Some of you folks know that we recently bought a house. A bunch of people were awed that we bought a house in Mumbai. These are people who do not live in Mumbai and are wowed-intimidated by a metro of this size where nobody gives a rat's you-know-what about anything. Then there are people who have been all "seriously?!? You bought a house there?!? Why?!?" while others have been "oh my god, that is such a bad investment, you could have gotten one here for less". These are people who live in Mumbai and its suburbs.
I hear ya.
And I don't hear ya.
We do not buy homes for investment. We buy land for that. We buy homes to live in. And given how it's just two of us, one home is enough and more. It fits us, we love it, we have made it our own and figured out ways to work with its pros and cons.
One of the pros it came with is its proximity to highways. I recently got bitten by a crazed woman in the train, after which I swore I would not travel during peak hours by local trains. Which means buses and share cabs are my new best friends. So being close to the highway is sort of wow. The other pro is it has its own gym and I have a kickass trainer. Which means my heavy weight lifting dreams are slowly being realised.
But it has a few cons too. One con is, I no longer have access to Taste For Life atta. They do not home deliver in this area and when I called them, they told me I would have to go to some store and enquire, they "might" have it. Now, Taste For Life atta is pretty fabulous. It's a small business that has grown rapidly over the last few years and they source local ingredients at competitive rates. They home deliver. Very high quality stuff, a full range of attas, and very fluffy, soft rotis. It took me a while to accept that my marriage with Taste For Life was over.
I went back to Aashirvaad. I also tried organic atta from various brands. Now, organic is what I'd love to stick to. I already use organic spices and dals. But I once tried the atta and the rotis were like...cardboard. Ugh. I stuck to Aashirvaad and decided to start doing some research: how to make soft chapati dough. I wanted to be able to make soft, nice, fluffy chapatis irrespective of the atta - be it organic or Aashirvaad.
After lots of experiments, some of which failed spectacularly, I came upon a recipe that was my sweet spot. And here it is.
Name: How To Make Soft Chapati Dough
Ingredients:
2 cups of any whole wheat atta - you can also use those multigrain ones
4 tablespoons of fresh dahi / yogurt
1 tsp desi ghee
1/2 cup of warm water
Procedure:
- Put all ingredients into your atta kneader and start kneading at a slow speed. Add water one tbsp at a time until it all comes together.
- Take it out on a lightly oiled plate and then knead it for another one minute, smoothen out the creases. If you find it dry, add a few sprinkles of water until it's soft and pliable but not sticky.
- In the photo above, I have also added flax seed powder and a tablespoon of castor oil - I do not recommend this unless you are following a high protein diet - I do because I lift heavy weights in the gym so I need extra protein in my food and the castor oil is great for bone health. Other than that, you can skip them entirely.
- Cover and keep under a slightly damp cloth for 20-25 minutes and then roll out your chapatis. If you are storing them for later, seal in an airtight container or saran wrap and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.
- I usually make my chapatis on my iron tawa that I have been seasoning for the last two years and it now has a glossy black finish of its own. I fluff the chapatis on an open flame because it's how I grew up seeing them being made. If you prefer pressing down on them with a cloth until they fluff, go right ahead.
- I usually put my finished chapatis in a cane basket with a cloth jacket - it traps moisture well without building condensation like most plastic casseroles with a steel hot boxes do.
Do you have your own tips and tricks to make soft chapati dough? Leave me a line in the comments section.
No comments:
Post a Comment