I love chapattis (aka rotis), which are pretty bland and therefore the perfect foil to highly spiced/hot dishes like curries. And the texture, a mix of crispy and chewy . . . yum! Quick (since they are unleavened) and easy to make, even with minimal rolling pin skills.

. . . and I love methi aka fenugreek. It’s used quite a bit in Indian cooking, but usually in the form of seeds (ground before use):

.It’s my second favorite spice (after nutmeg, of course!), but it’s hard to describe the taste. One site describes it as having a “maple syrup” flavor, which I wouldn’t agree with — maybe more like walnuts, although it does have a definite sweet-ish flavor. It’s also used in the green form, which I’ve only been able to find as frozen:

Since I am “thrifty,” although you can call me cheap, I hate to waste food, or anything that might become food. It was time to feed my sourdough starter, which means removing some of it . . . so I used it to make chapattis.

Remove 1 C. sourdough starter:

Stir in 1 C. flour, plus enough water (~3/4 C.) to make a soft dough. Now you can leave it for a couple of hours, although that’s unnecessary, since again, this isn’t a raised-dough bread:

Stir in 2 C. flour, 1/2 to 1 C. thawed chopped methi greens, and enough water to make a fairly stiff dough:

One nice thing about unleavened breads is that you don’t need to knead them, rather just get them to a nice firm consistency.

Use your hands to roll 1/2 of the dough into a log, then cut it into 8 or 10 pieces, on a floured surface:

Use your hands to roll the slices into approximate discs or balls, then use a floured rolling pin to roll them out into rounds about 8″ in diameter, about 1/8″ thick (don’t worry about getting the measurements exact). Try to make them round, but don’t worry about that too much either:

Heat a large skillet or other cooking surface to medium high heat. DO NOT USE OIL!!! They need to cook on a “dry” surface.

Cook on one side for about 2 – 3 minutes. They will likely puff up a bit, but don’t worry if they don’t. Flip them and cook for another 1 – 2 minutes. Basically, you want some charred (but not burnt) bits, and the rest cooked. Adjust the heat as needed:

They are best hot off the grill, and will soon lose their lovely crispiness, but you can keep them in the fridge, or for much longer frozen — just re-heat them in a hot oven for a few minutes.

Yum!

-R