Roti, Chapati, or Phulka is a thinly rolled Indian bread made using whole wheat flour. It’s a simple everyday bread in most Indian households. It uses minimal ingredients and if you follow my simple steps, you will never go wrong with it.
Here are some more Indian Breads that you can make for your everyday meals – Tawa Paratha, Laccha Paratha, Poori, Punjabi Missi Roti, Methi Thepla and Khamiri Roti.
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About This Recipe
Roti is a very broad term which means any Indian bread. But popularly, it’s used for the simple everyday bread that’s made in every Indian household and it’s also called phulka, fulka or chapati.
It is a thin and round Indian bread that is made with whole wheat flour, traditionally known as atta. Every home makes Phulka or Chapati for lunch and dinner, especially in North India.
While rice is a part of everyday food in South India, phulka is a must in North Indian everyday meals. Easy to make and quick, it is also great to eat to keep your digestive system healthy.
It is an excellent source of fiber, which helps lower blood cholesterol levels, prevents constipation, and keeps your digestive system healthy.
All the ingredients made to use Roti are vegan. Don’t add in ghee in the dough or on the ready Phulka, for a vegan option.
Making perfect round phulka is a task and it’s not that easy to get it right with the first try. If not made in the right way, Chapati can get hard and you will not be able to enjoy that soft soft phulka. Therefore, make sure you use the right quantity of ingredients, knead the dough properly, and shape it well to get perfect phulka.
If you are making it for the first time or want to learn how to make this bread, you can give this recipe a try. Learn all the tips and tricks to make a perfect soft Roti.
This Roti/Phulka is,
- Vegan
- Soft
- Versatile
- Made with just 2 ingredients
- Perfect for everyday meals
Ingredients
To make chapati, you just need two ingredients – Whole Wheat Flour and Hot Water. You can also add a little salt while kneading the dough.
You can also prepare this Chapati or Phulka using Multigrain Flour, for your everyday meals.
Step By Step Recipe
Take flour in a bowl.
Add water little by little and knead to make a soft dough.
Knead the dough from the knuckles of our hand for 3-4 minutes until it is smooth.
Cover the dough and keep aside for 20 minutes.
Knead the dough once again and divide it into 8-10 equal size balls. Take one ball and slightly flatten it.
Dust and roll to make 6 inch circle. Chapati should be thin from the edges than the centre.
Heat a tawa and when the tawa is hot, transfer it on it. Cook for 2-3 seconds on one side.
Flip and cook for 3-5 seconds until light brown spots appear. Using a tong, cook it on the direct flame until puffed up and nicely browned. Apply ghee and serve hot.
Pro Tips By Neha
If you don’t get it right the first time, do not worry, it comes with practise. The more you make it, the better you get.
Buy best quality flour available. The flour should be freshly milled for best result. I mostly use Aashirvad Atta at home to make phulkas.
Follow the instructions and knead the dough well. Soft and Pliable dough is the key to soft rotis. Knead the dough with the knuckles of your fingers. Use hot water to knead the dough, it will result in soft roti.
Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes after you finish kneading.
While rolling the roti, try to keep the edges thinner than the center and use light hands to roll. Roll the Rotis evenly, otherwise, it won’t puff and result in hard rotis.
Make sure that the tawa is hot beforehand to cook the roti. If not hot, the roti will take time to cook that will give you hard rotis.
After putting the roti on hot tawa, cook it barely from one side and flip it. Now cook on this side until brown spots appear. this will make sure the roti puffs up.
Cook the Rotis little on tawa and then cook it directly on the flame so that they puff. Usually Rotis that puff results in soft Rotis.
Apply ghee on roti once done, to get the best taste out of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many people add room temperature water to their dough to make Roti, but if you add hot water to knead the dough, you will get comparatively softer fulka.
It denatures the gluten protein, resulting in a soft dough.
Also kneading the dough well is a key to make soft phulka.
Both these Indian flatbreads are popular and you can find them in almost all the North Indian restaurants.
Roti is an everyday affair that is made with whole wheat flour and is cooked on tawa or a flat skillet, whereas Naan is made only during special occasions, made with all-purpose flour, is leavened, i.e. uses yeast, and is cooked in a tandoor.
You can also cook a Naan on tawa, but using a different technique.
A good quality Tawa or Flat skillet is best to make fulka.
In India, the tawa that we use to make chapati is very slightly curved from the center but any heavy bottom flat skillet will work fine.
To cook it on induction, place the Phulka on a flat cast iron skillet and let it cook for about a minute or till you see brown spots appearing on it.
Now flip it and cook from the other side too.
Once you see brown spots appearing on the other side too, flip the chapati again and keep pressing the sides using a cotton cloth so that it fluffs up and cooks evenly.
Once it is cooked properly, take it out and serve.
As the traditional Phulka is made with Whole Wheat Flour, it is not gluten-free. Though you can use other flours such as Jowar, Makki, Ragi to make a gluten-free chapati.
Storage Suggestions
If you are packing it in your Lunch Box, place an aluminium foil first, then a paper towel, and then the phulka. This way they won’t be soggy.
You can even freeze them. Let it come down to room temperature. Once it is done, place a parchment paper between each roti and make a stack. Then transfer the entire stack into a freezer ziplock bag and freeze.
If you are freezing, you can also half cook them and freeze.
While reheating, just put it on the tawa and heat it until nice and warm. If you are reheating the frozen one, keep it on the counter for about 15 minutes and then heat it on the tawa until nice and warm.
If freezing the half cooked one, Keep it on the counter for 15 minutes, and then cook it fully using the Tawa.
Serving Suggestions
It is a versatile bread that goes with almost all the Indian Sabzis, Curries and Dals.
So you can serve it with any sabzi, curry or dal of your choice.
You can also make many recipes such as Poha, Cutlet etc with the leftover chapati.
Variations
You can also try the variations of chapati recipes, which you can make for your everyday meals – Tandoori Roti, Naan, Punjabi Missi Roti, Khamiri Roti, Masala Jowar Roti, and Multigrain Roti.
Add beet, spinach, or methi puree in the flour and make these chapathi even more nutritious.
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Recipe Card
Roti Recipe
Instructions
- Take flour a bowl.
- Add water little by little and knead to make a soft dough.
- Knead the dough from the knuckles of your hand for 3-4 minutes until it is smooth.
- Cover the dough and keep aside for 20 minutes.
- Knead the dough once again and divide it into 8-10 equal size balls.
- Take one ball and slightly flatten it.
- Dust and roll to make 6 inch circle.
- Roti should be thin from the edges than the centre.
- Heat a tawa and when the tawa is hot, transfer the roti on it.
- Cook for 2-3 seconds.
- Flip the roti and cook for 3-5 seconds until light brown spots appear on the lower surface.
- Using a tong, cook the roti on direct flame until puffed up and nicely browned.
- Apply ghee and serve hot.
Divya
What brand of flour do you use?
Thank you
Neha Mathur
I generally use Aashirwad.