Tanzanian Chapati
Chapati originated in India but differ a little bit. In Tanzania chapati makes a good breakfast with soup or tea: lunch or dinner with stew and vegetables.
The process may look too long, but this is because I want to explain well, once you prepare this recipe for the first time, you will notice it is a very short process.
Ingredients
- 5 cups all purpose flour (not self rising)
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Canola/Vegetable oil (heated then cool down) You will not use all of it.
- 2 cups Extra lour for kneading
Preparations
- In a large mixing bowl, measure 5 cups of flour.
- In another bowl, mix salt, 3 tbsp of oil, and 1 ½ cup of water, stir until the salt dissolves.
- Pour the above water in the flour bowl. Mix well; and keep adding the remaining water until dough becomes soft.
- Knead the dough for 10 – 15 minutes; add flour if needed.
- Divide in 11 to 15 equal parts (make a ball like shape), arrange them on a flat surface, and then cover with plastic wrap or a white clean cloth.
- Right away, continue with 6(1):
- With a rolling pin, roll one part of the dough thinner than ¼ centimeters (never mind if it is not a perfectly round).
- Brush oil on top (Look at photo #1).
- At the side that face you, make one centimeter fold, then roll forward with both two hands; almost like you are rolling a rode away from your direction) (Look at photo #2) It should look like a rope.
- Then create a coil-like shape (as photo #3).
- Then return it to the same place and cover.
- Repeat 6(1) to 6(5) until you finish the rest.
Photo #1
Photo #2
Photo #3
- After you are done with the above, take the first part that you rolled.
- With a rolling pin, roll to a nice round flat shape that is about ¼ centimeters thin. (Use flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and the surface)
- Make four more by repeating process 8. (You will roll the rest as you are cooking).
- NOW YOU CAN FOLLOW STEP 11 TO 12 WITH THE VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST or continue to read.
- Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat (use a round pancake pan). After it is heated, sprinkle a few drops of water on it. If the drops dry right away, the pan is ready for chapati.
- Wipe the pan to remove any oils.
- Place the chapati you have just rolled on a heated pan. After about a minute, check the bottom of the chapati, if it is golden brown, and the top is translucent, flip it over.
- Brush a little bit of oil on the top of the chapati, then check to see if the bottom is cooked and is golden brown.
- If yes, flip the chapati over again, now brush the oil on the second side of the chapati, and turn it over again.
- After about 30 seconds remove the chapati from the pan and put it on a plate and cover with a foil paper.
- Repeat umber 12(1) to 12(4) until you finish the rest.
- While you are cooking, find some times and repeat number 8 for the rest of the chapati so that you will be able to put them on the stove before you finish the first 4 that you rolled.
Serve with:
• Vegetables & Meat
Hi Miriam!
I am a man who has desperately tried to cook chapatis when my wife travels for long periods of time, and am happy to have cooked the first edible and delicious ones after reading through your blog.
Thank you
You are welcome Jackson.
HI MIRIAM.AM FROM KENYA. THANX 4 YOUR RECIPE.I HAVE ALWAYS HAD DIFFICULITIES WHEN MAKING CHAPATI.THEY ARE VERY HARD LIKE KANGUMU.I WILL DEFINITELY TRY THIS ONE.THANX
Chapati needs practice sana
I am so very thrilled to have stumbled upon this recipe; Miriam, your recipe absolutely made my night! oh, i just cant express how excited i am at having found this recipe!
i am a gigantic fan of anything “bread” ESPECIALLY anything in the “flat” catagory =) but have never endeavored to try making them at home.
thanks to your exceptionally easy-to-understand instructions, i even dared to experiment with different “fillings” to replace the coat of oil in step 6(2)
the recipe lends to a truly amazing foundation for a countless array of possibilities!
oh, and i will most definitely be using your recipe again and again… probably daily!
here’s some of the “filling” ingredients i tried today:
Cinnamon toast – clarified butter, saigon cinnamon, dark & light brown sugar, few drops of cream from clarified butter.
OMG it tasted heavenly! thinking of endless combination of toppings and uses…
rolled one super thin(about the thickness of a corn tortilla)purely out of curiousity – and it turned out SUPER light and flakey and crispy in just the most perfect ways!
GARLIC toast: i know, i just wanted to stick w some very basic ingrdients. but TRUST me i’m already thinking of ALL SORTS of flavor combinations even as i am typing this – garlic (fresh) infused melted butter (generous amount) parsley flakes
SESAME toast: drop or two of sesame oil to one (1) Table spoon of olive oil, 5-spice, white pepper (i added the dry spices to the oil mixture and then brushed it on)
Miriam, thank you so so so so so very much for sharing!
Korryjae,
You are welcome. I am happy that you are happy. I do like your adventure making the chapati with cinnamon etc. My daughter likes to mix a lot of things too. She even put jam on chapati. It taste great.
Please visit always. I will try my best after April to be uploading 2 videos a month.
Mingi Love
Miriam Kinunda
I have really enjoyed watching your chapati video. I am originally from Kenya and I live in Canada. I do agree with you that the East African Chapatis are not parathas and yes we do add oil in our chapatis and we like them soft with lots of layers. If I ever visit Tanzania I shall pay you a visit just to eat those delicious chapatis. Thumbs up!!
Many thanks Liz.
Mingi Love
Asante sana for the recipe and video. I was able to get the right texture but they tasted like flour-not how I remember chapatis from Tanzania! Any suggestions to get a bit more flavour?
I got the texture right but they don’t taste like much- any suggestions?
Girl, you rock! I made your chapati tonight and they were so awesome, I had to put photo on Facebook!
So you are the one with the photo? I am so happy. I will down load it and post in facebook page for every one to see. It looked nice.
Thanks very much for the photo Afi. I do appreciate to share with us.
Mingi Love
Hy miriam, I used your recipe and woow! Its the best chappati I’ve ever made.I woulda love 2 share a pic. Bt I’m sorry… Its gone;). My family really enjoyed it, thanks a bunch.
I Would be very happy if visitors will start to send me inbox of the recipes from Taste of Tanzania via facebook. It will make me so happy! Please send next time.
I am glad you liked the recipe.
I have always bought the layerd chapatis and wondered how they are made. Iam surely making chapatis this evening. Inshallah they will come out just right
Thanks Aisha
this was my first time to make this and it turned out sooo goooood!!!!! i love chapati and ddint know how t make it! thank u so much…i forgot to heat the oil but it turned out fine still…next time i will heat the oil first!
thanks for the recipe!
I am glad Sue.
I visited Tanzania this past summer and LOVED the Chapati. But I haven’t found instructions that were clear enough to make me feel comfortable trying to make it myself until now. Thanks, I am going to try it this weekend and I will let you know how my first time goes
Hi Sarah,
I am sure your chapati will come out very nice. Just don’t forget to cover the cooked chapati with foil paper so that they will not dry while you are cooking.
Please send me a photo of your cooked chapati so that I can post it on my facebook. I want to create an Album for food photos by my website visitors.
OK I definitely will send you the pictures, Im cooking it tomorrow morning, My family is excited to try it
Thanks Sarah.
Hi Miriam,
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.My chapatis always came out dry and crispy and I had given up on making them until I found your website…wow. The result was nice, tasty n soft chapatis. Asanti sana. Do you also know how to make samosa and bhajia? If so, could you please share. Thanks again
Are you heating the oil before using in the dough and cooking?
My chapatis always came out hard and dry until I found this recipe…thank you so much. Do you also know how to make samosa and bhajia? If so, please post the recipe for us, I would greatly appreciate. Thanks again for the soft chapatis
this is similar to a south indian dish called “parotta”
Absolutely yum!!!
Thanks Lu
Thank you so much, i will try it now
I would add a bit of yeast, the result will be like a calzone and crispy yet soft.
Hai Mariam,
I liked your recipe..but the correction I wanted to tell you is chappathis are made from wheat flour and not the all purpose flour. This one is similar to the south Indian Barotta/ paratha.
I understand you. Here in America, All-purpose flour is wheat flour that can be used for either cakes, bread and pastry. I believe in many countries in Africa also use the same term. I will correct if other nations all purpose flour means something else.
it’s not chapati actually chapati made by whole wheat/chapati flour this use maida chapati doesn’t need oil
I am not sure what you are trying to tell us Rizki.
I can only tell you that, Tanzanian or East African chapati use oil.
THanks
You are right Miriam. Thank you for the recipe. Last year I’ve been to Uganda and I liked chapati so much..I will try it soon.
Why do you heat the oil then cool down??
It helps the chapati to be softer and lighter. Most of my relatives do not cool down the oil, they use hot oil to knead the dough. So if you are okay with that, use hot oil, i did not want to tell people to do that hear for safety reasons.
Hi Miriam
Thank’s for sharing your love for food. I really enjoy people that share their love foor food and teach other people to prepare delicious food from all over the world.
Greetings from Sweden
Magnus
Thanks Magnus.
Stay blessed
thank you Rose for this recipe! i really enjoyed the chapati we made,,, all thanks to you!
You are welcome Mrs. A
I am so thankful i found this website. I worked with a few people from india who made chipates with almost every meal. sadly when i came back to the states most indian food is made from northern india and they serve naan or roti. These were not the layered delicious bread that i loved so much…..then i finally found your site, where i found how all the delicious layers came into the dough. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to have Chapati as i remember it
Dear Rose… Thank you very much for your recipe… I used 1/3 of the ingredients to make my first try and it came out wonderful… the smell is marvellous… This is my first bread in my life and I feel very proud of the results… I made exact measures and I have to thank you for being so exact with the quantities… thanks to that it came out so well… This is a bread that can accompany sweet meals as well as salty meals, as its flavor is neutral… You are a great teacher… So, as a gift, I share with you a poem: The mediocre teacher, tells; the good teacher,explains; the superior teacher, demonstrates; and the great teacher inspires…
May The Almighty Bless all your projects…
Rose from Venezuela
Dear Rose,
You must be a good cook; to tell you the truth, many people have hard time to get chapati right the first time. I am very happy to know that you did well on first try.
I am not such a good cook… I last a long time cooking as I don´t have enough expertise…I have a life of disasters in the kitchen, I have learned practically by myself as my mother died when I was 10 years old and never had somebody close to me to teach me, also my father didn´t like to see me in the kitchen but with the books and working in my profession…So, now with internet and persons like you it is possible that persons like me finally learn how to cook… In a way, you are doing what my mother was supossed to do… Blessings…
Rose from Venezuela
Dear Rose,
We all can share our shares of disasters in the kitchen, it is not easy to get things perfect. There are some recipes that can drive one crazy before getting them right.
Welcome again,
Thank you dear for the impeccable job you are doing.
Kindly inbox me the type of flour you use to enable you get nice soft chapatis. Av tried even to a point of adding milk and eggs to no avail. Mine leave the pan hard and become even harder after some minutes which is very dissapointing!!!
Yourz desperate.
Brendah.
Follow the ingredients carefully, you will be okay. I use all purpose flour. Don’t use pastry flour. The next video woll be about making chapati from beginning, and i will have the instructions in details.
Having experimented with East African Chapatis a lot I’ve found more oil = more soft. What many people make the mistake of doing is using a lot of flour during the process of rolling which upsets the balance of everything a little. So if you like to do that, put some more oil to combat the issue
Many thanks to you Graeme for a well explained comment.
Please welcome again.
Mingi Love
I am so happy to have found this site, I have always wanted to make outstanding Chapati but never new how. I followed your recipe and the results were great. I agree with you, the oil makes them soft. I however had a problem when i followed your exact recipe, and used 21/2cups of water, I ended up using 61/2 cups of flour. Maybe as u said, the amount of water depends with the type of flour one is using. But I loved it all the same. I am looking forward to your new book. I do hope though when you write your recipe, you can also write some of the ingredients that are hard to understand in Swahili. May be you can do like a glossary at the back and explain them in Swahili. Thank you, and as you say, Mingi Love.
Flour does matter! Send me a photo so that i can post in Taste of Tanzania facebook page. Or post it yourself if you have facebook account. I would love to see the photos of the recipes people use fro this website.
omg, m so happy to find this page..u r tha best siz…m tired of germans fooooooooooooooood…omg m happy to find this page…muahhhh…
Thanks.
Good job dear! I do like Chapati a lot and have been trying every time I see one has posted Chapati recipe and after reading all comments above am willing to retry, but obviously there is how to cook Chapati with Kimbo or blueband and it comes out the best than dropping oil can You please tell me the quantity of blueband I’ll use how I’ll smear on chapati and such? May I get inboxed of the Unga that Ur using if it will do me better. Asante
Keep trying, the more you try, the better you become. That is the secret of making chapati. Make sure the dough is elastic.
i like to cook chapati by following the steps mentioned but after finishing cooking it and remain for few hours it becomes very hard even to chew up. please advice the proper way to maintain it in its softness!
Chapatti is something that many people learn by practice. Or if you a good experience of making bread, then make sure the dough is as elastic as the bread dough.
I was wondering if I could have a reciepe that was small that didnt require 5 cups of flour. More like two cups.
Dear,
Two cups of flour for chapati will make about 3 chapati. Or very thin 5 chapati.
wow
Thanks Kibaso
helooo miriam,m soo impressed with what you are sharing with us,keep it up,can you help out with this recipe thou i doubt if i am ryt with the name, DARNISH PASTRY but i found it in a supermarket named” village supermaket” at TZ i think its an indian taste,Blessings
I am planning to make a video to show how to make chapati from scratch. Hopeful I will upload in March-April
Thanks Dear,
I’ve been i Tanzania several times and I have tasted chapati and other lovely african food. Now I will try to make chapati in my own kitchen in Sweden. Wish me good luck, I think I will need it!
Love from
Ulla
Ulla,
I know many people are scared to cook chapati. But it is very easy if you follow the instructions well. If it does not come out well the first time, try it again. Make chapati once a week, after a month or two, you will be a pro.
Mingi Love
I can smell and taste them from here, Thanks for the recipe.
i want to try the soft chapatis, can you please help with any recipe for soft mandazi and mikate ya ufuta, thanks in advance and sincerely appreciate your sharing with us your expertise.God Bless You!
Fatma,
Do you mean chapati maji?
Sijambo Mary
Habari yako, pliz i want ton know how to cook chapati
could u help with a simple formula which is straight
and forward.
Asante
dd
i like your blog sister keep it up! i did introduce chapati and now a lot of mzungus here at kahama they like it a lot.
Thank you Mihinzo, I won’t let you down bro
Mingi Love
Hey Mirium,wuzup?Am Manka n come from Kenya,Mombasa,the swahili part of the country,i am a gud cook but my chapatis juz don do nythn gud for me.They come out a lil bit hard but ma sis told me dat i should leave the dough standing for meybe an hour o two aftr kneeding thats when the chapatis become soft.Then do u have an original recipie for mahamri?Thank big tym n God bless you dia.
Andie,
Thanx much. after the bad result the next day i went for another try and as Miriam says, if using oil a little more is needed for a softer chapati; and the result was perfect – but with addition to the point you made about heat. very important coz the longer it stays on fire the moisture in it evaporates that’s why it becomes stiff.
Thanx for sharing your experiences.
Thanks Andie,
Good cooks always share their knowledge with others; Your input is most appreciated.
Mingi love
Good day Miriam,
May God Bless u always in u a daily activities. I believe U a our teacher!.
I am enjoyed this type of chapati, but sor I have something to ask u.
I want to know which flour can I use to make my chapati kuwa laini, kwa sababu mimi huwa napendelea sana Azam flour. Je inaweza kuwa laini kama ambavyo umesema.
Thanks alot,
Shanifa
Mkereketwa wa mapishi.
Shanifa,
I think I need to make a video that shows making chapati from scratch. Any flour will do, but for some brand you may have to add more water than the quantity mentioned above. Sometimes, based on brand of ingredient, the person following the recipe needs to add or reduce an ingredient.
THe dough must be very soft, when you pull, it must stretch like elastic, if not, then your floor is too hard.
I will add Chapati among the video I am shooting. It took me years to make good chapati.
Mingi Love Shanifa.
Kazi mzuri dada. What you’re doing is real good and truly worths ur effort and taste!! Keep it up! Huwa naenjoy kujaribu recipes tofauti so will try this one. UBARIKIWE!!!!
Asante sana Mary kwa baraka zako. Nawe Ubarikiwe.
Mingi love
Hello dear,
have been longing for this chapati recipe, but ended up dissappointed as it did not come out right coz they were so stiff that i could not even bend them.
in my self evaluation i thought of 2 things; how soft was the dough supposed to be? or did i not brush on enough oil before rolling or what else? please help me coz am really struggling to perfect on this recipe.
thank you n keep up the good work.
Bertha,
Make sure when you are measuring the cup of flour, you are not pressing the flour down in the cup. Or when you are adding water and flour, leave a cup of flour aside, if you think it is getting hard, do not continue to add the flour.
Sometimes its depending on the type of floor. I will inbox you the flour I always use and always my dough is soft.
Mingi love
Bertha,
I also had problems making chapati, I had the same results as you, but now I have to say I can make really good chapati. You really need to make sure you use warm water. Instead of oil in the dough, I opted for shortening ghee (But oil should be fine). With the cooking, you certainly have to use Med-High heat. Put the chapati on the pan and don’t wait long before you flip it over. I always have problems – if I have on medium heat and leave the chapati on there until it changes colors, then it comes out too stiff. But I found out if I flip it soon after it changes colors, put oil on the top side, and then flip again to the other side and put oil on there, then they come out exactly like how they look on Miriam’s videos. I have to say also they taste absolutely perfect. Just keep trying though, I had to try several times before I got my perfect chapati and I am so happy!
You are right Angie,
Chapati, Bread and cakes need to repeat the recipes over and over again to be good at. I think cakes are much easier. Any thing to do with a dough need practice.
Mingi Love
very nice