10 khapli atta recipes: rotis, bread, halwa and more

Almost every dish on this page starts with khapli atta, and two habits decide how it turns out. First, the dough: khapli atta takes a little more water than regular atta, should be kneaded soft and slightly sticky, and needs a 30-minute rest (up to an hour) before rolling, or the rotis can come out dry and crack at the edges. Second, the whole grain: it takes a long soak and a long cook, eight hours in cold water, then 4 to 5 whistles in the cooker, or 40 to 50 minutes of gentle simmering, before it softens enough to eat.

One honest note on numbers. The two big food tables carry no composition entry for emmer: IFCT 2017 has none under any Indian name, and USDA FoodData Central has no Triticum dicoccum record, so this page gives no per-100 g figures for khapli atta. The only public figure is a glycemic index, and it comes from a single entry in the University of Sydney database: boiled Triticum dicoccum pasta, tested in Italy, GI 40, a pasta value, not a khapli roti value. For the grain's story, names and storage, see the khapli atta guide; the full cooking notes are on what is emmer wheat used for, and the gluten answer on is khapli atta gluten free.

Roti is where khapli atta earns its place: a little denser and chewier than sharbati, with a nuttier taste, and the three flatbreads below all start from the same soft dough.

Khapli atta roti

Two cups of khapli atta (240 g), warm water and a 30-minute rest make eight soft phulka-style rotis that puff over the open flame; smear each with ghee while it is hot. About an hour including the rest, and each roti with its share of ghee comes to about 125 kcal. Full method: khapli atta roti.

Khapli paratha

Knead the dough as for roti and roll each round a little thicker. Stuff with spiced potato or gobhi and seal the edges, or cook it plain, then fry on a hot tawa with a little ghee on both sides; a smear of ghee at the end keeps it soft.

Khapli thepla

Work a spoon of curd and a pinch of ajwain into the roti dough, roll it thin and cook on a low tawa with a light smear of oil. Theplas stay supple for the lunchbox, and finely chopped methi or grated lauki kneads in well.

Three breakfasts that take under half an hour once the atta is on hand, and none of them needs a dough rest.

Khapli besan chilla

Whisk khapli atta and besan half and half with water to a pouring batter, season with salt and stir in chopped onion, green chilli and coriander. Pour thin rounds onto a hot tawa, flip when the edges lift, and serve with chutney or curd.

Khapli dalia upma

Dry-roast cracked khapli dalia until it smells toasted. Temper mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves, onion and green chilli in a little oil, add two cups of hot water per cup of dalia with salt, stir in the dalia, cover and cook on low until the water is absorbed; finish with lemon juice and coriander.

Sweet khapli dalia

Toast the cracked dalia in a teaspoon of ghee, add milk and simmer until soft, then sweeten with jaggery powder and finish with cardamom. A warm breakfast bowl in about 20 minutes.

Baking brings out the nutty side of khapli atta, and a blend with sharbati atta is the trick for anything that must rise.

Khapli atta bread

A yeasted loaf of two cups khapli atta to one cup sharbati atta, with a teaspoon of instant yeast and a tablespoon of jaggery powder. Knead for 8 minutes, let it rise about 90 minutes, give it 45 to 60 minutes in the tin, and bake at 200 °C for 35 minutes: count about three and a quarter hours from start to slice. Each of the ten slices is about 148 kcal with 4 g of fibre. Full method: khapli atta bread.

Khapli atta biscuits

Cream soft ghee with jaggery powder, work in khapli atta until the dough just holds together, then roll it out, cut or press into rounds and bake at 180 °C until the edges turn golden. The biscuits crisp further as they cool and keep in an airtight tin.

The whole grain is the slower, chewier form of khapli, for days when roti is not the point. Cooked khapli wheat keeps for up to two days in the fridge in a covered container, so one batch can stretch across two dinners.

Khapli khichdi

Soak whole khapli wheat for 8 hours, then pressure-cook it with a handful of moong dal, salt and turmeric for 4 to 5 whistles, until the grain is tender. Finish with ghee heated with cumin seeds, and serve with curd and pickle.

Roasted in ghee, khapli atta turns deep and nutty, and the halwa below is where that roast pays off most.

Khapli atte ka halwa

Roast a cup of khapli atta (120 g) in 110 g of ghee for 10 to 12 minutes until it smells of roasted nuts, then pour in 2.5 cups of hot water in which 120 g of jaggery powder has been dissolved. Stir on low for 4 to 5 minutes until the halwa leaves the sides of the pan and the ghee glistens at the edges; it serves six, and a small bowl comes to about 300 kcal. Full method: khapli atte ka halwa.

What is khapli atta?

Khapli atta is whole flour milled from khapli wheat, the Indian emmer, Triticum dicoccum. It is a hulled wheat, its own species, not the sharbati of most regular atta, and it bakes darker and nuttier in rotis, breads and halwa. It is still wheat, so gluten is in it, like in every wheat.

How to eat khapli atta?

Use it wherever a recipe calls for wheat atta. For rotis, mix in warm water until the dough turns soft and slightly sticky, then leave it alone for 30 minutes before rolling. For bread, blend two parts khapli atta with one part sharbati atta and proof the dough longer. Roasted in ghee it becomes halwa; cracked into dalia it cooks as upma or a sweet milk porridge.

Is khapli atta gluten free?

No. Khapli is emmer, a true wheat, so khapli atta contains gluten and every dish on this page is a wheat dish. The NHS counts wheat, barley and rye as the cereals whose gluten causes coeliac disease, so a gluten-free diet leaves these recipes out. The full answer is on is khapli atta gluten free.

Does emmer wheat make good bread?

It does, in a blend. Baked alone, khapli atta gives a dense loaf, so the bread here mixes two cups of khapli atta with one cup of sharbati atta and a teaspoon of yeast, and the loaf keeps its nutty, earthy flavour. The full two-rise method is khapli atta bread.

What is emmer wheat?

Emmer wheat is Triticum dicoccum, the wheat sold in India as khapli and milled into the atta these recipes use. It is a hulled wheat, dehulled before milling, and that extra milling step is one reason the flour costs more than regular atta. It is a different species from bread wheat, with a nuttier, slightly sweeter taste.