I love the idea of being able to produce a healthy, nutritious and delicious bread. My Indian students who gave me their delectable fresh homemade flatbreads to try made me wish that such a tradition could be part of my daily life too. Following some video blogs such as “Show me the Curry” convinced me to begin practising at least every now & then, and I now have a small repertoire of easy favourites. This chickpea and wholemeal flour with red onion, chilli, herbs & seeds is really nutritious and quick to make. It’s good to make for immediate use with a curry or dip or for freezing some balls of dough to cook later. The chickpea flour gives the bread a lovely nutty flavour. I found this recipe in “Fresh Indian” by Sunil Vijayakar.
150 g plain wholemeal flour,150 g gram (chickpea flour),1 red onion, finely diced, 1 red chilli, de-seeded & finely chopped,1 Tablespoon chopped fresh coriander, 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon black onion (Nigella) seeds,100-150 mls lukewarm water, salt, sunflower or olive oil for brushing.
Sift both flours in a large mixing bowl. Add onion, red chilli, chopped coriander, cumin & onion seeds. Season with salt & mix together. Gradually pour in enough of the measured water for mixture to come together and knead on a lightly floured surface to make a soft dough. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then divide the dough into 8 portions. Shape each into a ball. (You can seal in ziplock bags at this stage to freeze if you wish.)
Roll the balls out on a lightly floured surface to a 12 cm (5″) diameter disk.
Heat a large flat griddle pan till hot. Cook the disks one at a time for 30seconds, flip, brush with a little oil or ghee, flip over & cook for a minute, moving the bread around. Flip the dough again and cook on the other side for a minute or until bread is lightly browned both sides.
Remove, cover in foil, serve warm.