Picture it, Sicily, 1943 –that was the last time I had seen that bunch of spinach. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. My roommate and I had spinach with some ugali earlier that week and we just had some left over in the fridge that we really didn’t feel like eating but would otherwise go bad if we didn’t do something about it. We were craving chapo ndengu (an elite combo btw) that day so I decided on a whim to add the spinach to the chapatis so that they don’t wilt and go bad. For some reason the ancestors were saying, “ongeza tu kacoconut”(“just add some coconut”) and since we don’t question the ancestors’ taste buds, I added coconut cream to the blanched spinach and blended it to make a puree. They came out really tasty and sooooo soft but the coconut flavor didn’t stand out like I’d have hoped.
This was that first time. (November 2019)
I tried the recipe a few more times with coconut milk (homemade and store-bought), desiccated coconut (but the texture was a miss for me), I also tried adding coconut cream powder on top of the coconut milk but it still didn’t taste like I imagined. Until I used coconut oil to knead and let me tell you Maina! It was a dream! Ugh.
Another fantastic thing about this recipe other than the taste, is that it’s healthy and such an amazing way to have veggies when you or your kids don’t want any. I’m super excited to share this one with you!
Prep Time: 30 mins | Rest Time: 20 mins | Cooking Time: 30 mins | Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins | Yield: 12-14 Chapatis
Ingredients:
· 3 cups All Purpose Flour
· 1 cup Atta Flour (Brown, Whole Wheat Flour)
· 2 tsps Sugar
· 1 tsp Salt
· 5 Leaves Spinach (1 ½ punnet if using baby spinach)
· 2 tbsps Coconut Cream
· 1 cup + 1 tbsp warm water
· 2 tbsps Coconut Oil + extra to brush on the dough (I used bahari coconut’s mmmMnazi cooking oil)
· Extra flour for dusting and rolling
· Vegetable Oil to cook
Method:
1. Blanch your spinach leaves for about 3 mins in hot water.
2. Add the blanched spinach leaves and coconut cream into a smoothie maker/blender and blend to make a puree.
3. Into a bowl add your all purpose flour, atta flour, sugar and salt and mix until well combined.
4. Make a well in the flour mixture and add in 2 tbsps of coconut oil, the spinach and coconut cream puree, and the warm water. Mix the ingredients with your hands or a wooden spoon until it forms a dough and becomes difficult to stir.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead with your hands until you have a soft and smooth dough. The dough should not stick to the surface you’re kneading it from and should easily spring back up when you poke into it.
6. Tuck the dough to form a ball and transfer it to a bowl brushed with some vegetable oil. Cover it with a tea/kitchen towel and let it rest for 20 mins.
7. Once the dough is well rested, knead it once more for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
8. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a ½ inch thick rectangle. Brush the surface of the rectangle with coconut oil and roll it up into a cylindrical shape like you would roll a cinnamon roll.
9. Cut the dough into 2 inch thick discs and flatten them. (you should be able to make out a spiral when cut)
10. Roll each disk into a thin circle about 8-9 inches in diameter and stack them on top of each other making sure to lightly flour each chapati before stacking it to prevent them from sticking to each other. Once done, flip the chapati stack such that the first one you rolled will be the first one you cook.
11. On a hot tawa pan, spread about 1 tbsp of oil and place one chapati on it. Cook for about 1 minute until you see spots forming on the cooking side and flip to cook the other side for about ½ a minute. Stack them in a dish, bowl or sufuria lined with baking paper or the khaki paper the flour comes in. Cover the container of choice to maintain softness.
12. Repeat this for all chapatis and serve with a green gram curry, coconut beans, potato and pea curry, dal curry or tea. You could also use these chapatis as wraps.
Just like that you have a beautifully green stack of chapatis that are not only healthy and nutritious but super soft and delicious too! I hope you enjoy making these chapos and that you and your loved ones love them as much as me and mine do!
When you make tem, please share it with me on my Instagram, I’d love to see how it turned out!
Until next time, Nawapenda sana!
