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by Shilpa | 07.30.2006 | Posted in Information center Secret Gardens- Terrariums!! friends like.

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Many people had asked me to post ‘how to make soft chapathis and phulkas’. Finally I
am here with this post. Those who are expert in chapathi/phulka making, skip this post. next >
Get this widget ...
My experience with chapathi/phulka was very bad. When I started cooking, I could
never make soft chapathis/phulkas. They used to come out very hard. I still remember
one incident that happened in my previous office. There was a bachelor guy, who was
very humerous and never missed any chance of pulling my leg. He used to sit beside Bread (10)
my desk. One weekend we were working and he said he was very hungry and asked me
Breakfast or snacks (115)
for my lunch box. Though I warned him about my chapathi, he insisted on eating it.
When he tasted it, he said, ‘Shilpa, me isse acha roti bana leta hoon (I can make better Cake decorating (16)
chapathis)’. He went on commenting how bad were my chapathis. That was the biggest Cakes, Cookies, Pies (47)
insult I have ever got. Then he went on telling people about my chapathis. After that I
Chaats and Street food (13)
tried and tried and now I can make the perfect soft chapathis.
Chicken (34)
So here it goes…. Chutneys and bhajis (27)
Clams (4)
Take 2 tbl spoon of water and add 1/2 tea spn salt, add 1 tea spn of oil to make the
chapathis soft. Then add wheat flour (1 cup). Mix and gradually add water/flour to Crab (2)
make the dough. (Some people make the dough with warm milk to make the Dosa Corner (28)
chapathi/phulkas soft). Now apply 1-2 tea spns of oil to the dough. Keep it aside for
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around 30 mins to 1hr.
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(Chapathis/phulkas can also be made without milk and oil. But I usually add oil, have My lunchbox (32)
not tried milk any time. My mom makes very soft chapathis without oil and milk. She NonVeg (77)
just keeps the dough for around 1hr before making chapathis/phulkas).
Noodles (5)
Most important thing to make them soft is Parathas and rotis (13)
- Dough should not be very hard Pastries and puffs (2)
- Leaving the dough for 1hr before making the chapathis/phulkas
- Frying of the chapathis/phulkas make a lot of difference. So I have taken the pictures Pickles and powders (26)
of each step. Pizzas and Pastas (19)
- Do not leave chapathis for longer time on the tava, so use hot tava for frying. Poha/Avalakki (7)
- Once fried, stack the chapathis/phulkas one above the other and immediately close
h
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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
the lid. This keeps them hot and soft. The chapathis/phulkas which are down in the Prawns(Shrimp) (18)
stack are more softer. So reverse the stack after some time, so that the topmost Rice items (51)
becomes the bottommost. This way all the chapathis remain soft.
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Chapathi: Simple and Easy (78)

Usually for chapathi, the dough is made into a small puri, ghee is added in the between Soups (14) November 2010 (5)
and folded into triangular shape and then again rolled to make chapathi. This October 2010 (4)
Starters (16)
procedure makes the chapathis more soft. Usually chapathis are more thicker than
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phulkas(it is not a hard and fast rule).
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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas July 2006 (29)
Take extra care while frying them. Heat the tava to very hot. Then keep the chapathi.
June 2006 (32)
Turn it when you can see it fried from down.
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Fry on second side then turn and fry.

Then turn again ie, each side should be fried twice to make sure it is fried properly. (At
the max turn it thrice, if it is turned again and again, chapathis become hard). Then
apply ghee. (Unlike phulka, chapathis are fried completely on tava, but phulkas are
fried on tava and then on direct flame).

Phulkas:
Roll the dough as thin as possible (no folding).

Keep the tava on hot tava and reduce the flame. When you can see just white patches,
turn it (chapathi should be fried as more as possible during each turn, but for phulkas,
the side should be fried only a little on tava, see the below pictures).

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas

Turn and then fry on the second side.

This side should be fried a bit more than on the first side, it should be almost fried
from this side).

Now on a high flame, keep the phulka on direct flame (first side down).

Within one minute the phulka puffs. Slowly remove the phulka from the flame.

PS: I normally use 1 cup water to 1 and 3/4 cup to 2 cups flour. This is approximation
only. If you feel your dough is too soft and you can’t roll it, add little more flour. I use
Pillsbury chukky fresh atta which gives very soft chapathis.

If none of the above things work, try making them like jolad rotti here by cooking the
dough. This method is guaranteed to work.

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
vini says:
May 15, 2009 at 4:30 am

hi Shilpa,
I tried using ur measurement for making phulkas..but it almost became a paste..i seriously
dnt understand where i cud have gone wrong..any idea??
the only diffrent i could see was i used pillsbury chakki aata and not pillsbury chakki fresh
aata..
are these two diffrent?

Thanks,
Vini

shilpa: I am sorry, I have no clue.

Vicky says:
May 16, 2009 at 7:28 pm

Hello Silpa,
Years ago, I had visited India for spiritual search and I was introduced to Indian cuisine
which I adored! When I came back to Greece, I missed Indian food, and I visited often the
Indian restaurants here in Athens, to recupture the joy of your food. Well, nothing ever
tasted so good as the ones I had tasted in your blessed country. Your lively pictures and
details helped me make my own Indian food which I enjoyed enormously with my friends.
God bless you love!

Sharon says:
June 4, 2009 at 7:05 am

Hey hi Shilpa,

Really hats off for 4 ur patience dear nice pictorial explaination and i’ll try after going and
will let u the status hw did i make phulkas and hw did it cme out…

Regards,
Sharon.

Smita says:
June 23, 2009 at 9:04 am

Hi Shilpa,

I add yogurt, milk and warm water while preparing soft dough. The chapatis turn out to
be very soft when freshly prepared. But they don’t retain softness after 4-5 hours and the
soft & thin chapatis become less soft and thick. We have electric hob (plates) at home.
Hence I can not use flame to prepare fulka. Can you please suggest me what I need to do
to retain the softness??

Thanks,

Smita

Shilpa: Have you followed the tips I gave in the above post?

V. Tagore says:
June 27, 2009 at 9:48 am

Madam
i saw yr web it is very good my wife want to learn to how make to soft chapathis
pl tell me where we want to meet u my mobile is
9880077897
i am from bangalore

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
pl call me
yours
tagore

Ramki says:
July 9, 2009 at 11:57 am

Very detailed one, keep em coming as you discover more!

D says:
July 10, 2009 at 11:36 pm

Hi,

It’s good that you are posting even the basics of making good chapatis/phulkas. As I have
been making fulkas for the past 6months-almost replicating the quality my mom achieves,
maybe i can put in my tips :

- while making fulka, the more evenly it is rolled out, the better it will roast and puff up.
(there should not be some areas which are thicker than the rest of the fulka)

- as for wheat flour, there is really no substitute to buying the wheat and getting it
ground/milled i.e. – getting atta from the local chakki. (at least for those people who have
the resources to do so)

- we use a combination of Lokwan and M.P. Seohar Pishi wheat

pranjali says:
September 5, 2009 at 7:13 am

hi,shilpa ,

i can make good chapati but now a days if i put oil then also chapati gets dry and all the
flour remained on the chapati and other thing is that when i fry chapati my husband say it
taste adha fried and adha kaccha.pl tell me the proper way of fring chapati( tawe ke upar
daal ne ke baad kab kapadese seke ke wo accha fry ho jaye and atta chapati par na
rehene ke liye pl tell me your answer. Thank you.

Shilpa says:
September 5, 2009 at 8:00 am

Don’t use too much dry flour while rolling. If you think you can’t roll without it, make the
dough little bit dry so that you can easily roll them. You can use a spatula or cloth to
press it down when you see some bubbles on chapati(after you turned it upside down
once).

sindhu says:
October 20, 2009 at 10:11 pm

hi,
I am a newbie when it comes to cooking. I was struggling for weeks to make rotis from
scratch (usually get packed rotis from frozen aisle).
Today i landed on your site and I am glad i did.I finally made soft rotis..my mistake was
that I used to cook earlier on medium heat and flip it over many times.
Really appreciate your detailed description with pictures.
Thank you soooo much.

preeti says:

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
October 30, 2009 at 2:12 pm

dear pranjali,

chapathi/roti ko belne ke baad jab app tava pe dalne ke liye tayar ho to tab roti to halke
haath se utha lein aur ek hatheli se doosri hatheli par ulat dijiye. aisa do-teen baar kijiye.
the excess flour will fall down. after this u can put the rolled roti dough on the tava. but
you have to do it a little fast otherwise flour will loosen and shape will be lost.

also while the roti is cooking, you can dust off the excess flour by taking a clean cloth and
soflty dusting (like wiping off) the flour from the top portion of roti. do this for both sides.

for kaccha/uncooked roti, you can take a thick cloth roll it like a big ball, then while the roti
is on the tava, you press the roti with the cloth and rotate the roti. do this for 3 to 4 times
, by the pressure of the thick cloth the chapathi will get cooked from the bottom side.
repeat the same for the other side. you can do this pressing work after both the sides are
cooked a little bit.

please do this and see next time. i hope this works for you.

Priya says:
November 5, 2009 at 6:02 am

Hi Shilpa
Earlier I was using Pillsbury Atta but the chapathis would be always hard though I used oil
/milk while kneading the dough. Now I use Ashirwad atta. The chapathis are not hard
anymore & I don’t use oil/milk. Thanks for the phulka recipe.

Mahavir says:
November 13, 2009 at 9:35 am

Nice recipes you have given. Thanks.

Priya says:
February 5, 2010 at 12:39 pm

Hi Shilpa,
Whenever I make chapatis, the dough is soft but when chapati is finally made, lot of
flour(which I use for dusting it while rolling) remains back on it, as a result of which
chapati is hard. Any solution for this?
Thanks in advance.

Shilpa says:
February 5, 2010 at 1:19 pm

Try not to make it too soft and apply only very little flour. You need a lot of flour only
when the dough is very very soft

suraay says:
February 24, 2010 at 6:58 pm

Can we add Egg to the chapatti flour to make it more soft?

will the chappati be soft?

Shilpa says:
February 24, 2010 at 7:28 pm

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
It will taste totally different and I don’t think it will be soft

Gayatri Shenoy says:

March 17, 2010 at 8:36 am

Hi Shilpa,

I have a very hard time making my chapatis round.

Once I fold them into a triangle, I am unable to shape them round with the laatni.
Can you please provide any tips or suggestions??

Regards,
Gayatri

Supriya says:
April 18, 2010 at 7:58 am

Hi Shilpa,

I refer to this website most often so as to get the tips my Aai used to give me. And I really
thank you for sharing all these recipes and additional tips and guidelines.

I have some doubts regarding preparing chapaties…I use electric hob (plates) at home
and hence don’t have a instant control over the heat. Could you please suggest me
whether I need to make chapaties on high heat or medium heat or low heat. Also could
you please suggest the thickness to which i roll chapaties before putting in Tawa(pan)?

Thanks,

Supriya

Shilpa says:
April 18, 2010 at 8:08 am

Shilpa: I make chapatis on medium heat on my electric stove.

Ranjani says:
April 30, 2010 at 6:19 pm

Shilpa,

Have you tried using a roti maker? I bought one recently, but the rotis come out very
hard. Any suggestions?

Thank you,
Ranjani

Shilpa says:
May 2, 2010 at 6:53 pm

No I haven’t. Had heard bad reviews about it and I am very comfortable making rotis, so
never thought of trying roti maker.

radhika says:
April 30, 2010 at 10:31 pm

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
hi! excellent site! thank u shilpa.

I have a small suggestion. while making chapathi dough, I mix Pillsbury chakkifresh atta
with one tsp sugar, a pinch of salt, and curd, and mix well, then use water little by little
until the dough is made, then leave it covering the vessel with a lid for at least half an
hour and then make chapathis. the chapathis have turned out to be very soft.
regards
radhika

Shiva says:
May 14, 2010 at 4:59 am

Hi,shilpa,i love chapathis but i was n’t know how to make them,now i had the recipe with
me and i can make soft chapaties now.thank you alot,love u.

Neeta says:
May 28, 2010 at 11:40 pm

hi shilpa, i came across this site, and yr chapati chapter, very much amused reading a full
thesis on CHAPATTIS. i hv been making it daily since 35yrs.y i suggest you that after
making all phulka chapattis, pile them in round dabba and put a lid ,that should not cover
fully. leave little space to put away heat out of the vessal, otherwise chapattis will get
soiled, damp. i m a gujju lady. we make delicious dishes– easy to make- dhokla,
handvo,dal dhokli etc. you can make THEPLA ,same method, but with masalas in the dove.
if u want, i can give u recipe.

priya says:
July 4, 2010 at 11:56 pm

Hi
I am working & hv to leave early from home .can u suggest some way where i a can make
the dough one day b4 & use it to make chapati fr nxt day morning.

Shilpa says:
July 5, 2010 at 10:00 am

You can make the chapati dough and keep in refrigerator for upto 2 days.

Mangala G Pai says:

July 30, 2010 at 6:19 am

Hi shilpa, it was the situation with me when i got married. now i make chapathis without
using any oil or ghee. completely fat free chapathis/phulkas. only thing is when i make the
dough i mix three types of dough ie wheat flour, bajra flour and jowar flour with some
salt. i take around 1 1/2 cup of wheat flour, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of bajra flour and 1/4th cup of
jowar flour. i take around 1 1/4 cup of hot water and sprinkle all over the flour and leave
it for some seconds. then i make the dough. the chapathis taste good and they become
softer due to use of hot water.

Gomata Varanasi Dharmapuri says:

July 30, 2010 at 9:37 am

Well Explained. Thanks Much Aayi ……. G

Meena says:

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19/11/2010 Aayi's Recipes » Chapathi and Phulkas
September 7, 2010 at 8:47 am

hi. I have been making chapatis since six months. My mom in law makes the dough an
hour or two before rolling. We both make 4 each. her chapatis are soft even after 2 hours
but mine become hard on the tava itself. especially in the centre. i take very little maida
while rolling. i roll without turning the roti. i don’t make them very thin also. still it does not
puff up nor soft. Please help me

Shilpa says:
September 7, 2010 at 9:00 am

Please read the post and follow the tips given

anusha says:
October 7, 2010 at 7:29 pm

hi

what can be added to a chapati dough to preserve it for 10-15days without getting it
rotten.

thaks

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