The chapati is a much loved staple of Kenya cuisine and unlike an Indian chapati it is flakey and served alongside curries, stews or with eggs at breakfast time. If you’re sat at home after your safari and craving a little bit of Kenya, cooking up a pile of delicious chapatis and enjoying them along side a plate of githeri or a beef stew is a great way to feel transported right back to Africa! Here’s our much-loved chapati recipe, right from Sonja’s cookbook, Footprints in The Butter.
FLAKEY KENYAN CHAPATI RECIPE
Serves 8
3½ cups plain white or wholemeal
wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp margarine, butter or ghee
1⅓ cups warm water
½ cup vegetable oil or shortening
1. Sift flour and salt together, if using shortening rub in with finger tips.
2. Make a well in the centre, pour in half the water and, if using oil pour it in also. Mix with a wooden spoon, gradually adding the remainder of the water until a firm but soft dough forms. Continue kneading with your hands.
3. Divide the dough into 8 balls. Roll out each ball on a circular chapati board or on a lightly floured pastry
board.
4. Coat the surface of each circle of dough generously with margarine. Roll up the circle lightly with your fingers into a sausage, then coil the sausage into a wheel, thus trapping the air inside. Then, with a rolling pin, roll out each wheel into a circle less than ⅛inch thick.
5. Smear a chapati pan or 23cm non stick frying pan with oil. Using low heat, brown the chapatis on both sides
until golden brown. If you press the chapati lightly with a folded tea towel whilst cooking, the air bubbles will quickly rise.
6. Keep warm until served.
Guests mastering our Kenyan chapati recipe WITH OUR CHEFS on a recent group safari with Yoga By Candace
Let us know how your chapatis turned out! You can purchase Sonja’s recipe book Footprints in The Butter here for more of our favourite camp recipes.
