Missi Roti-Whole Wheat Chapati with Gram Flour

Sunday mornings ,hot tandoori and missi roti ...
With chilled yogurt and green chutney and pickles.

With 50 pages and supplements of the newspaper..boy ,what fun!!!
Its really wonderful when you don't have any responsibility on your shoulders, and you are warm in the belief that all will be looked after.
That's what life should be like!
always...

Now, thrice a day one faces the biggest question of them all!
What will you eat!
If only we were like Vampires...Vegetarians..we could have survived on the blood of animals...I would not need to ask "What should I make for breakfast/lunch/dinner?"(nine times out of ten..the response is WHATEVER!!)
But no..life is so difficult,we are always faced with the problem of making decisions.
And then I saw this post by Mary from Cardamom Bliss...the lowly Chapati accorded such a haloed status!
I decided to make my life even more miserable...which chapati will it be?
A plain chapati or a Missi Roti??

For once ,I did not wait for the response and went ahead with the missi roti...(with an additional few plain chapatis for the fuss makers)...after all The hand that rocks the cradle and all that blah!!
For those who want to have a peek at what wiki thinks a chapati should be like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapati.
I started making chapatis when I was maybe 15...and my attempts were...bad,to be a little kind. They could rival the images on the pages of any atlas...with physical features et al. But they are right when they say that practice makes perfect, now ,making a chapati is almost an art...just a flick of the wrist and its rolled.
But what most people do not realise is ,the secret lies in the dough itself.
The magic is all in the elasticity and pliability of the dough.All about letting the gluten do its work!
Missi Roti is a staple from North India, high in protein and fibre ,filling and good enough to be a meal in itself.
The gram flour makes the roti a little dry, but a little yogurt or butter makes it smooth and easy to go down.
And the added punch of the onions and the coriander and the green chillies makes it a more powerful add on to your diet. And ,oh, if you are on a calorie control diet ,this is perfect.
The fibre and protein in the gram flour keep you full, green chillies and coriander give you the Vita c and of course the anti oxidant powers of onion and ginger...
And for me, a trip home..to mums soft rotis...this is the way she makes them,perfect.
Makes you feel warm and mushy all over.
Happiness guaranteed!

for the

Missi Roti-Whole Wheat Chapati with Gram Flour...

you need

2 cups  besan/gram flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 onion finely diced
1 tsp finely diced fresh ginger
a couple of green chillies chopped fine(deseeded if you don't want the heat)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mustard oil/neutral veg oil/Extra Virgin Olive oil(yes EVOO works well too!)
a little chopped coriander
1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
A little ghee to grease the tawa/griddle (can skip if you are using a non stick pan)

Start with the coriander seeds .Clean and pick and then lightly pound them. You need them to just split for the flavour to be released. Place the flours and the salt and turmeric with the seeds in a kneading bowl.

Do all your chopping on the board...makes for a pretty picture.

Plonk it all over the flours .

Remove all your rings and dig in to the mix...you will need cold water to knead this.

The dough should be a little stiff...or it will be difficult to roll out.
Let it rest covered till you gather all you need .Set the griddle on the stove, bring out the whole wheat flour and lay a paper below your chakla(the round white marble thing)...or clean your work top.

My flour for rolling the chapatis sits in my faithful Tupperware...which refuses to retire even with age. One should get age defying lessons from them, honestly!
A golf ball sized amount of dough in your hands, rolled to perfection between your palms..

The dough should not stick to your hands...
now ,lightly flatten it and plop it into the dry flour to liberally coat it.

And now ever so lightly, keeping this dough ball moving (with the help of the flour) roll it out as thin as you can.Generally, you stop rolling when the onion resists...

Yes...the bragging about the perfect chapatis...but then this is gram flour. It has issues with elasticity and cohesiveness. You'll never get a perfect round with besan/gram flour.
Your griddle/tawa should be hot by now. You'll know its hot enough when you drop a few drops of water and they dance ...(I got this tip from Mary, a Canadian...and I have been making chapatis all my life)
OK, roti on, keep an eye while you do the process again.
Flip the roti over when the top begins to become opaque and change colour.

Half cooked.

And flipped, just a wee bit of ghee to add to the glamour..the glisten and the shine.
Flip again.

A little more cooking and you are done.
Just wipe your pan with a damp cloth and start again.
A woman's work is never done.
And serve ...this black lemon bit happens to be my pride  and joy,Seven years old  and counting.

With my mum's best wishes...thank you Uma Gupta.
Enjoy them warm...they act as tortillas when cold too...that is another post ...
Sunday morning calls...
The vampires are calling for their supply of blood.
Today it is ...Yakhni pulao.
served for you soon...if the Internet gods are compliant!

So what are you baking today???