Mar 27, 2007

Chapatis & Parathas

Soft Chapathis



I usually make chapthi/phulkas without using oil. They come out soft, but has to be served immediately. I was happy with this results since I always made chapthi after my family is on the table for the dinner. Directly from the tava to the mouth. But it is not always possible to do this 'serve immediate' approach, specially when I have guests over. When made ahead of time my chapathi tend to get hard.



I was looking for a solution and found this well written 'How to make soft chapthis?' on Aayi's recipes. I just followed Shilpa's tip to use just a tsp of oil in the dough. The chapathis are awesome and soft and can be made ahead!

Methi Paratha




Found this nice and easy for Methi paratha on Home Spices. Dr. Sowmya's recipe called for fresh methi leaves. I used kasoori methi/dry methi leaves instead. The results were great. I often make this sometimes with dry parsley too!

I had tried these recipes and tips a few weeks back, had clicked pictures too. They were lying in my 'todo posts' from a long time, found them as good entries for the Monthly Blog Patrolling hosted by Coffee, theme for March "Lets Roll.." I just read the instructions, the deadline is 20th, Guess I am too late.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Manjula,

I sometimes add yogurt or milk to soften the dough. I hate adding oil to the dough. If you don't add oil, it's true that it becomes hard. What I do to keep it soft long after it is made, is to keep the phulkas in between kitchen towel (paper towels) and then cover it with a lid. This way it remains soft even without oil. A caveat on phulkas, I heard that if you put the rotis on the stove directly, the carbon from the stove gets transferred to the phulkas and this is not good for the health. I don't know if this is true.

Nisha

FH said...

Good info Manjula.I always add litle oil to the dough,somebody commented that it makes chapatis harder!I also add warm water to mix the dough.
I like Nisha's yogurt idea which I do add for Bhatura, not for Chapatis.Got to try next time!:)

TNL said...

I make my chapatis with hot milk all the time, and I keep the dough out for a while-at least an hour after kneading it really well...I find this gives an added Calcium boost to the rotis and makes them very soft.

Methi Parathas are a fav. of mine, I love those dunked in some masala tea..have you tried that??

it's been a while since I stopped by here...Hope you're well,
trupti

Sia said...

i add yogurt+spoonful of oil and knead using warm water. it works fine for me.
thats a good idea to use kasuri methi.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Manjula for linking me. You might have read already in my post, it took a really long time for me to get those soft chapathis. Some people advised me to add milk/yogurt, but somehow they didn't work out for me. The softness of chapathis largely depends on the frying and the consistency of dough. Also, the dough needs to be kept for atleast 30mins before making chapathis.
I have to read Sowmya's methi paratha now.

Manjula said...

Hi Nisha, Asha, Trupti, Sia, Shilpa,
Thanks for your feedback on soft chapathis.
I have tried making chapathis with milk/yogurt, with oil and even water separated from yogurt in the past. But nothing had worked for a long time until recently Shilpas tip started working for me.

I found that the brand of atta also matters in addition to frying and the consistency of dough. Sujatha and Nature's best yields better results than other brands.

Guess any one of the milk/yogurt or oil will be fine. Just follow the method that works the best for you and your brand of atta.

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Manjula I have always wanted to know how to make real chapathis, what is a tava? I have a gas hob but I don'tknow what a tava is sorry?

Manjula said...

Jeena,
Tava is a round griddle, flat or slightly dipped in the center made from cast iron or steel. It is used to fry/roast the chapathis or dosa(A South Indian crepe made with fermented batter of lentils and rice).
You can use the pancake griddle or any flat bottomed shallow skillet to fry chapathis.

Chef Jeena said...

Thanks Manjula, I would love to be able to make real chapathis! My hubby loves the way I do all our breads but its still not like having proper chapathis :) I think I am going to make them over and over again also until I can make them as tasty as those pictures :D

Anonymous said...

Hi Manjula, never too late to show off beautiful methi paratha like those! :)