Best Basic Rotis Or Chappatis Recipes

ROTI RECIPE | CHAPATI RECIPE | PHULKA RECIPE

Steps:

• Take whole wheat flour (atta) in a bowl. Sift the flour with salt if you have flour which has a lot of bran. Add a bit of water, oil or ghee and start mixing.
• Adding water to the dough in parts, begin to knead the dough.
• Continue to knead the dough. Keep on adding water as required.
• Knead the dough till it becomes pliable, smooth and soft. The final dough consistency should not be very sticky or loose or hard.
• Now make small to medium balls of the dough. Roll the balls in the palms of your hands to smoothen it.
• Flatten the ball. Sprinkle some whole wheat flour to the dough ball. Alternatively, you can also dust the rolling board with flour.
• Turn on the gas stove and put the tawa to make it hot.
• While tawa is getting hot, start rolling the dough ball into a flat round circle.
• Once the tawa is sufficiently hot then put the roti on a hot tawa/griddle.
• First cook one side. It should be less than half cooked or about one-fourth cooked.
• Turn and cook the other side. This should be a little bit more cooked than the first side. Brown spots should be visible.
• Now hold the roti with a tong and keep the first side which was cooked, directly on fire. The roti will start to puff.
• Turn and keep the other side on fire. The roti will puff more. Avoid burning the rotis and also don't overdo it as roti will not be soft and will become crisp and hard like papadums.
• Remove and apply ghee or oil on the phulka. Applying ghee or oil keep them soft for a long time. Phulka made with this method is ideally served hot.
• If you cannot serve them hot, then you can keep them in a container that keeps food warm like a casserole or in a roti basket. You can also wrap them up in a kitchen towel or napkin.
• Place the rolled roti dough on a hot tawa or skillet. Keep the heat to medium-high or high. Within some seconds you will see air pockets forming on the raw chapati dough
• Roast for about 30 seconds or so and you will see the air-pockets increase on the surface.
• Keep in mind that the timing will change or vary with the kind of skillet you are using, the chapati thickness and the intensity of the flame.
• Flip with spatula or tongs and roast the second side for about a minute.
• Flip again and you will see the second side cooked more than the first side with visible brown spots.
• With a clean folded cotton kitchen napkin or a spatula, begin to press the partially cooked roti on all sides and center. Pressing it evenly all over helps to puff up the roti.
• Keep on pressing all over, especially the flat portions, so that the entire roti gets puffed up well.
• If you prefer you can flip again and cook the second side too for some seconds if its looks under cooked.
• Transfer the soft and puffed roti in a roti-basket and spread some oil or ghee on top.
• Keep the rolled roti dough on a hot tawa or skillet. Cook on medium-high to high heat for about 30 seconds or so until you see some air pockets all over.
• Flip the chapati and spread some oil all over while the second side is getting roasted. Cook the second side for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.
• Flip again with a spatula. You will see that the second side is well roasted with some blisters and brown spots.
• Spread some oil on this cooked side. Roast the first side again for about 20 to 30 seconds.
• Remove and transfer to a chapati container or box. Keep covered. Make chapati with the rest of the dough in this manner.
• Serve roti or phulka or chapati with any Indian meal. Accompany it with vegetable or paneer curries, stir-fried or sautéed vegetables (sabji) or lentils (dals).
• Store any leftover dough in an air-tight container for just about 1 to 2 days. If the dough has darkened or has a weird smell, then throw it away.
• Store the flatbreads in a roti box or in a covered container for a few hours. Always cover with a tight lid, so that the flatbreads remain soft. Brushing or spreading with some oil or ghee on the roti, keeps them softer.

BASIC ROTIS OR CHAPPATIS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, add the flour, making a small depression in the centre.
• Pour 1/4 cup water into the flour and start mixing with the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
• Add remaining water as required, until the flour comes together to form a dough.
• If the mixture is too dry and falls apart, add some more water; if it is too sticky and sticks to your fingers, dust it with some more flour.
• Now knead the dough well for about 5 to 10 minutes; the more you knead it, the softer your rotis will be.
• Cover and keep aside for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Heat a heavy skillet on a low flame.
• Meanwhile, divide the dough into 6 lemon-sized balls and roll into 7-inch circles on a generously floured board using a rolling pin, adding sprinklings of flour to keep the roti from sticking to the rolling pin.
• Once the skillet is sufficiently hot, place one roti on it and increase the flame to medium-high.
• After about 20 seconds, turn the roti and cook on the other side.
• When small-medium bubbles start to appear on the surface of the roti (about 1 minute), remove it from the skillet, remove the skillet from the flame and turn the roti over directly on the flame.
• It should puff up completely; you might need some practice with it.
• Once it puffs up, remove it from the flame and serve hot with any vegetable side!
• Oh, and repeat the cooking procedure for all 6 balls.

INDIAN CHAPATI BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the olive oil and enough water to make a soft dough that is elastic but not sticky. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth. Divide into 10 parts, or less if you want bigger breads. Roll each piece into a ball. Let rest for a few minutes.
• Heat a skillet over medium heat until hot, and grease lightly. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out the balls of dough until very thin like a tortilla. When the pan starts smoking, put a chapati on it. Cook until the underside has brown spots, about 30 seconds, then flip and cook on the other side. Continue with remaining dough.

QUICK BASIC CHAPATIS/ROTIS

Steps:

• Heat iron skillet or no-stick skillet on medium flame.
• Sift flour and salt into bowl. (If no sifter, fluff with fork.).
• With a wooden spoon, stir in oil, if using, and 1/4 C water, continue to slowly add water until enough water to form a ball.****.
• Turn onto floured surface. Knead for 20 strokes or until dough is elastic. Use only enough flour to keep dough from sticking.
• Divide dough into 4 golf-ball sized balls.
• Roll each in flour.
• With a rolling pin, roll out one ball into about an 8" thin circle. Keep a pile of flour beside you and dust the dough often but only enough to keep it from sticking.
• When skillet is hot enough to immediately sizzle dry a drop of water, put chapati on.
• When bubbles form on top of chapati (1-3 minutes), look at bottom. If it has a few brown spots, flip it over.
• The second side takes much less time, and when it has a few brown spots, remove the pan from the fire and toss chapati directly on the burner (With a gas stove--leave roti in pan and pan on burner, use spatula to massage roti and it will puff up -- Manjula shows how on YouTube). In a few seconds, it will puff up like a balloon. If it doesn't, the dough was not kneaded/rested long enough or there was too much flour worked inches.
• Remove from heat to plate. (Some people slap the air out first.).
• Brush with oil, if desired, to keep soft.
• Cover with towel to keep warm.
• Repeat with next ball. The second and later chapatis always seem to cook faster than the first.
• Serve warm.
• By your third batch, you'll be fast enough to roll out the next one while one is cooking!
• *chapati flour available at Indian food markets, chapati flour does not need to rest to come out properly, other flours do need to rest.
• **chapati flour substitute: 1/2 C whole wheat plus 1/2 C enriched white flour or 3/4 C, 1/4 C respectively (my favorite). Or 1 C all purpose white flour. If using this, after kneading, lest rest for 30 minutes in a warm place--or up to an hour if in cool place, until when you press your finger into it, it feels elasticky and springs back a little. Refrigerate now or continue with dividing into balls, etc.
• ***you can also make it up as much as 5 days ahead of time and store refrigerated in a ball wrapped in plastic. It's best to remove it from the fridge an hour or 2 before using, but if not, it'll just be a little more difficult to roll out.
• ****For flatbread beginners: If you get too much water, just add some flour. If you're new to this, as soon as all the flour is gathered in little balls go ahead and put it on a pile of flour on your work surface and if necessary work water into it a little at a time. It will not hurt the dough no matter how much you work with it -- it will only make it better because it activates the gluten which is what makes the layers you should see after cooking the chapati if you tear it apart -- if you do not see these after cooking, the dough was not worked long enough. Other than burning them, these are foolproof enough to always be edible!