| content | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008) |
Chapati is a staple flat bread of North India, East Africa, and Western India. It is rather thin, unleavened cooked dough. It is a type of roti.
Contents |
Origin
Chapati or chapatti (Marathi: पोळी Hindi: चपाती, Urdu: چپاتی, IPA: [tʃəpɑt̪i]). Prepared in South Asia and East Africa, in many areas of South Asia, mostly India and Bangladesh also particularly in the north of the subcontinent, and in East Africa, it is the staple food. Chapati also finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari , a 16th century document, by Mughal Emperor, Akbar’s vizier, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak [1].
Size
Chapati sizes vary depending on region and change slightly from kitchen to kitchen. In general, an Indian chapati is approximately 12-15 cm (~5-6 inches) in diameter[2] , while in Pakistan a chapati or roti is often larger, between 15-30 cm (~6-12 inches) in diameter.citation needed
In some regions of India,where? a chapati can be less than five centimeters in diameter.
It is made from a dough of atta flour (whole grain durum wheat), water and salt. The dough is rolled out into discs of approximately twelve centimeters in diameter on a platform with a rolling pin. Then it is browned on both sides on a very hot, dry tava or frying pan (preferably not one coated with Teflon or other nonstick material).
If the chapati is held for about half a second directly into an open flame, causing it to puff up with steam, it becomes the Gujrathi and Punjabi phulka. The steaming can also be achieved by placing the chapati in a microwave oven for five to ten seconds. However, because microwave can cause the chapati to become soggy, a heated grill or open gas flame is often used.
Often, the finished chapatis are smeared with ghee (clarified butter). Variations include replacing part of the wheat flour with pearl millet (bajra) or maize (makka) or (jowar) flour. The chapatis are then referred to in Hindi as bajra roti or makke ki roti and in Marathi and Gujarati bhakri. When a mixture of pearl millet, maize and gram flour is used, the chapati is called a missi roti. In the southern and eastern parts, one cannot have that option for all the terms roti, chapati, paratha or kulcha would imply majorly, if not exclusively maida contents. In some parts of Maharashtra, chapati is called poli. In Gujarat and Punjab it is called rotli or phulka.
Serve
Chapatis are usually eaten with cooked dal (lentil soup) or vegetable (Indian curry) dishes, and pieces of the chapati are used to wrap around and pick up each bite of the cooked dish. They are also eaten with meat dishes like chicken and mutton curry.
See also
References
- ^ Of Bread Ain-i-Akbari , by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. English tr. by H. Blochmann and Colonel H. S. Jarrett, 1873 – 1907. The Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta, Volume I, Chapt, 26, page 61.
- ^ Bladholm, Linda (2000). The Indian Grocery Store Demystified. Macmillan, p. 35. ISBN 1580631436.
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
