RECIPE: Mmmmm Chapattis

Hello friends :) Sorry for the month long hiatus...so many things have happened in this past month! From the Bridge to Health medical camps to the Uganda Elections to some news about my program in Ghana. Of course, I must ease my way back into the blogging world by posting some delicious recipes that I have learned from the wonderful and most fabulous Patricia a.k.a. Patsie.

I first experienced Chapattis during my first time in Indaia about 2 years ago. They are, dare I say, better versions of tortillas. You can eat them with ANYTHING: meat, fruits, veggies, peanut butter, plain, with eggs...anything and everything. I am going to teach Patricia how to make breakfast burritos with chapattis because imagine the possibilites.

Enjoy the deliciousness my friends :)

PATSIE'S CHAPATTI'S

MATERIALS

-medium/large bowl

-measuring spoons

-flat iron skillet

-wooden spoon

-measuring cups

RECIPE

In a medium/large bowl add and mix with either hands or the wooden spoon:

- 1 pound of all purpose flour

- a couple pinches of salt

- 4-5 tablespoons of oil

After mixing well, slowly add until dough-like consistency:

-warm water

AND/OR

-warm milk

-1 or 2 eggs

-onions and carrots

You can mix in more salt/flour/water until you get the proper dough consistency (light and springy)

Cover the dough and let it rest for about 10 minutes

IN THE MEANTIME: chill, relax, watch the dough rise, whatever makes you happy

--fifteen minutes later--

Flour up your hands and begin to make dough balls (a little bit smaller than the size of a fist). You can either use the:

a) Pull and Roll Method- pull some dough and then roll it out on a flat surface to make the dough balls

b) Pull and Squeeze Method (my method of choice)- pull out some dough and then squeeze out a ball of dough between the pointer finger and thumb. The edges are a lot smoother and there is less creasing with this method.

Proceed to use up the remainder of dough for the dough balls, frequently flouring your hands.

Begin to heat up your flat iron skillet to medium heat

It’s Roll Time

-flour your hands, table and rolling pin

- take one of your dough balls and begin to roll it out into an EVEN circle

-flip the dough often to make sure all sides are lightly coated with flour and that there is uniform thickness, then set aside

-continue the whole process until all dough balls are rolled out into chapattis

Fry Time is the Right Time

-put about a cup of veggie oil into a small bowl or cup and *using a spoon* lightly drip some oil onto the hot skillet

*BE CAREFUL WITH HOT SKILLETS AND OIL, THEY CAN BURN YOU*

-carefully put one chapatti on the oiled skillet and then using your hand, swivel the dough around so the bottom is evenly coated with oil.

-put about 3 dips of oil on the top of the chapatti, wait about 30seconds, check to see if the bottom is beginning to become golden brown and then flip the chapatti using a spatula (or your hands if you really want to try to be an authentic Ugandan cook)

-swivel the chapatti to make sure the oil evenly coats the surface

-wait about 30 seconds and check to see if there are golden brown/brown spots on the bottom of the chapatti. If there aren’t: wait. If there are: flip the chapatti over one last time for about 10 seconds then bada bing badaboom you have one finished chapatti!

Now repeat for the rest of your uncooked chapattis and then either eat them plain or you can eat them with anything else

Webare Munonga and Enjoy :)