Chapattis is one of the most loved Christmas foods in East Africa. The cooking process may seem easy, but most people run into troubles, even making the standard rotis. Though chapattis is commonly prepared during Christmas and special occasions, it’s now becoming a meal for every season and time with several healthy and innovative ways of preparing it.
Major issue you can encounter while preparing Chapattis:
Your chances of ending up with hard chapattis are high if a good care isn’t taken during the kneading process. This post teaches you all that you need to get the best Chapattis. If you are a vegan, just read on. You’ll find the guides equally useful.
Before we get down to cooking, let us have a quick overview of the East African culture.
East African Culture
The East African countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, and South Sudan) share a lot in common. Their cuisine comprises of maize, cassava, ugali and dough-like mass. Breakfast is served from six to nine in the morning, lunch from noon to two, while supper from eight to ten in the evening.
Washing hands and praying before and after meals is mandatory. Eating or handling food with the left hand is unacceptable. Drinking and eating at the same time is not allowed. Walking inside the house with shoes or sandals is not acceptable.
When inviting visitors for a feast, it’s always advocated to know their religion. This is because some religions have certain food restrictions. Take for example, Islam. The Muslims do not drink alcohol nor eat pork. Similarly, people practicing certain traditional African religion may not eat certain meat or vegetables.
Sitting positions are key during meals. Siting while pointing your toes to others or food is prohibited. Talking during meals is not encouraged, not unless it’s important.
[bctt tweet=”In East African culture, it is a taboo to serve muslims with alcohol or pork”]
Now from matters of culture to our recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups of baking flour (all-purpose or Ajab)
- 2 cups of warm water
- Canola oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt
- 1 bunch of coriander (finely chopped)
- 2 carrots (zested)
Guide
- Using a flour sifter, sift your flour in small amounts in a separate bowl to make it well aerated
- Transfer your sifted flour into a clean medium-sized basin. Add salt, 100ml cooking oil, zested carrots, coriander, and sugar. Using your hands, mix the ingredients thoroughly
- Transfer the flour to a dough mixer, add water and power the mixer on
- If you do not own a dough mixer, you can add water and knead the dough with your hands. Make sure the dough is not too soft nor hard.
- Sprinkle oil on the dough and cover it for 3 to 4 hours
- Once your dough has cooled down, divide it into sizeable rounded balls
- Place your pan in a source of heat to give it enough time to heat
- Sprinkle some baking flour on the kneading surface and roll each ball into a thin layer. Apply cooking oil on the surface. Using a knife or spoon handle, cut the radius and lift one of the sides and fold inwards to form a cone.
- Tuck the remaining end into the cone while pressing the bottom and the top to make a rounded ball. Repeat the process for each ball
- Sprinkle some flour on the kneading surface and roll your balls to the desired size
- Add 1 tbsp of cooking oil to your pan, wait for 10 seconds then place your chapatti. Cook it until each side is light brown. Apply cooking oil on both sides as you turn until each side attains a golden brown look. Repeat the process for each piece
- Serve while hot with a stew of your choice and some vegetable
If you love this carrot and coriander stuffed chapatti recipe, you may also like: