Usually Indian breads such as chappatis, parathas, puris and puran puris are made from wheat flour. The gluten in them makes it easy for anyone to roll them out and make tasty breads. However, lots of people have to follow a gluten free diet for health reasons. Millet flour rotlas and chick pea flour pancakes are a good alternative for them but often they crave chappatis and rotis similar to the ones made by wheat flour. I got sent samples for some gluten free Chapati flour from Eurostar and wanted to try cooking with it.
Ingredients in the flour is listed on the packet so anyone with allergies can check before using the flour.
I have never used gluten free flour before but was looking forward to using it make some puran puris. Puran puris are chappatis stuffed with a sweet lentil filling. They work really well with normal chappati flour but were a bit challenging with the gluten free dough.
Ingredients the stuffing:
- 1 cup toor dall (The toor dall is often called tuver dall, pigeon peas, Congo peas or gungo peas.
- ½ cup sugar (more if you have a sweet tooth)
- ½ tsp of finely ground cardamom
- ½ tsp of ground nutmeg
- 8-10 strands saffron
- 1 tbls clarified butter, ghee or vegan alternative
Ingredients for the dough:
- 1 cup of gluten free flour
- 3 tbls cooking oil
- Plus some ghee or butter to spread on the puran puris (vegans can use Flora or something similar)
Method:
1. First make the dough so that it has a chance to rest – Sieve the flour and make a well in the middle and add the oil. Using warm water, mix the flour well. Make sure that you pour the water in small amounts so that the dough doesn’t get too soft. With the gluten free dough, I had to add a lot of more water to get it to the same level as a normal chappati dough. Take a small teaspoon of oil in your palms and knead until the dough feels pliable – almost like “play dough”. Cover the dough and let it rest.
2. Wash the toor dall with warm water and cook it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. Allow this to cook on a high gas until it starts to boil. Reduce the heat to medium and allow it to cook. You need to allow the toor dall to cook without having to add extra water. The dall needs to cook until soft.
3. Once the dall has cooked, add the sugar. The sugar will melt and the dall will start to look runny. Add the cardamon, saffron and nutmeg.
4. Mix well and allow this to cook at a gentle heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid evaporates and you get a thick mixture. Add the ghee(or vegan alternative) and allow the mixture to cool slightly.
5. Divide the Chappati dough into a small balls – nearly the size of small golf balls and divide the stuffing too into small balls of similar size.
6. Gluten free dough was hard to roll like normal chapatis for puran puris so I rolled out two circles and spread the stuffing on one chappati and topped it with the second chappati. I pressed the ends of the two chappatis and rolled them out ready to cook on the griddle. Once cooked, I spread them with butter and served them hot.
The gluten free flour is a little difficult to cook with when you are not used to using it. However, it’s a good alternative for people with gluten intolerance to enjoy dishes.
For more gluten free dishes that I would recommend these Indian chickpea pancakes and these amaranth and morio seeds flour puris.
I also found this Edamame and bean fettuccine which is gluten free.
Gluten free Puran Puri – Chapattis made with sweet lentil stuffing
Ingredients
Ingredients the stuffing
- 1 cup toor dall (The toor dall is often called tuver dall, pigeon peas, Congo peas or gungo peas
- ½ cup cup sugar (more if you have a sweet tooth)
- ½ tsp finely ground cardamom
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 8-10 strands saffron
- 1 tbls clarified butter, ghee or vegan alternative
Ingredients for the dough
- 1 cup gluten free flour
- 3 tbls cooking oil
- some ghee or butter to spread on the puran puris (vegans can use Flora or something similar)
Instructions
- First make the dough so that it has a chance to rest – Sieve the flour and make a well in the middle and add the oil. Using warm water, mix the flour well. Make sure that you pour the water in small amounts so that the dough doesn’t get too soft. With the gluten free dough, I had to add a lot of more water to get it to the same level as a normal chappati dough. Take a small teaspoon of oil in your palms and knead until the dough feels pliable – almost like “play dough”. Cover the dough and let it rest.
- Wash the toor dall with warm water and cook it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. Allow this to cook on a high gas until it starts to boil. Reduce the heat to medium and allow it to cook. You need to allow the toor dall to cook without having to add extra water. The dall needs to cook until soft.
- Once the dall has cooked, add the sugar. The sugar will melt and the dall will start to look runny. Add the cardamon, saffron and nutmeg.
- Mix well and allow this to cook at a gentle heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid evaporates and you get a thick mixture. Add the ghee(or vegan alternative) and allow the mixture to cool slightly.
- Divide the Chappati dough into a small balls – nearly the size of small golf balls and divide the stuffing too into small balls of similar size.
- Gluten free dough was hard to roll like normal chapatis or puran puris so I rolled out two circles and spread the stuffing on one chappati and topped it with the second chappati. I pressed the ends of the two chappatis and rolled them out ready to cook on the griddle. Once cooked, I spread them with butter and served them hot.
Conclusion
- This was the best option to enjoy the puran puris. The puran puri’s were soft and tasty. Anyone looking for gluten free option would not be disappointed cooking with this flour.In conclusion, this flour is a great replacement to the normal wheat chappati flour for people who are looking for gluten free options. The chappatis are a bit difficult to get perfectly round but they turn out soft and taste great when they are fresh. The leftover ones weren’t that soft so my suggestion would be to enjoy them fresh.
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Disclaimer: I was provided with the free products to try in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this Post are mine and not influenced by anyone.