East African style Chapatis are made with a flour dough that is wound into a coil before being rolled into a flat round circle. The dough is then fried on a skillet so it is crispy on the edges but remains moist and doughy on the interior. Chapatis is a special East African treat!
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for kneading and dusting)
1 cup of warm (almost hot) water
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of salt to taste
1 teaspoon of sugar to taste
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
Rolling stick
Enough sunflower oil to fry
- In a bowl, mix the warm (almost hot) water, salt and sugar. The salt should taste more than the sugar.
- Add the butter which should melt in this mixture.
- Add the flour to form a thick paste.
- If necessary, add more flour or warm water to make the paste more thick and elastic but not too hard.
- Apply the 2 tablespoons of oil to the dough once you have attained the right extensibility and elasticity.
- Cover the dough for 30 minutes. This allows the chapati dough to cool down and spreading it becomes very easy.
- Once the 30 minutes are over, divide your chapati dough into small balls according to the size and number of chapatis you want to
make. - Spread each chapati dough ball with a wooden rolling pin into circular flat bread adding flour where necessary so as to avoid the bread from sticking to the surface.
- Apply oil and sprinkle flour then roll it back again into a ball. This is necessary as it makes the chapati to form layers on the inside. Do this for all the chapatis you will be making.
- Spread each chapati dough ball with a wooden rolling pin into circular flat bread for the 2nd time, adding flour where necessary so as to avoid the bread from sticking to the surface.
- Put the rolled dough on a dry, hot, flat frying pan and bake it lightly without oil on both sides, then apply oil and bake it until it has golden spots.
- Wrap your baked chapati in aluminum foil to stay warm before serving.
Region: East Africa