Simple Chapati Recipe

Here is a simple, quick and easy, soft chapati recipe, the way it is made in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and other countries in the East African region. Bear in mind Indian chapati is made differently and a different type of flour is used!

Ingredients

  • 1 kg plain wheat flour ( like used for cakes)
  • 1/2 liter water (could be lukewarm)
  • 1/2 liter oil (NOT ALL IS USED! ;))
  • 2 teaspoons salt (slightly heaped)
  • For: 4
  • Preparation: 20 min
  • Cooking: 30 min
  • Ready in: 50 min

Instructions

  1. Pour the flour in a big enough bowl and add 6 - 8 table spoons of oil and salt and mix them thoroughly.
  2. Add the water and knead until it forms a firm dough which should not stick on the bowl wall. (With a food processor, this process can be greatly speeded up. Please check in the instruction manual, regarding whether the machine can mix stiff dough of 1 kilo flour (just over 2lb) + other ingredients (basically 1/2 liter of water). If not, try halving ALL ingredients).
  3. Prepare a clean, dry, lightly powdered rolling board. Cut the dough into 8 - 10 equal pieces.Rolling chapati
  4. Roll each to the diameter of about the size of a dinner plate. If properly mixed, even without a powdered rolling board, the dough should not be too soft or sticky. If it is, add some little flour until it is not. The consistency may vary, depending on the type of wheat flour used.
  5. Heat the pan until it is relatively hot. Carefully insert a chapati and wait until the lower side just starts to dry up. Turn it over and spread about a tablespoon of oil all over the surface as the lower side dries up lightly. After a few moments, turn the chapati over and repeat the same process. If the hotplate is not too hot, the lower side should turn golden brown after 11/2 to 2 minutes. Do the same for the other side. If they brown too fast or show signs of burning without getting ready, reduce the heat. The ready chapati should feel soft and have lightly browned patches (see picture).
  6. If one is fast enough, one can roll a chapati, while also minding the one in the pan. At such a pace, the total preparation time, should be about one hour. For the beginning, you could halve ALL ingredients. In the accompanying video, half the ingredients are used.

Notes

Important: because of an error when compiling the video, it appears to be many spoons of oil are added to the chapati in the pan. Actually only about 1 -2 teaspoons are needed for each side.

  • There are different forms of wheat flour in different countries. The East African chapati is made with PLAIN, white wheat flour. Other types of flour, for example whole meal types make dough with different properties unsuitable for this chapati. Please DO NOT confuse East African chapati with Indian chapati, which uses “atta” chapati flour, one can buy in some stores. Indian chapati is a different type.
  • If too little oil is added to the dough and if instead of using high heat, low heat leading to long cooking times, the chapati is likely to be hard & not soft. The chapati described, if the right flour and ingredients are used, coupled with the recommended cooking times is soft, flexible and “juicy”.
  • Chapati is best eaten warm and with most good meat or poultry sauces, as well as with vegetables. It can also be enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee. Cold chapati can be warmed up in a not too hot pan or oven. It then tastes fresh and soft… Chapati, which is widely eaten in many different parts of East Africa and India is prepared in different ways. In India for example, very little or no oil is used.
  • Feel free to share your method if it is considerably different.
  • Check out another chapati recipe, which is more elaborate than this ==> Mercy’s Chapati Recipe, with eggs and milk(!), but with better chapatis as well as Making African Chapati Like a Profi (for restaurants or occasions, like where you have to make lots of chapatis in a short time, or have a large household ;))
A Simple Chapati Recipe
Tagged on:

One thought on “A Simple Chapati Recipe

  • 03/07/2015 at 11:05
    Permalink

    Some comments copied & pasted from YOUTUBE to this video:

    orbituganda 10 months ago
    Hi Tatyana, your observation of what appears to be repeatedly adding oil is right BUT, you possibly missed the message in the Annotation (red box) appearing at about 4:39! U need only about 1-2 teaspoons/side. There was an error in making video! 😉
    ·

    B tac 1 year ago
    I use an extra step during rolling so I can create the “pages”
    ·

    mefun 123 10 months ago
    Baaaaaaaaaaad You add oil everytime… Yikes.. My mam and I made them without too much oil… They become unhealthy and too fat if you add oil every single second.. 🙁

    Shaiekh Abuhasan Shared on Google+ · 1 year ago
    بالعافية
    ·

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to Shawty Mackintosh
    @keziah91
    Hi
    Cornmeal certainly cannot do, because you cannot get dough you can roll with it & I think even if you did, whatever you’d get out of would not be “soft”, but tend towards hard & brittle + have a very different taste.

    The flour I use is common PLAIN WHEAT FLOUR, normally used for cakes & the like. Other types especially darker types, whose properties might be very different may not produce a similar dough or not taste as nice but one can make them “healthier” by adding a fraction.

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to TheMrAlexrj
    lol, the “safest” way 😉 is to use a food processor/machine is in part of the video clip. At the end, esp. if you use oil in the flour as shown, the dough you will have for rolling will not be sticky at all. Having said that, the dough is only sticky at the beginning, but as you knead on, using more flour, it is not that messy at all & you can rub off what is sticky from the palms into the rest of the mixture. I have never taken it as messy & probably most cooks NEVER :p

    Tradutora de Alemão ROSA 1 year ago
    very good

    LemursFriend 3 years ago
    How do you put the chapatis in the pan without ruining their shape? I tried to put one in the pan with it open in my hand but it got all wrinkled and stuck to itself. Then I tried to flatten it out again while it was cooking, without touching the pan. I also tried folding one in half to carry it to the pan and then unfolding it but it stuck to itself also.

    TheHighlyRated 4 years ago
    thanks orbituganda for this video. everytime i’ve tried to make chapati it’s solid rock hard! 😀 Hope I get it right this time round. Meanwhile could you upload a video on making rolex :D, like those from Wandegz (Wandegeya, Kampala)

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to Iane Mariane
    @gentlewind26 Hi, well compared to Indian chapati, yes, because East African chapati uses oil. However, as said from minute 4:39 in the video, a mistake was made in the video with a number of scenes showing oil being added being combined. As said in the speech bubble, about 1 – 2 teaspoons for each side should do. Give it a try. I’m sure u will like them esp. with some good sauce. If u don’t, I’m sure someone else will. 🙂 … U dont lose much with 1/2 kg flour, some water & oil. Regards

    ColdBoi 5 years ago
    Nice video you should put the cooking steps in your description box.

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to Pete Johnson
    @AUTubeN22
    Good to know you got acceptable results. With some more practice, as long as the right or approximate amounts of flour + water + oil are used and they get WELL-MIXED (this may need a few minutes of kneading) so no lumps form & the dough is uniform, … and plain wheat flour e.g for cakes white bread I’m sure will get it right soon. Other types of wheat flour may not be so good or need some experimenting to get the right type of dough. With chili con carne! Good idea to try out. 🙂

    Msbea345 4 years ago
    i love it

    Shawty Mackintosh 4 years ago in reply to orbituganda
    @orbituganda Thank You very much for the response. This certainly helped me. – Chao

    Iane Mariane 3 years ago
    isn’t it too oily?

    SuuupaSugoi 2 years ago
    This is making me so hungry.

    Knockturnall1 4 years ago
    Great video brotha. You like Bambu Station?

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to LemursFriend
    @LemursFriend Good something “delicious” came out. I must find out more about artichoke hummus. 😉 … same about Mr. Nice, probably right here on Youtube. 😉
    Regards

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to smukase
    @smukase
    Why not? :o) 😉

    irfand4 2 years ago
    Very impressive and inspiring. Compliments to the chef. TY for sharing.
    LemursFriend 3 years ago
    🙂 Thank you.

    orbituganda 1 year ago in reply to Judy A
    Good to know. 🙂

    Walter White 2 years ago
    thank you so much for the recipe! I will try this soon 🙂

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to Fantasha Windy
    @25whatif …. now you have no excuse with this simple illustration. 🙂

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to Furrinax
    That’s all “rein zufällig”. 😉

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to zigunairis
    Thanks for appreciating & I hope you also made some chapatis for yourself. Regarding the chef, who knows, may be it’s exactly because of his appearance that he’s hiding that face. 😛 😀 😉

    Lilly Namwanje 5 years ago
    i will say that u used to much oil on a chappati, I use less oil.

    xprt007 5 years ago
    I do some things differently, like the salt is mixed with water, etc … but I suppose it leads to the same result – tasty soft chapatis. Ultimately, that is what counts. Worth trying out the “breakfast version”.

    BinoandFino 2 years ago
    Looks tasty:) What well known East African dish can you eat the Chapati with?Thank you!

    Tuberinio1949 4 years ago
    It would be a lot healthier to use whole wheat flour as they do in India. Also, you’re adding a lot of salt and oil which also isn’t healthy. You only need a bit of oil and salt.

    Wolfgang 2 years ago
    Good music

    msgop1 3 years ago
    Hi great way to make ,I live in Thailand .
    I always dry cook my Chapatis and coat with butter or marg
    But will try your way see how it goes
    Is there a traditional east African bread?
    cheers

    bitzbitz13 3 years ago
    Kinda like frying tortillas

    orbituganda 4 years ago
    East African chapati is as easy to make as it appears. Give it a try. 🙂

    Anna Chaplin 1 year ago in reply to BinoandFino
    my ex husband always liked this with fish or beans.ITs so good ive attempted this 2x not as good as theirs but im craving it so bad.

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to tirinaj2
    @tirinaj2 Hi, it depends on what u mean by “regular” flour. If u mean PLAIN white wheat flour, i.e. NOT self-rising, etc, then that’s what is needed for the East African/Ugandan chapati. Other types of flour might have different properties & lead to a different result. Indian chapati for example, which is NOT described here requires special type of flour (atta) & is quite different from “our” chapati. There’s by the way a more elaborate recipe on this channel. Share your experience, 😉

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to habinishy
    I have not tried using butter, but probably it would not hurt trying. If you check out this channel, you will find another chapati recipe => Mercy’s Chapati Recipe, which uses about 1 egg / half a kilo. The chapatis are OK! The other day I was at a friend’s who “gambled” with 2 eggs/ 1/2 kg of flour & the chapatis where actually good! It’s just that in Uganda eggs are not normally used, but it does not mean u cannot use them. Just don’t TOO many or u will get some form of pancake & not a chapati

    MichiNiMayou00 4 years ago
    MMMMMMMM LUSHHH CHAPATIZZZ I LOVE EATIIN DEM EVERYDAY WIV DAAL AND SAAG AND GOOSHHTT!!!!

    revert20071 5 years ago
    well hot water,a pIch of salt and 1 or 2 TBS of oil will do for 1 cup of flour.and the best chapati should be thin and not suppose to be thick as in the video.usually when i flip over my chapati,i do not need to press the edges as they form the “balloon” by itself when it is think and nice round shape.

    smukase 4 years ago
    u r a guy lol that s hot

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to Tulia Mulibinge
    @664422101 Hi, plain white wheat flour, such as that used for making cakes. 😉

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to Tuberinio1949
    @Tuberinio1949 Hi, u are right in a way, HOWEVER I must say E.A. chapati is made with PLAIN white wheat flour which is widely available.In the place where I currently reside (Europe),all the Indians I have talked to say “your” chapati requires a special type of flour (atta?) only found in some shops. The other wholemeal types used here to make diff. types of bread dont make the right type of workable chapati dough. Bec. of the way its made the EA chapati is I personally think a diff. product.

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to cheerfullgiver
    @cheerfullgiver
    With “normal”, i.e plain white wheat flour, like that used for making cakes (there are variations wheat flour) + adding oil to the flour & rubbing it in or making sure u mix it well + cooking ther chapatis on a hot flame, so they brown relatively fast (without burning) normally leads to soft chapatis. Certainly when they cool down they become harder but certainly not “rock” hard. Warming softens them. B4 that I never used to add oil & heated ’em long on low heat > hard chapatis.

    Shawty Mackintosh 4 years ago
    i would

    Fantasha Windy 3 years ago
    wooooooow i love it i never had time to learn who to cook Chapati
    thanks so much

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to Kajujuu
    Hey, thank you for that link. just checked it out. I am sure it tastes good, but quite elaborate to make. Hope to try it out sometime. My version is I guess faster to make, but simpler.

    Pete Johnson 4 years ago
    nicelooking chapati’s! i tried it but they was a bit rough so i must have got the ingredience and mixing/needing wrong but they taste ok whernt too crumbly! 🙂 had them with chilli con carney! home made of course! 🙂 thanks m8

    orbituganda 4 years ago
    🙂

    Gingersweets1 2 years ago
    Thank you 4 that !!! I appreciate you sharing your cooking skills & receipes . 😉

    LullabyOfZombie 3 years ago
    is this called serabi too? LOL it seems so or maryam? well no idea looks delicious

    Pete Johnson 4 years ago
    ok thanx i used the wrong flour i’me sure now and i will have lots more practice too! hope you enjoy your recipe with a chilli soon 🙂

    zigunairis 2 years ago
    HMM NICE WHERE IS THE HANDSOME OR PRETTY FACE OF THE CHEF COOK HAA.AAAAAAAAAAAA THIS DISH LOOKED GREAT THANXS FOR SHARING.

    Shawty Mackintosh 4 years ago
    I wanted to know if there is a possible way to use all purpose flour…or cornmeal flour. if i dont have the wheat flour?

    LemursFriend 3 years ago
    PS Forgot to say, I like Abba too! Take A Chance On Me is great background music. LOL I also like Mr. Nice. (one of his albums anyway)

    cpmower 4 years ago
    mmm. This Mzungu, LOVES chapati. With breakfast, its nice to take the cane sugar, and sprinkle it on the chapati. Its a nice touch..

    fancynancyjw 3 years ago
    Hi, this is neat. Could I get some information on the instrumental played at 3:55/ Thanks.

    Mamoudou Doumbouya 5 years ago
    Nice, well-made and easy to follow recipe! 🙂

    ndayima 3 years ago
    Can you please make a video on how to make Pilau Step by Step thankyou!

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to ndayima
    @ndayima Hi, there is a “type” of pilau recipe on the Orbituganda Youtube channel. Simply click the “orbituganda” link on this page to access the channel page & scroll to “Sophie’s pilau recipe”. Alternatively use Google with that as the search term => “Sophie’s pilau recipe, orbituganda”. Bear in mind there are many versions of pilau. ;). Regards

    Aliyah Cameron 3 years ago
    best best recipe for chapati, tried making it today and came out hard but ill follow this one next time around!! 🙂

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to TheHighlyRated
    @TheHighlyRated
    Hi, 🙂
    Never made a “Rolex”, but will see what to do.

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to EricKhalisee WinchesterNorthman
    @MissLillith666 Hi, good to know. Would appreciate some feedback after you try them out.

    LemursFriend 3 years ago
    I tried the recipe and I kneaded I think for about 5 minutes. It went well. I think I used enough oil for the first chapati but not enough for the second one, so it turned out kind of crunchy… I ate them with artichoke hummus, like the Mediterraneans do. They were delicious! 🙂 I cut the recipe in half since it was just for me. I used about 1 and a half cups of flour, since I don’t have a scale. Mr. Nice is a Tanzanian singer. He sings “Rafiki.” I thought you might have heard of him. 🙂

    Tulia Mulibinge 3 years ago in reply to orbituganda
    @orbituganda
    but what the name of it cuz there is a lot like that.

    AbstractMan23 4 years ago
    what is the music? very nice!!

    neerusonu 4 years ago
    i guess your one oil bottle done in one day…lol..

    Belinda Okech 2 years ago
    woow!!wonderfully explained.and your chapatis look mwaaah!!!id love to eat them nikija home.inbox deetails id love to come for lunch with my family.ill bring you of course something from these sides though theres nothing more tastythan chapati ya home.thanks for poting.great job

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to loveisepick
    True, chapati is originally from India, but there are lots of variations nowadays in other parts of the world. It was probably brought to East Africa when Indian “coolies” where brought by the British during the colonial days to build the East African railway. Many settled there with time. In any case other variations of chapati, including the East African chapati, using oil & plain white wheat flour with time, I guess.

    maria medellin 2 years ago
    ESO SE VE SANO AND DELICIOS

    Kain Killuminati 1 year ago
    IT GOOD

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to AbstractMan23
    @AbstractMan23
    Played by Mamoudou Doumbouya, the song “La Guinee” & used with his express permission. Youtube Channel user >>mamoudou06<< orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to dirtyarris @dirtyarris Hi, his Youtube channel username => mamoudou06

    Nixon Wegulo 2 years ago
    It’s been 5 years away. I miss being home.

    golve mimi 1 year ago
    beurk c’est hyper gras ton chapati…ça donne pas envie…

    TheMrAlexrj 3 years ago
    How to miw the dough and dont have the hands with flower gluying on it?
    Belinda Okech 2 years ago in reply to zigunairis
    hahahahahaaa.was also waiting to see.a guy who cooks so lovely must be hunk!!!wooow.will make sure i cook chapati for lunch this weekend.salamu mob

    J’Hue Casey 3 years ago in reply to habinishy
    If you haven’t tried yet, you can use butter. You might want to melt it first though so it mixes better.

    Brenda H 5 years ago
    a man i making those?…
    wow!
    im a women and i cant

    LemursFriend 3 years ago
    Thank you! I can’t wait to try this recipe! How long should I knead it by hand if I don’t have one of those dough mixer thingys? This is pretty similar to Native American frybread. 🙂 I love chapatis and frybread! Woohoo! I got to eat chapatis when I was in Tanzania and frybread when I was in Colorado. I was a volunteer sayansi mwalimu in Tanzania. Every tea time they served us chapatis and hot sweet tea. Yum! Why don’t Americans have tea time? 🙂 I’d like that.

    LemursFriend 3 years ago
    I hope you enjoy learning about hummus and Mr. Nice. 🙂 Regards

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to Kajujuu
    You are right. The reason “Indian chapati” is mentioned to differentiate from the East African types, is many folks do not know there is a difference & if you just use the search term “chapati”, you can land on the “wrong” chapati, i.e. not the one you know or were expecting. There are lots of Indian & African chapati recipes on Youtube & online in general.

    Tulia Mulibinge 3 years ago
    What is the flour yall using???

    EricKhalisee WinchesterNorthman 3 years ago
    This looks pretty much like the Romanian pancakes, expect that the dough it’s harder for Chapati. I’m gonna try and make it, doesn’t look THAT difficult.

    kiklopone 2 years ago
    ham ham i hungry now! great :)=

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to cpmower
    @cpmower Hi muzungu 😉 Good to know. 🙂

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to Jew Pacabra
    None of them is a must. The teflon pan is preferable to me because it allows frying/cooking stuff without anything “sticking” to the bottom. You can of course use another you have. Regarding the fork, you can use any utensil that can do the job! 😉

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to neerusonu
    @neerusonu No way. 😉 If you look at the annotation comment, a mistake made during compilation of the video gives that impression, because different scenes showing adding oil to DIFFERENT chapatis in the pan where wrongly combined. One is made to think it’s one chapati getting all that oil. About 2 teaspoons/side is I think not unusual for the E. A. chapati, I think. The Indian chapati 4 example, if I’m not mistaken is made differently & hardly involves any if not little oil, etc 🙂

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to msgop1
    @msgop1 Hi :), there many ways I think to make chapatis. In India, where I think they originate from, they don’t use oil, I think. In E.A., they are mostly made the way I describe, though some people do some things a little different. Not aware of strictly “East African” types of bread, but that does not mean they are not there. Some people refer to Ugali/posho (see video on THIS channel) made from maize or millet flour as “bread”, ie. maize/millet bread but I think its for lack of a better term

    PUROMAMBO3790 3 years ago
    is this different than the ones they make in India?

    Kajujuu 2 years ago
    If you try East African chapati specifically Kenyan chapati you’ll know the difference between that and Indian chapati. The look and taste is totally different, the chapati have layers. The Kenyan recipe is a little more complicated as well.

    Jemimah Kuteesa 2 years ago
    im ugandan and my mum always cooks that

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to LemursFriend
    @LemursFriend If you use “normal” plain wheat flour used for cakes, etc, … like I do, add oil to the dough & do not deviate too much from the ingredient amounts used, at least in my case, the dough is not sticky. I actually almost never need to powder the rolling board. Other types of flour or to much water may give the dough different properties. If they are sticky, though, powdering the board with some flour usually helps when rolling & moving them to the pan.

    lee lucido 2 years ago
    thanks buddy, now i know how to make chapatti.. i will make my own now and not asking my indian and bengali and nepali frnd to buy some for me
    Abdulghani Abdo 2 years ago
    very nice, simple and authentic , love it

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to PUROMAMBO3790
    Hi, it is certainly, because although it has origins in India, the East African chapati has evolved into something a bit different. We used PLAIN wheat flour suitable for cakes & white bread & includes oil, at least during the cooking part. Indian chapati, roti requires a specific type of flour (atta) & I think does not include oil or much of it. Some Indians I know said the plain wheat flour could not work.

    adeh29 2 years ago
    this was really helpful, so easy to follow, thanx for the recipe…

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to smukase
    @smukase

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to Gingersweets1
    Thank you for appreciating! 🙂

    Charlotte A. Okundi 2 years ago
    this is so cook just that need to make mine as soft as his because mine the dough is soft but i don’t know why the chapatis feel a llittle hard. otherwise thnx
    am a stastician by profession but i love cooking so much, its my passion so i need more lectures in many areas.

    Jew Pacabra 2 years ago
    cool cool but why teflon and why teflon and fork?

    Tuberinio1949 4 years ago in reply to orbituganda
    @orbituganda

    Yes the flour I use is atta flour which is whole wheat but very light. To one cup of atta I add 1/3 tsp salt and a few drops of oil just to make the dough easier to knead. The flavor of atta is very good. There are different grades of atta; some are more expensive. Ordinary whole what flour can be substituted but the chapatis are much heavier.
    t rex 5 years ago
    Excellent

    Kajujuu 2 years ago in reply to loveisepick
    For the Kenyan version of chapatis /watch?v=SM_H9J2YP0c

    Massab9 1 year ago
    In the beginning I thought that Indian Chapati was the same as African untill I saw the Indian ones Rising like balloons, then I quickly changed channels.. these one look like the one from my child hood in Ug.. can’t wait to learn this!
    habinishy 3 years ago
    can e used butter instead of oil.. and can we add an egg? hehe just asking!

    orbituganda 3 years ago in reply to LemursFriend
    @LemursFriend Hi, I should say you knead for 5 – 10 minutes, to ensure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. The dough is relatively stiff. [Doubling the ingredients means using a bit of muscle power]. I’m sure there are better ways of making East African chapati, but this is simple & fast. ;). I hope u enjoy it. Wouldn’t mind some feedback. You can introduce “teatime” to America”!!! :). Mr. Nice”? …?

    orbituganda 4 years ago in reply to orbituganda
    … in your case, I cannot say exactly what is different. What I say is from my own experience & that of a couple of people I have watched do it their way or followed my recipe. In case you’re doing part of what I say a little different, try the things I emphasize, to 500g (just over 1 pound), make u add 3 – 4 tablespoons of oil, … mix well, b4 adding water, etc Dont give up, we’ll see what to fine-tune, in case u report back 😉

    orbituganda 2 years ago in reply to SuuupaSugoi
    Quite relieved you do not get ANGRY but “hungry” 🙂 . Go ahead and make some chapatis so u dont stay hungry.

    karlo ayala 1 year ago
    Nice background music 😛

    orbituganda 5 years ago in reply to Lilly Namwanje
    @lillian1989
    Thanks for your comment. There was a mistake made when creating the video as explained in the annotation added to the video. 1 – 11/2 teaspoons per side should do.

Comments are closed.