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Chapati | Traditional Flatbread From India | TasteAtlas
Chapati | Traditional Flatbread From India | TasteAtlas
Chapati | Traditional Flatbread From India | TasteAtlas
Chapati | Traditional Flatbread From India | TasteAtlas
Chapati | Traditional Flatbread From India | TasteAtlas

Chapati

(Safati, Shabaati, चपाती)

Chapati is an unleavened flatbread made with whole wheat flour, water, and salt. The dough is usually baked on a griddle. It is extremely popular throughout India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, but the bread had also spread to Africa and Southeast Asia.


In Kenya, chapati is considered a traditional food although it arrived there at the end of the 19th century, when Indian people worked on the Kenya-Uganda railway. The name of the flatbread comes from the Hindi word chapat, meaning to slap, referring to the traditional method of forming the dough by slapping it between one's palms.


Chapati is mostly consumed as an accompaniment to various dishes, but the flatbread can also be used as a scoop to collect foods of a liquid consistency. Throughout India, there is a number of regional varieties of chapati, such as paneer chapati, radish chapati, and chapati stuffed with vegetables.