of the chapati that make them beautiful. Make sure to wait for those.
Now you see a few big bubbles? Now it's time for the Second Flip.

When you filp for the second time, you will see your chapati is now about to puff up like a balloon.
Use the back of your spatula and help it if necessary. Don't press too hard and break those bubbles.
Now time for the third flip.

This is what should happen as soon as you flip it the third time...A balloon!
Now that is a perfect chapati! 
Can you hear my son cheering? - He calls it Ball chapati!

Some people like to brush some oil on their chapati.  Use a pastry brush so you have an even coat as well as use less oil. Most people use a spoon which just adds more than you really need.
Personally I prefer my chapatis dry.

if you choose to add oil do it during the second and third flip. 

 In India we use something like this - which keeps the chapatis warm. The purpose is to retain the moister in the chapati so they won't dry out and become hard.
When you don't have this - you  just wrap them in a clean kitchen cloth.

And here are all my chapatis done.

 Variations
In India people make many different variations of the chapatis. For example

• Add some chopped up Cilantro or Mint to the fry flour . 
• Add a tbsp of roasted carom seeds or cumin seeds to the dry flour.
• Substitute some tomato puree for the water and you have tomato chapatis
• Substitute some spinach puree for the water and you have green spinach chapatis.
• Substitute some yogurt for the milk and the taste is again different.

And finally  our dinner is ready. Butter Chicken, Quick Indian spiced potatoes, mustard beans and Chapati.

Chapatis are not really difficult to make, see even my son can make them. He's five!
If you head over to my FB page you will see a video of him singing and making chapatis.
You will love it.  Facebook page....

 Well, that's all from from me today, I do hope you try these.
Have a good week. 


Thanks for stopping by.