Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Recipe: Flatbread (Indian Chapatis)



Anyone who knows me can tell you about my deep and unending love for Indian food.  While I don't cook  most of the meals often (generally a lack of the myriad of spices needed), I did recently attempt this flatbread.  It is super easy, and you will have it mixed, rolled, and cooked in 10-15 minutes. Plus, in its simplest form you can use as few as 3 ingredients, but the recipe offers a vast amount of room for customization.  Herbs, spices, zests, etc can all be added.  This recipe makes 4 chapatis, and seems easy enough to double/triple/etc.  Because it comes together so quickly you can get to the point where you've rolled it out, then cover with a damp paper towel and just cook them up right before you serve your meal.

You will need:
1 cup all purpose of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt or water
Additional yogurt/water a teaspoon at a time until dough comes together
Pinch of salt
Optional additions: Garlic powder, pepper, paprika, small seeds, very finely chopped herbs etc, etc, etc.

Add the whole wheat flour to a large bowl or pan.  Add in the salt and any spices/flavorings that you are choosing to use.   Add in the yogurt/water and mix together.
 For the next step you can choose the liquid you want to use.  I did yogurt for the first step and then switched to water for the additions.  Continue to add your choices of liquid one teaspoon(ish) at a time until the dough comes together and rolls into a ball.  Knead it a few times and then cut it into 4 pieces.

Flour a cutting board and roll out each piece.  The thinner it is, the easier time you will have cooking it, but I left mine at about a 1/16 of an inch to that it still had some chew to it.  Crank your burner to medium high and a large nonstick saute pan get very hot.  Add a bit of olive oil if you wish and then cook each piece of flatbread for around 1 minute each side.  Serve immediately.  

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