Chapatti flat bread – cooking Tanzanian food in your Kitchen

Nothing beats a fresh homemade fluffy chapatti. Eaten as a snack or as a side to a main dish with sauce chapattis are a type of flat bread commonly eaten in East Africa. It originated in the Indian kitchen, but the East African style, however, is a little different.

Firstly, the chapatti is made from white or all-purpose flour and secondly the chapattis are rolled out, oiled and then rolled back together. Then the dough is coiled into a snail-like twist before being rolled out again. This creates layers inside the chapatti. This time-consuming process is truly worth it – here is a recipe:

Preparation time: 60 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Total time: 1 hour 20 mins
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour and some extra for dusting
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons oil and oil for frying
1 ¼ cup lukewarm water

Step one:
Put the flour into a mixing bowl, add salt.

Step two:
Make a well in the flour add the water and oil, mix.

Step three:
Knead to form a soft and sticky dough. You can lightly oil your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.

Step four:
Transfer the dough to a well-floured board and knead for 10-15 minutes. Make sure to keep adding flour as needed to aid the kneading. It is important to not overdo it.

The dough should end up being soft, elastic and smooth.

Step five:
Cut the dough into 6-8 pieces and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Step six:
Using a rolling pin roll out the pieces into a round shape. Do not worry, they do not have to be perfect. Add flour to the board to prevent the dough from sticking.

Step seven:
Gently put oil onto the flattened dough. You can use a spoon or brush to spread the oil over the dough.

Step eight:
Place rolled-out dough on a floured plate, turn over and brush with oil on the other side.

Step nine:
Now roll the dough together to make a pipe like shape.

Step ten:
Now coil the dough together like in the picture.

Step eleven:
Once you have finished coiling up all the pieces cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 10 mins.

Step twelve:
Have a plate nearby (dusted with flour) then take the coiled-up dough and gently flatten it out. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough from the inside towards the outside.

Be sure to keep rotating the dough – this will ensure a rounder shape.

Step thirteen:
Put some oil in the frying pan and once the pan is hot, place the flat chapatti in.

Step fourteen:
Brush some oil on the other side of the chapatti before flipping it.

Step fifteen:
Cook the chapattis for about 2-3 minutes and flip it until it is golden brown. Use a spatula to press down the edges of the chapatti, you will see it rise up. This makes sure that it is cooked thoroughly.