Easy Peasy Potato-Enhanced Chapatis!

Yesterday, in a frenzy of gym-avoidance cooking, I spent the afternoon assembling a rather impressive feast of dhal (in a wok), chicken Jalfrezi (in the slow cooker, using the last few inches of my most recent batch of home made yogurt) and  the last of our brown/wild rice (in the rice cooker).

Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take any pictures and now all I have to show for it is a stack of plastic leftover containers in the fridge (thank you, Di Shui Dong, for  significantly reducing my Tupperware budget). Even though we are only two people, I made enough dhal and Jalfrezi to feed a dozen or so people for several days. I have a feeling I used to be a mess hall cook in a previous life.

Because we used up the last of the rice and I’m too lazy to run out and buy more, today I’m going to make chapatis.  The recipe I have in my hand written cookbook is my mother’s and is reliably excellent. However, it calls for whole wheat flour and I don’t have any. And, to be honest, I haven’t seen any in the supermarkets at all. I do have some buckwheat flour though. I have a feeling it isn’t exactly the same.

I googled a few recipes and they seem to all be a variation on the following themes (click ingredient lists for links):

• 2 cups wheat flour
• 1 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp salt
• Water to knead dough

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup hot water or as needed

• 1 cup mashed potatoes
• salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil for frying
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

After looking through our fridge and cupboards, I came up with an alternate recipe which would probably horrify any self respecting Indian cook, much in the same way that I recoil when I come across a Bolognese sauce studded with baby corn and dried shrimp.

What I had available:

• 2 smallish spuds, sprouting from the eyes, with some dire bruises that required surgical removal
• ground red chilis
• garlic
• fresh tarragon
• sunflower oil
• all purpose flour
• buckwheat flour
• table salt, still clumpy
• a jug of water (hopefully not contaminated)

What I did:

I decided to focus on the last recipe as it looked more like an aloo paratha than a chapati and I have a great soft spot for parathas. In my rice cooker bowl, I threw in just slightly under 2 cups of the all purpose flour and topped it up to the full measure with a few table spoons of buckwheat flour, just to give the illusion that there was some nutritional value involved.

I boiled up what was left of the spuds after peeling, coring out the sprouts and cutting off the bruises. I chopped up two cloves of garlic, quite fine, and some sprigs of fresh tarragon. Cilantro/coriander is totally available here but I was too lazy to go outside  as that would have involved changing out of my pyjamas. As per the recipe, I threw in the ground chilis and a dash of salt. I had no turmeric so I tossed in a little of the marvellous fish-curry powder my aunt got me from an Indian-friendly supermarket in Vancouver. It doesn’t have fish in it, no, but it’s a very spicy yet light smelling mix.  When the spuds were boiled, drained and cooled slightly, I mashed them up with the spices, throwing in the oil as needed. I used just under 3 table spoons and it was just fine.

When the spiced potato mixture had cooled a bit more, I started adding the flour mixture a little at a time. I ended up needing a few more blorps of water, as it was a bit too dry to fully blend after a while. This would be your judgment call to make. You want the dough to be, well, doughy like Play-Doh and not sticky or mucky like cake batter. Stiff but pliable, like an obscure dirty joke. It’s a fine balance.

When all the flour is mixed in, knead it for a few minutes on a floured surface. I kneaded for about 4-5 minutes, then I molded it into a ball, added a tiny bit of oil to the surface so it wouldn’t dry out, and let it rest for about half an hour. You don’t have to, but it will give you time for a coffee.

To cook them, just pull off a chunk of dough about the size of a small lemon and put it on a lightly floured surface. If you have a rolling pin, fabulous. If not, a combination of hands and thermos will do.  Roll the dough ball out until it’s around 1/4 inch thick or maybe a half centimeter. Just aim for a standard chapati thickness, if you have that reference point in your head already.

I preheated the wok to medium low and added a blorp of oil, perhaps a tea spoon. The potato-based recipe said to use a tea spoon of oil for each side but I found it wasn’t necessary. I did both sides with the same oil and it was just fine. Cook each side for a few minutes until the browned bits appear. This is probably hit and miss, timing-wise, depending on the size of your flame and what kind of wok you have. Ours tends to be quite hot and scorchy.  I did about two or three minutes for each side and it was just right.