How to make Phulka Chapathi

 

A brief insight to the History of Phulka Chapati

What is a Phulka chappatti or what is the difference between normal chapathi and Phulka chapati? Many people may have pondered about this question. In this blog I will try my best to alleviate all the lingering doubts you have.

So lets see what a Phulka chapati is. According to renowned food historian K T Acharya in his book "A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food', Chapati is a "thin 20 cm circlet of wheat dough, rolled out after thorough kneading and resting, and then dry-roasted on a slightly concave iron griddle, the thava. It can then be puffed out by brief contact with live coals to yield a phulka. Both are major ways in which wheat is consumed in India."

But to us a Phulka chapathi is a dish which is very nice and tasty, puffs up due to accumulation of steam inside and very delicious when eaten immediately with sabzis or curry. The major difference between phulka and normal is that one puffs up and tastes very good when eaten immediately while it is not applicable to the other.

And this recipe is also good for our body as a regular sized Phulka chapati contains 70-100 calories (cited from National Institute of Nutrition data). 

Now lets see how to make Phulka/Fulka chapati

 Ingredients for Phulka Chapati :

1. Wheat Flour / Atta - 3 cups
2. Salt - 1/3 Tbsp
3. Water - 1 1/4 cup
4. Oil - 2 tbsp
5. A bowl / flat surface to knead dough
6.  Rolling Board & Rolling pin
7. Tawa
8. A Tong / Pakkad
9. Ghee (optional)

Preparation Method

Firstly take a bowl and add 3 cup wheat flour and salt. Mix all together. Then you can add water little by little and start mixing. While you progress through this step you will notice the flour sticking together. 

Knead the dough thoroughly till its soft. It will take time but you have to execute it properly. You can watch the video for reference.

 

After the dough gets soft you can see your finger impressions on the dough. Now apply a coat of oil on the dough (I am using sunflower oil here).Just take a little oil in your palm and knead the dough once more. 

  

Now we can make balls for chapathi. For this quantity you will get 19-20 medium sized balls i.e. you will get 19-20 chapathis. Make balls and keep it aside.

  

Flatten the balls and dip in wheat flour. This is done so that we can roll the balls into chapati with less friction and as easily as possible. Sprinkle some flour on the rolling board before you flatten the chapati in round shape. This step will avoid chapati sticking on the board.

  

You can watch how I roll the chapati in the video given below. It is very easy to do. You can roll the chapathis and keep it aside. 

It is time to make chapatis. Heat a tawa/fry pan. Put a chapati in the pan and half cook one side. You can see a bubble texture in that side ( Refer the picture below). Then flip the chapathi and fully cook the other side.

  

Alright now using a Tongs / Pakad directly place the half cooked part of chapati on gas burner. You will see magic. The chapatti puffing up due to smoke accumulating inside.(Refer picture below). 

Your tasty Fulka chapatti is ready. Eat it hot with sabzis or curry that you have prepared. I will share sabzi recipe soon. Just stay tuned...