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Recipes and Curiosities: chapati"Moja shika si kumi nenda uje" - "A bird in the hand in worth two in the bushi" (Swahili proverb)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chapati is a delicious traditional unleavened bread, typical of North India and East Africa. In many homes still used to prepare a thick batter a thick batter every morning and then eat the chapati during the day, accompanying it with beans and vegetable dishes, ugali (maize porridge or millet), chicken or fish. The chapati is an excellent alternative for those who can not eat leavened bread and its preparation, although it takes a little 'time, an opportunity for a "pause of awareness" among the commitments of the day. Tear off pieces of a chapati and use it to pick up other foods. Chapati is a bread and a utensil.
Recipe: 2 cups white flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, oil, water (makes 4 chapatis)
Mix dry ingredients well. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the flour mixture and mix in with your hands until flour feels a little bit like sand. Add enough water to form an elastic dough. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out 1 ball into a circle and spread 1/2 teaspoon oil over it. Roll the circle up, like a jelly roll, then roll it up again. It should resemble a snail shell. Do the same for the other three balls.
Let the dough sit 20 minutes to 8 hours, depending on when you make them. Roll out into circles 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Melt a bit of shortening in a frying pan (I prefer a cast iron pan) and wait until it is hot to cook the chapati. Cook rapidly and watch them bubble up.