Parathas/Chapatis – Step by Step

Instructions

STEP 1:  Add the salt to the flour. Rub in the 2tbsp ghee, then slowly add in the warm water or milk and knead until you have a lovely soft dough. The more you knead it the softer your parathas/chapatis will be.

Once it’s kneaded, divide the dough into two balls. Now refer to Step 1 of making the parathas and keep clicking Next to view the subsequent instructions!

STEP 2:  Roll each ball out, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Get it as round as you can. Then apply a light layer of ghee all over it. About half a tbsp. should be enough.

STEP 3:  Using a knife, divide the rolled out circle in half like this.

STEP 4:  Take the first half, and stretch it out a bit. Be gentle, we don’t want it tearing…we just need it to be slightly longer. The longer you can get it, the more layers your paratha/chapati will have. Just don’t make it tooooo stretched out , get it to about 1 and a half its original length!

Now start rolling the stretched out piece from one end to the other.

STEP 5:  Here’s how it will look when it’s all rolled up. You can tuck that little end bit in for a neater roll.

STEP 6:  Stand the roll on your board or working surface, and sort of tuck it into itself by pushing it gently and slowly down like in the pic. Use your fingers to do this. Push it all the way down neatly.

STEP 7:  This is how it will look when the roll is squished down. Repeat with the 2nd half of the circle.

Then do the same with the 2nd half of the dough we started with.

STEP 8:  So we now have 4 balls of rolled, ghee’d, stretched and squished dough from our recipe. Now set these aside, keep them covered and let them rest for about 15mins to half an hour. This helps get them super soft.

STEP 9:  Half an hour later, the rolls are ready for the next stage. They are now very soft to handle. I poked a finger into one of them just to indicate how soft they now are.

STEP 10:  Now one by one, roll out each ball into a circle. See the lines and layers? This is due to the ghee/rolling process we did earlier. It helps create layers so that your parathas/chapatis are really soft and crisp.

Make sure you place these rolled out chapatis on some lightly floured surface whilst you roll the rest so they don’t stick.

STEP 11:  Once all your parathas are rolled out, heat the tava/flat pan. When it’s hot, gently place one paratha/chapati on it and sort of dry cook it on both sides without adding any oil, for about a minute on either side. Do this with all the parathas, setting them aside once you’re done. They should look something like this photo. Sort of half-cooked.

When all are done, replace each one on the hot tava and add a bit of ghee underneath them and a touch of ghee on their tops…rub it on using the back of a spoon even, then cook them on both sides on medium heat until they are a lovely color on either side. Turn them over a couple of times to make sure they are getting evenly colored and not getting burnt. You can even cook 2 at a time by piling them one on top of the other, I notice this keeps them even softer, but you would need to be adept at making them so don’t try this on your first go. If you can pile and cook them using that method, then go ahead but be sure that you do both sides of each paratha/chapati, coz you don’t want them being uncooked on one side!

Once all are done, pile them one on top of the other, bring the sides together like you’re bunching them up and thump them down a couple of times. This is a trick I learnt some years back that leaves them really really soft. Careful though, coz they will be hot!

FINAL RESULT!  Here is how they will look once they are fully cooked. Beautiful and well-colored, soft yet slightly crispy around the edges.