Please help : How to make good/soft chapatis, parathas and puris?!!

Hi,

The most important thing is the consistency of the dough. For 1 measure of atta use 1/2 measure of water if you are kneading by hand. If you are using a processor, you may need less water. First use half of the water and knead throughly. Keep on adding water while kneading till you get the required consistency (not hard). Keep the dough closed for 1 hour. The tava should be hot. Roll the chapati thinly. Wet your point finger's tip with little oil and apply it all over the chappati as little dots. Now you put the oiled side on top of the tava and for the top portion of the chappati apply oil the same way as you did for the bottom portion. Leave it for 5 to 6 seconds and reverse the chappati and cook again for 3 to 4 seconds. Ater cooking put it in a box and cover it with the lid so that it will sweat a little and become soft. If you keep it open, it will becom hard.

The kneading is also very important. The more you knead, the softer the chapati will become. Of course you need not go to the extent of latamurali's way of Adichu, Killi, thuvaichu etc. Just kidding latamurali.

Vijya

Hello all,

Chapatis trial: Day 1
Result: Not so satisfactory. But definitely not papads.

Thanks to all of you for the motivation.

Here's my description of trying out chapatis:

I took into mind all the tips given. First 1 cup of wheat flour, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 cup of water. Started kneading them. after the mix completely happened, kept kneading and kneading for exactly 20 mins. I was tired by this time

Now kept it to rest by keeping the dough in a closed container and covered it with a damp cloth. Kept it for 1.5 hours.

As was suggested in this thread, checked the consistency of the dough, when touched, it sprang back to its original state. Also myself I felt the dough much more softer than I made before.

Now, while rolling the chapatis, I used very very little of the dry flour.
As was suggested by Krishnaaamma, I also rolled it such that did not turn it upside down while rolling i.e rolled on the same side.

Made the tawa very hot and put it on the tawa. Now waited for 20 seconds and flipped it over. Out of 3 chapatis, one did puff up.
But the other two became bit hard in the middle.But not so hard. Also the problem was I did feel it wasnt completely cooked. But if I had kept it on tawa for 20 seconds more also, I felt it would have become papad again.

But one chapati was definitely ok.

Now I have some questions:
1. Is the middle portion hardening becoz of rolling improper? or is there some alibaba trick to get it done properly?

2. I guess in the last post it was mentioned that keep the chapatis covered after making them, I saw it today only. Will try that..But wont the chapatis become soggy and not eatable?

3. Please do help me out with the rolling of chapati and also to quickly manage with the chapati on the tawa. i.e like I guess I am ether taking it too early or too late. Can anyone if possible, post a picture of the exact consistency when the chapati has to be taken off tawa? It would really help..

also I took picture of the dough, please see and confirm if its ok

I guess I am going paranoid behind this chapati thing

Hi ptamil,
Congratulations on the pregnancy!
I am not going to advise on how to prepare chapathis or puris as others have already done that.
I would recommend that you check out the whole wheat to maida content of the Pillsbury atta. In general if the atta looks whitish in colour then there is high maida content in it. In which case there is no difference whether you eat rice or chapathis to control your sugar levels in pregnancy as both will be high in Carbs (carbs are broken down into sugar by our bodies). Please ensure that you take enough protein with every meal. If you eat meat etc then this is easy... you can have meat or egg with every meal.
While I was pregnant I only used whole wheat flour (easily available in American stores). To make soft chapathis I would add cottage cheese while preparing the dough. Also instead of rice I ate cracked bulgar wheat. (Just cook it like rice and eat with sambhar, rasam etc). I controlled my gestational diabetes completely throught my diet.

PM me if you need more details on the diet to avoid gestational diabetes.

Take care
Gayathri

Originally Posted by ptamil2007

Hello chitra and everyone,

I am living in Finland and somehow managed to buy Pillsbury atta.
I tried by making dough by mixing little milk, salt etc...
But always my chapatis and puris come out very hard (We call it Papad )

I like chapatis more than rice and since I am pregnant now, midwife had advised to reduce the quantity of rice to lessen the chances of pregnancy diabetes.

I have tried umpteen number of times, I just get irritated each time when chapatis as well as puris come out so hard (Its not in an eatable state at all)

My husband is very adjusting and doesnt say anything..But I do really feel bad about it.

Can you please post how to make soft chapatis and puris.

Hi Everyone
I just wanted to know some tips to make softer chapatis.Somehow i feel that due to the coils on the cooking range the chapatis dont turn soft,is my doubt correct

Preeti

Preeti,

Being a new member, just wanted to give you some quick guidelines about your posts.

When you post try to make sure you give a title that briefly tells what you are talking about. This thread had a title as 'Help', which is vague as to what kind of help you need unless someone gets into reading it. Moreover apt titles always gets better attention and responses.

Also, discussion about making soft rotis / chappatis should already be here in these forums - Indian Recipes - IndusLadies (or) Ideal Indian Home - IndusLadies. Please check. IndusLadies is a ocean of discussions and if you 'search' (use the search menu in the purple bar - google custom search) you will find most of it you are thinking already discussed here.

Hi

I do get soft chapatis when hot, but when i store and eat after sometime, its not that soft. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hi San Ravi,

Store chappati in closed box or store them in aluminium foil. So it will not become dry.

ya i used to store in closed box only!!!!

hi,
wrap the pulkas in tissue paper and then keep in closed box ,they will remain soft for 2 days.
for chapathi, after finishing cooking just fold and pat it 2 or3 times and then store it in a closed box.

Hello Pavithra,

I don't think you've started to experiment again on chapathis with the baby;) but here is what i have learnt after many papad and 'what's this stuff... big thattai' kind of looks from my poor husband:) Kneading is very very important. First to get the consistency I tried with a tablespoon of curd, oil/ghee (the latter for my boy) etc., You should add water little by little until your hands feel the soft dough. This will come by experience. The dough should not be sticky but soft. After getting this step right, I put only 1/2 tsp of oil to the flour, little bit of salt and knead it these days with room temperature water. But I personally felt that adding the extra ingredients like curd, milk etc., really boosted my confidence to get the dough right.
Next rolling... don't roll it out too thin. That's when we become experts The rolling has to be uniform to get soft chapathis (so initially i didn't worry about the shape).

Then to cook the rolled chapathi the tawa has to be really hot (this i learnt from a gujarati friend). Since I use a non-stick tawa i don't smear the hot tawa with oil. You have to turn over the chapathi often to get soft ones. I don't know how to explain this by typing. Since the tawa is hot and we can't adjust the heat in this electric thing you've to be very quick and swift. On turning to the other side keep a damp kitchen cloth ready and using it press the chapathi lightly to help it puff up.

And after taking out chapathi on a plate close it immediately. I find in this weather this process itself helps in keeping them soft to a great extent (mine have stayed soft even for 3 days).

Latha