Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Gram flour chapaties with red onion and nigella seeds

This recipe is from Sunil Vijaykar's "Fresh Indian" cookery book. There are over 80 recipes, mixing both South and North Indian, but they're slightly more non-vegetarian oriented than not. This chapati seemed an interesting prospect from the breads section, but I have to admit that the picture of the finished dish in the book was a LOT more appetising looking than mine turned out. Maybe the chapatis in the book were cooked with a lot more oil than I did.

That's my objective, unbiased, balanced explanation for it, anyway!

Recipe for: Gram-flour chapaties with red onion and nigella seeds

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Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups wholewheat chapati flour
1-1/2 cups gram flour
1 medium red onion, minced fine
2 green chillies, de-seeded if liked, minced fine
1 tsp nigella (kalonji) seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Warm water for dough as required

Method:

1. Take equal measures of gram flour and whole wheat flour (I used 1-1/2 cups of each) in a big bowl.

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2. Add the minced red onion, minced green chilli, 1 tsp nigella (kalonji) seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, chopped coriander leaves and salt to taste.

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3. Use enough warm water to make a soft dough. It shouldnt be sticky.

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4. Knead for 5 minutes and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

5. Pinch off a small lemon sized piece of dough and, using extra flour for dusting, roll it into a thin chapati.

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6. Place on a heated tawa and cook for 30 seconds, then flip the chapati over and brush on some oil or melted ghee (I used a mixture of both).

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7. Turn the chapati over again and brush some oil on this side as well.

8. Use a flat spatula to press down gently on the oiled chapati so that it becomes evenly golden,

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then do the same to the other side.

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9. Keep the cooked chapaties warm in a clean tea towel while you make the rest of the chapaties.

These chapaties are best eaten warm and fresh. They get somewhat hard when cold. To re-heat, place the cloth-enfolded chapaties on a microwave safe plate and heat on high for 1 minute.

7 comments:

kittymatti said...

different, nice and interesting!!

Anonymous said...

I'm so making these Shyam! Will let you know how they turn out.

Mamatha

Unknown said...

Delicious n healthy chapathis. love the addition of nigella seeds!

marriedtoadesi.com said...

I have never made chapati's with gram flour, i gotta try this out!

Vani said...

Love this! besan cuts down carbs and adds nutrition too. Must've been super tasty too :)

Anonymous said...

Shyam,
I made this for dinner last night - it tasted fabulous. BUT, the dough was so sticky despite adding lots of wheat flour to the original mixture. The only change I made was to add some grated zucchini. I tried dredging the balls in flour and rolling, rolling them between 2 sheets of wax paper, I even tried patting it directly on the pan - nothing worked really. I still have enough dough to make atleast 10 more chappatis - any tips on how to salvage it? Thanks.

Mamatha

Shammi said...

Mamatha: I think adding the grated zucchini might have made the dough very sticky. The only thing you could have done is add as much whole wheat flour as reqd to make the dough less sticky. I dont know what else you could've done with the dough, I'm afraid.