Chapati

Chapati is the everyday unleavened flatbread of the Indian subcontinent — a soft, blistered, almost paper-thin disc of whole-wheat atta, cooked on a dry tawa and puffed over a flame so the steam splits it cleanly from the inside. The dough is nothing but atta, water and a pinch of salt, kneaded for several minutes until it is silky and elastic, rested under a damp cloth for half an hour, then divided into small balls, rolled out with a belan (rolling pin) and cooked in less than ninety seconds. The result is a flatbread that is soft, chewy and slightly nutty, traditionally torn with the right hand rather than cut, and used to scoop dhal, sabzi, yogurt, pickles, or a mouthful of onion and green chilli. Chapati is the bread of homes and roadside dhabhas alike across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and it travels — every evening at a Mumbai commuter train, every dinner in a Hyderabadi Muslim household, every lunch in a small-town Gujarati thali. In Northern India it tends to be plainer and softer; in Gujarat, it sometimes carries a touch of ghee or oil in the dough. The bread is best hot, brushed with white butter, eaten within minutes of leaving the tawa.