Chapati bread, also known as Roti, is is an exotic flat bread to us Middle Europeans. The day when I entered India, I learned my first typical Indian food lesson. It is the most simplest bread in the world but its use is so versatile. You can use it to spoon up Curry, Daals and other dishes or you can transform it into a stuffed chapatti roll or you can even have it as breakfast with some honey on it. The chapati bread is popular all over India and I believe across the borders too. Literally every single household in India prepares and cooks chapati every single day in a year and around a billion people consume it every day. The numbers speak for themselves!
My relations from Europe had come down to Goa recently, in that time I had the chance to introduce them to some of the local specialties. The girls were not that much into spicy food so we tried to take it easy. The locals in Goa cook chapati in the morning with ghee (clarified butter) which gives a nice comforting flavor to the chapati bread. So my sister would always enjoy a fresh made ghee chapati topped with some home made Passion Fruit Strawberry Jam of mine. That was the time they suggested I would write a post about chapati, because they wanted the recipe and because their friends would of course need it too!
I decided to write about the ghee chapati bread version since it has more flavors, is addictive and it has multiple useful purposes. For the orientation I have added easy to follow step by step pictures so that you can reproduce the chapati bread in ease. Its fun to make your own chapatis from scratch and very simple, nothing can stop you now! 
- ½ kilogram whole wheat flour (atta)
- pinch salt
- 2 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Cup Water
- Ghee (clarified Butter)
- Start by mixing the Flour and the salt well, make a well and add the oil and water. Mix and work out the dough on a board. It should never be soft but rather harder! Let it rest for 10 min covered with some flour.
- Take some dough into your hand and form it into a ball.
- Roll that ball out with little flour so that it doesn’t stick and spread some ghee on the surface of the dough.
- Fold the dough circle as shown into a “Parcel”.
- Roll the dough “Parcel” out again. The form will be square.
- Dust it a bit so that the flour won’t burn while cooking and add the raw chapati to the preheated flat pan. Cook 1 side first for 10 seconds, then the other side.
- Turn a 2nd round and this time spread little ghee onto the surface. Turn it again and spread on that side some ghee too. The chapati will blow up a bit but not that much as it does when cooked without ghee.
- Some parts will get a bit dark and a cow freckles pattern will appear. That’s normal, that’s how it is prepared everywhere! I have seen people even frying it in a gas cooker flame or on an open fire.
Today I am further Guest posting on Chef Dennis wonderful Blog. You will discover a traditional Goan Veg Sorak Curry on the other side.
The Chapatis together with the Curry are a perfect start into Indian Food culture and if you want to learn more about this wonderful, mysterious cuisine. By the way, there is a little surprise picture in that guestpost for you all to discover too!!
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
you know I was horrible at making chapati or roti and only recently i learned it
I love these kind of folded layered paratha 
lovely and great idea to have this for breakfast with jam – truly multicultural eating
What a delicious looking bread – I adore chapati all day everyday
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you so much for such a delicious Guest Post Helene, I love it!
Your flatbread looks amazing, Helene! And I loved your guest post.
PS…I discovered that I have children your age!!! Makes me feel old
I didnt intend to make u feel old!! You have surely gained wisdom in your life which I have not.
These look wonderful (and I really enjoyed your post over on Chef Dennis).
I’ve been meaning to try my hand at roti. Yours looks delicious!
I’ve yet to encounter an Indian bread that I don’t absolutely adore…and roti is no exception! Thanks for the recipe…love that I can make it at home now!
I have never made chapati before, but they look wonderful! I am such a huge fan of Indian flatbreads.
you know what, I actually made ghee yesterday! (: and then this shows up. perfect.
My Indian neighbor makes chapati from scratch and I’ve seen from the beginning to the end. It’s so much fun and delicious when we make from scratch isn’t it? My husband just left for India this afternoon. He’ll be enjoying all the spicy Indian food (as I can’t eat spicy, you know.
). Have a great weekend!
Indian breads are the best! I can’t believe how easy it is to make them. Maybe I’ll give it a go soon, especially seeing as the weather is starting to cool down a little bit in my part of the world which means that it’s the perfect time to start making curries again! (and of course, accompanying them with chapati
)
Roti bread is so fantastic and I couldn’t imagine eating an Indian curry without roti bread. How delicious! Your recipe looks great xx
Hi Helene, your chapati look delicious and very well done. I have not try making chapati, so far only naan and prathas. Thanks for your step by step photos. Your chapati presentation looks lovely.
Have a nice weekend.
Now that makes a lot of sense…all that Ghee in the bread dough…no wonder it’s so damn good. I am disappointed, though, it’s not as healthy as I was lead to believe. But it does propose itself to a splurge every now and then.
Eva you can make the roti without ghee too, in fact its more common in india without ghee.
I think my kids would love this for breakfast too! And me too…
Oh yum! It’s very much like a Mexican tortilla, isn’t it? I’m sure making it is trickier than it seems, but I make a pretty good chicken curry that my hubby likes, and this would be nice to add!
I thought the same that day when I saw my first torilla in my life. lol
That’s similar to the plain Chinese pancakes and the scallion pancake. Very helpful tutorial.
I love homemade rotis!
Thanks for sharing!
Wow, I love chapatis – I don’t think I ever had home-made ones before, or indeed knew of anyone who did home-made ones. You make it seem much too easy Helene. I find Indian cooking some of the easiest to master. No matter what I do I can almost never get it right. You make me want to try these though – Maybe if I follow your instructions attentively enough…
I have wanted to make roti bread for a long time. It just seems beyond me but your instructions give me courage!
I love Indian flat breads! My favourite when I go to an Indian restaurant (I never take rice, I prefer to concentrate on garlic bread…).
Your chapati not only looks delicious, but also not that difficult thanks to the step-by-step photos. Thank you for the great recipe! I have been cooking a bit more Indian food recently, so I might try your recipe soon.
Ack! Homemade roti! I love it
Roti is one of the first ‘Caribbean’ dishes I ate when I moved to Cayman…little did I know it was really Indian and the Trinidadians had just dressed it up their way. Great post! And well done guest blogging over at Chef Dennis’!
Mmmm I’ve been wanting to make chapatis for a long time and you’ve given me the inspiration! Thanks for your step by step instructions! I’ve bookmarked this to try soon
I have had these once at a restaurant and they were very tasty. No doubt your homemade ones here taste amazing. Great tutorial also, you do make it look easy! Cool you have done a guest post, popping over there now!
Oh Helene, you are so right! Nothing can stop us from making this! I absolutely LOVE roti! Wrapped in curried chicken or used to scoop is heavenly.
This is comfort food at its best. Love the paratha.. (ghee chappati)
WOW!!!
You did great job with this paratha here!!! ( we call it paratha as applying ghee/fat makes layers… the word paratha is actually from parat in hindi which means layers…)
Beautiful!!
Chapati, and Naan, are to Indians what tortillas are to Mexicans. We both eat and use our breads the same way. As much as I love Indian breads, and I have yet to make any. Thanks for sharing your recipe, I’m going to give it a try. The recipe is quite similar to our flour tortillas
I love chapati, look forward to trying this now.
I use exactly the same ingredients to make my chappatis but I’ve never rolled them like that – great tutorial and something I will definitely try.
Living in the ME, there is something like that here, although it’s called something different. Great recipe and cool pictures!
I just don’t believe my eyes that you are making parathas. They are so nicely made and cooked.
thank u thats nice from u! =D
Another perfect and timely post. I love chapati and naan and have been dying to learn to make both but for some reason this scares me! It seems so complicated. Thanks so much for the great step-by-step photos and your recipe! Now it is my turn!
That squared shaped paratha is what I grew up eating! It’s triangular these days
These look so delicious! I had a bad experience at a restaurant last time I ordered these. They failed to actually cook them through. BLERGH. Yours look absolutely perfect!
i think this is the first time I actually see a step by step chapati recipe.
Thanks Helena for sharing, they look delicious.
This Reminds me of Chinese pancake. I made them few time, lots of work but worth it. Got to try chapati too. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Sandra!
I have never seen a Chinese pancake, that’s new to me. For sure these kind of things take lots of work. You have to imagine that people here make that everyday for breakfast in the morning and for the day in advance.
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