Well, yeah here is the secret (read NOT SO! My life is an open book… errrrr diary..). It all started with our visit to Dubai’s Global Village and when we accidently stumbled on a stall, where the guy giving the demo was showing how to make chapatis with a roti maker! (Yes! and he WAS able to sell it to me, which btw is not too difficult to do! 😛 ). He was making the perfect chapatis with so much ease.. though as a woman, I never trust such salesmen.. I was skeptical.. (may be he has something added to his dough.. may be that machine he is using for the demo is manipulated and works so good .. etc etc.). I still wanted to give it a try and see.. it was for AED 250 and I thought its worth giving a shot!

I wanted to teach our Filipino nanny how to cook chapatis. She has been with us for 3 years but she always seemed very scared of the traditional process of rolling and cooking rotis.. not to forget the mess that the traditional process creates, which would ofocurse mean more cleaning for her! So this seemed like a easy, mess free solution.. and hence we brought it home .. all the way to Doha.

Me, my mum and our nanny, all three of us were excited and eager to try our new gadget(READ Toy!). We took turns and experimented on how to make the chapati correctly and after a couple of days of trial and error.. we figured out the formula to success.. the right consistency/softness of dough, time for cooking on each side etc. etc.  Since that day, we have not looked back at ready made pita bread or naans..(except of course with Nihari I NEED Naans!) We tried making Pooris and Gol Guppay/Pani Poori (recipe coming soon!) using the roti maker and they turned out awesome too!

Since the post I did on making Pooris using the Roti Maker(Read here if you missed that!), I have been getting a lot of questions about it.. so here are ALL the details for you guys! Aaaaaaaand I have a GREAT NEWS for the Doha ladies as well! A friend of mine, sent me a video of a guy selling these National Roti Makers locally at the Magical Festival Village (Shop No C8) in Doha (Yes!!!! Its near Katara/St Regis) for QAR 250. Although I should be getting something for advertising his business but the reason why I am doing this for FREE is for you guys!! (not for his benefit and because I am soooo happy with it and totally in love with!) 

Here is my Step by Step Instructions on how to use the roti maker. And a How To Video at the end of the this post.

First of all, the dough needs to be soft.. we use 2 cups of whole wheat flour and a little more than a cup of water for making the dough. Let it rest for about an hour, covered.

1. Heat up the roti maker and when it is ready a green light turns on (which means it is ready to use).
2. Simply put the dough ball on the plate, pat it a little flat with your hand and close the roti maker. Press the upper plate  gently and lift up immediately. This will basically roll your dough ball into the round chapati. (Yep, its like magic!)
3. Cook one side for about 10-15 seconds and then turn the chapati.
4. Let it cook on the other side for another 20-30 seconds, till it bubbles and you can see the cooked marks on the chapati. You can press the chapati a bit (like you normally would do on a tawa as well).
5. Then flip the roti again and close the upper lid.. the chapati will be cooked on both side and should ideally turn into a phulka and slip out! (No kidding!!! and I love to see it every time it does that!)

Once you get a hang of it, you will love the results.. and the best part…..the chapati remains soft!!  Ages ago, my mum had a roti maker but its heating plates were not as strong and the chapati would actually turn into pappad!  But in all these years, they have fixed this problem!  (Though I still think that the one that they use for demo is somehow manipulated and cooks chapati much faster than mine..but even then… the results are still good!)

Now the million dollar question ,that I have been asked a million times!! (alright that’s a lil exaggeration)

Where can YOU buy this from???

Here are the details of the guy selling it in Doha and they also sell it in Dubai . His contact details are below.

Wanna see it in action???

Watch My Video HERE! (This is my own video of my helper making chapatis – No Advertising gimmicks here!).

And you are all welcome ladies and their husbands!!! (who will now get home cooked chapatis!! 😉 )

Until next time!