Easy chapati recipe

 When I started to make curries many years ago I made chapatis using whole wheat flour and they were edible but not good. I tried again every now and then but never really mastered it so would resort to poppadoms or frozen rotis or chapatis from the Indian shop, so long as they were vegan as some have milk in them.

So a few months ago I decided it can't be that hard as I watched them being made online and it seemed really easy, then I had a light bulb moment when I realised that all the online cooks were using a flour called atta which is available in a whole wheat form but is ground much finer than ordinary whole wheat flour and makes a much better chapati.

So put some atta in a bowl add a little salt and stir then you can add either a bit of oil and rub it in and then add water a little at a time until you get a soft dough or leave the oil out and just use water, I have done it both ways and have not noticed a difference (a bit more research needed). Once mixed and kneaded to a soft pliable consistency place the dough in a bowl covered with a cloth and let stand for half an hour, some online recipes say cover the dough with a damp cloth but I don't know if it makes a difference ?

Next shape the dough into a thick sausage and cut it into pieces about 3 cm long or about enough for a chapati, a bit of practice helps but it just means you get a smaller or larger chapati but so long as it fits in the frying pan it doesn't really matter. Roll one out to as best a circle as you can about 2mm thick using a little flour to stop it sticking to the worktop or the rolling pin. Brush of any excess flour and cook them on a medium heat in a dry frying pan. When you put the first one in the pan roll out the next one so you are keeping the ball rolling so to speak and when the one in the pan either starts to bubble, which is ideal, or starts to smoke or smell like it is burning flip it over and cook the other side, you can flip them over several times if needed until cooked.

The points to note are use atta flour, make a softish dough and when cooking them the flour can build up in the frying pan and start to burn so give it a thorough clean before continuing. I can say that after a few goes you get better at it. Also it is worth watching a few videos online to see the techniques being employed, watching an expert at work can be very helpful. Good luck with your experiments and your learning, these are worth the effort as they taste so good when made fresh, x