Traditional Chapati

Traditional Chapati is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a for a classic vegan dry-fried atta flour flatbread served as an accompaniment. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Traditional Chapati.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

2 minutes

Total Time:

12 minutes

Additional Time:

(+20 minutes resting)

Serves:

6–8

Rating:

Tags : Curry Vegan Recipes Bread Recipes Fusion Recipes British Recipes

This is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe redacted from the volume: THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK: A Practical Handbook to The Kitchen in India (author unknown), published by: WYMAN & CO., HARE STREET CALCUTTA circa 1869.

Original Recipe

Chappatee or Hand-Bread

The native hand-bread is made simply of wheat-flour and water; the addition of a little salt would be
an improvement. Make a good dough of flour and water, take a piece about the size of an egg, roll it
out to the circumference of a half-plate, and bake it over an iron or earthen plate.

The instructions here are fairly basic, so I'm writing up a 'proper' method of preparing chapatis.

Atta flour is stone-ground hard wheat. The hard wheat has a higher proportion of gluten, which makes the dough stretchier. Atta flour is traditionally ground betweent two stones, one of which is stationary. This makes the stone hot, which damages and partially cooks the starches, yielding more flavour. The oil added to the recipe is optional, however I reccomend adding it unless you're eating your chapatis fresh as the oil will let your eat it the following day and means that you can freeze the shaped chapatis before cooking. Traditionally a tawa is used to cook chapatis.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

200g of atta flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp of oil
150ml of warm water

Method:

Begin by preparing and kneading the dough: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and bring together with your hands. Once you have a dough knead well for 5 minutes, until soft and elastic.

Divide the dough into portions between 40 and 45g (you will get 6-8 depending on the size, but medium egg size is about right). Arrange on a baking tray, brush the tops with a little oil then cover with a damp cloth and set aside for 20 minutes to rest.

After the dough has rested you need to roll it out: Liberally dust your work surface with flour. Take the first piece of dough and flatten between your palms. Dip into a bowl of flour to coat on both sides, shake to remove any excess flour then transfer to you work surface.

Use your rolling pin to roll the dough out into a circle of about 15cm (6 in) in diameter. Turn the dough whilst you do this to form an even circle and dust the top with more flour if the rolling pin begins to stick.

To cook the chapatis: Place a tawa or non-stick pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, transfer a round of chapati flour to the pan.

Cook until some large bubbles appear then flip the chapati over and cook for about 30 seconds more.

When brown spots start to appear on the base of the dough flip it over then tap the dough to deflate the dough so it is in even contact with the pan.

Cook for about 20 seconds more then flip the dough over (this will help prevent burning) a few more times, until you have the desired colour.

Brush the top with ghee and set aside in a low oven as you finish cooking the remaining chapatis.

Serve warm.

Find more Victorian Recipes Here and more Curry Recipes Here. For the original version of The Indian Cookery book see my The Indian Cookery Book main page.