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Indian Chapati
Chapati is a type of Indian flat bread, it’s very popular in India. It is a staple and made of really simple ingredients: wheat flour, salt and water.
This easy and authentic Chapati recipe is from my friend Reem. I have personally tried her homemade chapati; I was instantly hooked on the soft, fluffy wheat bread.
How to Make Chapati?
It’s all about techniques when making chapatis. In the recipe below, you will learn the exact techniques to make your homemade chapati bread soft, light, puffy, airy, and fluffy.
Here is the step-by-step picture.
How Many Calories per Serving?
Each piece of the bread is only 68 calories.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
You can eat the chapati as is, with some butter (my favorite), or with chutney or chicken biryani.
For a wholesome Indian meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Chapati (Indian Flat Bread) Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour or drum-wheat “Atta”
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons wheat flour (for rolling and dusting)
Instructions
- Sieve the flour, add salt to it and mix well. Place the flour in a large bowl and add 3/4 cup of the water. Stir gently with fingers in a circular motion until the flour starts to gather. Add 1-2 tablespoons more flour if the dough looks too sticky. Add more water if it looks too dry and firm.
- Knead the flour until it becomes soft and pliable and doesn't stick to your fingers. You can put a little oil on your hand while kneading the dough to help with kneading. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for at least 1 hour, at room temperature. You may store the dough in refrigerator. Just thaw to room temperature before using it.
- Once ready to make chapatis, heat the griddle over medium-high heat. Divide the dough into 10-12 equal-sized dough balls. Working on one dough ball at a time. Roll a dough ball in the flour and flatten it a bit with your hands. Transfer the flatten ball to a clean flat surface, roll it with a rolling pin into a 6-7 inch disc. If the dough sticks to the surface, dust the surface with more flour.
- Place the chapati on the hot griddle and cook for 30 seconds or until tiny golden dots appear on the surface, flip over and cook the other side. Flip over again and soon the chapati will start to puff up. Use a folded kitchen towel and press gently on the puffy chapati to push the air to the flatten part of of the chapati. The whole bread should puff up into a round ball.
- Transfer the cooked chapatis to a serving platter. You may baste it with a little butter or ghee. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Thank you for the recipe. For those who are complaining about grams vs cups measurements, it makes no difference what the size of the cups or weight because The recipe is as simple as it gets: 2 parts flour, 1 part water, 1 teaspoon salt, or obviously use salt to your liking. If you use big parts then you will get a lot of chappatis. If you use small parts then you will get fewer chappatis. Use your best judgment. The ratios are always the same.
FYI, I am a Brit and prefer using the US method of cups as measurements for baking and cooking. I find it so much easier!!!
Thanks.
Boleh !!!
Told you a very good way to make your chapati
Not just easy and tasty, this recipe is FUN! I was a little apprehensive to make chapati because breads can be a little challenging, but this recipe de-mystified the process and resulted in some seriously adorable little bread balloons!
I made mine with half whole-wheat, half all-purpose flour because I read that the flour used for chapati is traditionally more finely ground and I don’t like ultra-healthy grainy stuff, lol. I had a nice little system of doing one side on the pan (med-high flame) and doing the other side directly on the burner (low flame). They had lovely little char marks and were so delicious with the ‘mas huni’ I made to go with.
I really liked the naan from Rasamalaysia too, and since following the tips from that recipe, I’ve already made it from memory because it’s so simple (Grandma style- just add ‘enough’ hahah). I probably won’t even look at this recipe next time I make chapati because it’s taught so well: thank you!
Thanks for trying my recipes!
I love these Comments, not as much as the time the person spent to make such a simple recepe,but close.
Glad to see decent people defending whats right against an A hole.
Find something better to do,
Thanks for this recipe! Knew it was easy but never thought I would nail it! I used an induction stove and it worked great, even got myself some air pockets.
Thanks for trying the recipe.
They were so easy to make. Very tasty.
My first time making them, was so happy as most of them puffed up.
That’s great thanks for trying my recipe: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
thanks
I assume this recipe is aimed at the US which makes up part the 2% of the world that still use the pre-1973 measurements. It would be useful to have this recipe in grams and no volumes given. Digital scales are cheap.
Stephen, why don’t you spend your time finding a conversion table online instead of having a pop at this lovely girl who is doing her best? No need for such a post! Be kind!
Thanks Donna! :)
Because there is no standard for the measurements she used, therefore no way to convert them to the system the rest of us use.
How about you try to see the other person’s point instead of attacking them Donna K?
Yes just type in cups to gram gives exact
measure ,assume you like using your scale if that’s what you enjoy why not ,personally delighted to see old measure of cups and spoons .
Thank you
Yes just type in cups to gram gives exact
measure ,assume you like using your scale if that’s what you enjoy why not ,personally delighted to see old measure of cups and spoons .
Thank you
For anyone else suffering the same frustration, just buy a set of measuring cups at a small cost (I’m in the UK and got a full set for less than £4) and be happy that you can now easily make recipes from across the globe without needing to complain that a recipe doesn’t quote ingredients by weight, just because that’s how you are used to baking
First world problems Stephen
The instructions on this were simple and so easy to follow, and the end result turned out great!! Didn’t manage to get them to puff, but I’m sure that will come with more practice :)
Awesome thanks for trying this chapati recipe.