Disclaimer: Mangala Deshmukh is NOT a licensed Dietician/ Nutritionist.
The information on this website is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any medical or other condition. Always seek the advice of your health provider prior to starting any diet.
We usually turn to Rice when confronted with wheat allergy or the need to stay away from Gluten. Rice flour is the base of most cake, cookie, bread and all purpose gluten free flour mixes. Rice, however, does not provide great nutrition and the dough can be quite crumbly, especially when made egg free. I have combined two amazingly nutritious gluten free flours—Amaranth and Sorghum, with a starch for binding, to produce fantastic puris, rotis and parathas. Amaranth, (the Indian Rajgira) and Sorghum (Jowar in India) are easily available, and not just in the Indian stores, but also in specialty food markets and increasingly in mainstream grocery stores in the US.
Amaranth is an excellent source of protein which contains those amino acids that are usually found only in animal foods. It is loaded with fiber, iron, calcium, vitamins and minerals, and is significantly more nutritious than whole wheat. The name ‘Amaranth’ itself comes from the Latin root word ‘amar’, meaning long-lived. Relate it to the Sanskrit ‘amar’ which means ‘immortal’!
Sorghum is one of the oldest known grains, very nutritious, and high in iron, calcium and potassium. Because the protein and starch in sorghum are digested more slowly than that of other cereals, it has a glycemic index that is among the lowest of all food grains.
I combine Amaranth and Sorghum, with corn starch for binding (use Tapioca starch if corn is an issue) and I add a very small quantity of a type of gum—Xanthan gum. You could also use another gum called Guar gum. Both are available in specialty food stores. Gums are used frequently in gluten free foods, because they help to create the spongy, elastic texture which gluten provides. I do not use soy as it is an established allergenic food and I also stay away from chick pea and varied bean flours as they may not suit one and all.
Your chapattis will be easier to roll, the edges will not be uneven and even a thinly rolled chapatti will not tear. In fact, wheat eating family members will hardly be able to tell the difference. It does take a little bit of practice if you have not worked with gluten free flours before, but take it from me, it only gets better and soon enough you will want to make allergy free puris for everyone!
Ingredients:
Amaranth Flour / Rajgira Atta – 1 cup (3.8 ounces)
Sorghum Flour / Jawar Atta – 1 cup (4.4 ounces)
Cornstarch – ¾ cup (3.4 ounces)
Xanthan Gum – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix all flours well taking care that bowl and mixing spoons are dry.
2. Mix in Salt and Xanthan Gum and mix both well into the flours.
3. Make double the quantity if you like and store in dry, airtight jars
Tip:
To retain freshness, place jar/s in the fridge.
I got following flour from Indian store Amaranth Flour ,
Sorghum Flour and then mix with Spinach it worked fine without starch or Gum, do you think I should add that? Please share more GF recipe. Do you know if Besan is also GF? Really like your site, recently started GF diet and your site is first thing I checked :).
Thanks
Hi Aish,
If it worked for you without the starch or gum, then its okay not to add them. Chickpea flour (besan) is gluten free.
I haven’t tried the above recipes yet as I haven’t found the flours but stumbled on a great fried puri technique.
I used gluten free bread flour which is usually a mixture of potato and rice flour or just rice flour.
Add a pinch of Xanthan gum and then water to make into a dough. Then break of small pieces to make little ball shapes with your hands. By pushing down on the small balls of dough make a it a circle then brush with egg wash on both sides. The egg wash is simply a beaten egg.
Dust with flour and push the circle out more with hands (works better than using a rolling pin).
Then shallow/deep fry.
The egg and the xanthan gum helps the dough to bind which is not easy with such flours. Frying takes of the starchy taste of the flour that you sometimes get with gluten free flours.
I made these quite small because the dough is much easier to work with that way.
Was very delicious with keema and chick peas.
Hi Mr. Daruvalla,
Wow! Very innovative idea! Thanks for sharing it.
hi
just wanted to know if i can omit the sorghum flour altogether.. can i use buckwheat or chestnut flour instead?
Hi,
I really want to try ‘Rainbow Puris’ but don’t want to use any kind of gum (as we are fine with gluten in our diet). So I was wondering, is there any substitute for gums in the flour mix? I really want to use both the flours.
Thanks
Hi,
I tried using the flour mix but it was very difficult to roll it and the taste was also quite diffrent from our regualr rotis, as my son has been put on GFCF diet i m looking for gluten-free flour which my 4-year-old son can have,
Hi Ranjita,
I am not sure how often u tried it. But for me, it came out pretty good..
I first used the laxmi juvar from indian grocery store.it had little bitterness so just went to whole foods and got the bob red mills one from there…. This flour is very good without any bitterness in it…. One thing I noticed what my rotis come out good with fresh dough. So I make the dough and make the rotis immediately…. You have to go a little slow in rolling the roti as the elasticity of gluten is missing in this one…..
Also put a lot of ghee once u make it as little ones love the ghee taste and then roti will taste better…
HI Ranjita,
One modification that I made. I found potato flour in whole foods so I use that instead of the fresh potato and it works great for my family.
Regards
shital
Now look her Aunty I hear all the comments about nutrition etc and I have been subjected to a chapati free existence for some time now since my selfish son, (wink) aged 8 decided to burden us all with a gluten allergy.
Seriously though its just not fair on him to watch us eating things he cant eat so Ive tried different organic flours to make chapatis and pancakes etc without success.
He is somewhat fooled every time into taking the first bite, of which the taste amounts to chewing on a sponge, occasionally a brick or even licking sawdust depending on which horrible gluten free flour I have previously used.
The alternative is to use nearly a whole jar of jam to smother them in which is breaking the bank pretty much in the same fashion that the gluten free chapatis can break a tooth.
This invention of yours may just have saved my life and restored my faith in humanity, providing it tastes good.
You see its all about the taste for me.
It has to look like a chapati, smell like a chapati and taste like a chapati or I will be forced to find you three ladies, (I think I recognise that kitchen) joke!! and seek compensation in the way of being appointed official recipe taster for all forthcoming and previous videos for a period of…..oh….shall we say….the rest of my life.
Here’s hoping this recipe is what I have been searching for for over a year.
If not get the “official taster” sash ready with my name on.
Yours without prejudice offering zero seriousness
Mr Daruvalla.
Mr. Daruvalla,
Not having tried the other gluten free things out there, we personally were pleasantly surprised at how yummy this was :). Hope you and your family will be able to enjoy it as well. Good luck!
Thanks for these recipes! We are sensitive to sorghum too. Can you suggest an alternative to sorghum?
Thanks!
Hi,
I want to try this flour but I am not able to find Xanthan or Guar gums….. I tried D-mart, Big Bazaar and local gen stores. Can you pls let me where can i find these gums in Navi mumbai. Thanks.
Hi Cynthia,
So sorry, but we are not familiar with the grocery stores in your area. Maybe some of our other viewers from that area can help.
Cynthia,
try to get rice very finely ground from a local chakki. I do that when in mumbai. that will help instead of xanthan gum. If not Xanthan gum is “gond” in mumbai, used to make ladoo. ask the grocer for “Khane ki gond” which means edible gum. Make sure to use very little initially because its slightly different from xanthan gum
Hi,
I want to try this flour but I am not able to find Xanthan or Guar gums….. I tried D-mard, Big Bazaar and local gen stores. Can you pls let me where can i find these gums in Navi mumbai. Thanks.
how long we can keep the mix flour if kept in room temperature or in a fridge .
Hi Manjit,
In the fridge, it will stay for months.
i used this recipe to make dough for samosas with the addition of the ajwain seeds, 1/4 cup tapicoa startch and used 1 cup+ water instead of potato (like used for the chapati recipe) and it worked well and rolled out nice and thin on a ziploc bag…they puffed up nice and good for a poori too…they are nice and crispy in thier own way (still miss the crispy of regular flour samosas but these were better than none at all…we were so glad we didn’t have to give up our love of samosas now that we’ve gone gluten free….looking forward to trying it out as a chipati…thanks so much–lara
Thanks for the feedback Lara. We’re sure it will help other viewers as well.
lara, arrowroot flour is supposed to crisp up well. i have never made samosa so i don’t know how it wull translate, but it might offer a satisfying crispness… hope it works for you, if you try it.
Hello Ladies,
I have a 21 month old son who has coeliacs disease so I am so greatful that you have found the time to experiment with gluten free atta as he love aloo pratha but we just can’t seem to make a dough. I wll try this on the weekend.
Your work makes our lives much more manageable. Many Thanks!
Hi Shital,
My son has the same diet due to ADHD. Are you successful in making yogurt now?
Best wishes to you and your family.
Sangita
Dear Hetal,
Thank you for your support. I didn’t expect a reply from you and became little emotional when I read this. A small prayer from you means a lot to us. He has adjusted well and I will be making oat meal cookies for him when he goes to watch Harry Potter with Dad now!!!
Hi Sangita, oats are often contaminated with gluten because of the way they are processed. Pls check with yr doctor and the read the packaging as well to see they are certified gluten free.
Good luck!
Hello,
My year old son has been put in GFCF diet by his ayurvedic doctore. This way of making chapattis will help him a lot. We are learning so many new things and all of us are following this diet to support him. Thank you for your recipies. I have taken off this summer to help our son adjust to the new diet plan. I am sure to try lots of your recpies.
Thanks for the feedback Sangita. We wish you the best for your son as you all go through this journey together.
Hi.
My child had been allergic to gluten since birth. I Have been trying to make juwar rotis, rice rotis for him, with mediocre success. This flour mix turned out fabulous for rotis, parathas, and for the first time in his life, he had puris. He thoroughly enjoyed them. Thanks a ton.
I wanted to know how I can use this gluten free flour mix to bake breads/ baguettes/rolls for him.
Thanks and congratulations on the wonderful job you three are doing.
Cheers, Aruna.
anuja and hetal,
this is wonderful! i’ve been eating gluten and casein free for a few years now and will be happy to share some of my recipes with you, if you’d like. do get in touch.
your rasmalai recipe (on which i’ve had a few exchanges with anuja) is spreading like wildfire here and would you believe it, was taken by someone to Delhi!!
stella
Hi Stella,
Lol! That is too funny! We’d love for you to share your recipes. You can email them to us at hetal@34.233.61.50 or anuja@34.233.61.50 (or both). Thanks!
will do hetal. i have all sorts of allergen free recipes-dairy/gluten/yeast/nuts/eggs-will email to you both.
Hi Stella,
Can you share some GF recipes with me? We recenty went GF due to gluten allergy of my 7 year old and any and all recipes will help us!
Thanks
Thanks a lot for the gluten free flour recipe. My son is severely allergic to many foods and I have been looking for alternate indian receipes for a long time. Thank you so much!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was diagnosed while pregnant with Celiac disease and my mother and sister were diagnosed afterwards, we have been looking for this recipe forever! FINALLY we can eat roti again! You ladies are the best! You deserve to have your own TV show! 😀
Thanks Nina!
Please see the Gluten-Free Chapati video as well.
Mangla Aunty,
I added mashed banana instead of meshed potatoes. rotis came out even softer and more flavourful. I prefer using banana over potatoes in everyday food.
How can we make Naan’s out of this flour? I tried but it did not came out good?
Shital
Hi- My husband was recently diagnosed with Coeliac disease and ever since I have been looking for an alternative ( gluten-free) flour to make him Rotis. Thanks a ton for this recipe..he’ll definitely be happier now :).
You can make baked goodies with this flour mix also. Let me know if your husband liked the rotis!
thanks for the reply aunty…I got RAJGARO flour from patel foods..Is rajgaro and rajgira the same flour…
It is the same. You could also go to a health food store and buy ‘amaranth’ flour which is labelled gluten free.
Do be careful with any new ingredient that you are introducing the first time, especially as a precaution against cross contamination which could happen in the grinding process.
My son is also allergy to corn, what should I use instead.
Please use tapioca starch instead of corn starch. I think I have mentioned that in the video. Use it in the same proportion.
iam in PA state ..can u please let me know where i can get guar gum or the flours that u used here…Because i enquired in whole foods market they are not familiar with these terms..please help me out..
Whole Foods in the Dallas area has all these flours. Most health food stores here as well as mainstream groceries keep them in stock. You could ask Whole Foods to order them for you, or go on the websites of Bob’s Red Mill / Arrowhead Mills and check if they can ship the flours. Indian groceries also have them–amaranth is Rajgira and sorghum is Jowar or Jwari.
Bob’s Red Mill also makes xanthan gum and guar gum. It might be practical to order all these together. I am sure you have Indian grocery stores in your area, where you are most likely to get the flours. The gums can be ordered.
Whole Foods could order these flours for you. You could also go on the websites of gluten free flour manufacturers, check them out and have them ship the flours as well as xanthan gum or guar gum. Indian stores also have amaranth, which is known as Rajgira and Sorghum, which is called Jwari or Jowar.
Hi,
Thanks so much for this recipe! i was just wondering..is rajgaro flour the same as rajgira flour? is rajgaro four amaranth? That is the only thing close to rajgira that I found at my indian grocery store. Please let me know asap 🙂
Hi Afrina,
Yes, rajgira is amaranth in English. I know my mom calls it “rajagro”, so it may be called slightly different names in different languages.
Hi
Can this be made without Xanthum gum?
Hi Lavi,
The Xanthan Gum provides the glue factor and binds the flours together. It will be a little harder to roll out but not impossible.
Hello,
If you use superfine rice flour (you can google to find out where to buy it in the USA), that provides the glue factor. Its really fine and if you try to make rotis just using this flour you will see how gluey they turn out to be. So these can be used. The quantity will be more than xanthan gum. maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup in 2 cups of flour. Try it and let me know.
My son has severe multiple food allergies so i kind of tend to experiment with rotis.
Hi MCM,
Thanks for sharing the alternatives. We’re sure it will be helpful to others.
Is it necessary to add jawaar flour or we can swap it for rice flour instead?
Hi Shital,
Jawar is a healthier option that rice flour and that is why we opt for it. Having said that, you can use the rice flour but the water amount and the consistency will be different. Add a little water at a time till you reach the right consistency.
Thanks Anuja,
For the prompt reply. My son has a trace of Autism and I am beginning to transition him to GFCF diet. Which was harder before as I did not have the right receipe for the chapatis and Thepalas and stuff like that. Your receipe is a god sent for me. I did try Sweetguard thepalas today with riceflour and your receipe and it came out just fine. Thanks again.
On the other note, He is also going casein free so he is on Almond milk right now. Trouble part is making curd out of almond milk. Could you help me with that?
this aunty is a gem of a person with a ton of knowledge on the subject, a great find indeed !
what are other uses of this gum? is rajgira same as kuttu atta?
No one in my family has allergies to wheat. but I want to try this. Instead of corn flour, I thought of substituting a mix of wheat flour and flax seed powder. Do you think it will work?
If wheat is 1/3 of the total flour, you may need an additional pinch of xanthan gum. Of course this depends on how much flax seed you want to add.
I have never done this but it sounds like its worth a try.
Good luck!
Thank you very much for answering my question.
Thank you Gals!!!!!!
I was diagnoised with Gluten allergy a couple of years ago since then i did not have any rotis or pooris,today i made pooris and a single roti(did’nt want to miss a chance of tasting roti)both turned out awesome!!
I used Tapioka starch instead of Corn and the taste is really good,loved the crocked edges reminds me of authentic rotis.
I just washed my hands after eating could not keep my self away from writing a comment.Thanks a ton!!!!
yeah now i can have rotis whenever i want!!!!
Where did your stove disappear? because I would like to know what kind of stove you use, so that I can buy one like that.
Hi Hetal, Anuja and Mangala jee,
I always used to feel guilty to eat chapatis or items made with semolina before my husband. He loves Chaptis but is “gluten sensitive”. In fact I enquired in many shops for “gluten free flours” but in vain. I thank you folks immensely for providing this receipe. I am really indebted to you. Thanks a lot…+
I think this will be useful to people with and without allergies! Surprised to know that the flours you used have such nutritional values, especially the one with low GI. Thanks to all the 3 of you and your team!
very informative and resourceful thanks.
Thanks for the information girls. I am not allergic to wheat but it was nice to learn about Juwar and rajgira flour.
Thank you for this recipe. I have a quick question about the use of cornflour. Is there a low GI (glycemic index) substitute for the same? I know that it acts as a binding agent, but was curious if there was some other flour that can be used in its place instead of potato starch, especially since both are high GI foods. Thanks again!
Starches basically have a higher GI. I have not yet come across a low GI binding agent.
I am always looking for better ways to add complex carbs/proteins and this takes me 1 step further… thanks to the “tridevi” team … u guys rock….I cook barley mixed with rice and works well while eating with sambar or dal or rasam….
Barley is not gluten free. If you are the victem of Celiac disease then avoid barley.
Barley is not gluten free. If you are the victim of Celiac disease then avoid barley.
hi everyone i have question did anyone add oil in flour to make chappatis because i tried without oil and really good in taste but edges are little bit tear off and feel little crunchy.
i did put little bit of oil and they came out perfect, also i felt the flour needs a little extra kneading than regular wheat flour to get the right soft texture of chapati
I will be showing the chapati recipe soon–and yes, I do add oil.
Gluten free flours need extra kneading as I have mentioned in the chapati video.
I am so glad you are trying this out!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I have been waiting for this for 3yrs since my son was diagnosed with Wheat allergy. Now with this mix I can give him good puris,chappathis,parathas oh god! I am so excited. Can’t wait for your recipes using this mix.I am sure my guilty feeling about not being able to give him all the foods he wants will come down now with your help.
THANK YOU Mangala aunty. You had recently answered my email question regarding my son’s Birthday cake and it turned out awesome. Now this mix sounds perfect for my son too.
:))))))))))))) THANK YOU
So happy to hear that your cake worked out well. Anuja and Hetal will soon be putting up the chapati recipe.
All the best.
please please tell me if you are Mangala married to Vikas. I have tried so hard to find you.
Maggie Corke from London England.
Thanks Hetal and Anuja for including this section on your website!!! Thanks to Mangala aunty too for sharing her recipes.
I did tried making chappatis using above proportions and i have to admit the proportions are “Bang on”. I just used potato starch instead of corn.
Excellent Anjana! I just knew this was you 😉
Glad ‘K’ enjoyed them!
Hi Anjana. Your review is very helpful. As you said you have added potato starch instead of corn starch. Did you also add mashed potatoes while kneading the dough.
My son is diagnosed with Celiac disease last month. Your answer will be very helpful to me.
Hi
Dear Hetal and Anuja
Your recepies are very useful me and my daughter sruthi like to watch them and I tried some of them they are wonderful. Thank you for sharing your talents with us. This alergy free flour mix is amazingly nutritious and healthy even though no one has alergies in our house I would like to try these recipies, Please let me knwo if we can use potato starch instead of corn.
thank you
Yes you could use potato starch instead of corn.
Excellent idea, Sangeetha! Introduce more nutritious ingredients to the family.
Ladies, thank you so much for tackling gluten-free foods for us. Can’t wait to see what you make with this flour mixture.
Hi. Where can I find Xanthan gum from ?
any health food store like whole food. u may also use guar gum
This is great .. thank you. I have to try it still .. but it is good to get the exact proportions. Thank you again for all the work you go through to come up with some great recipes and tips.
gals, you always come up with something new. I just loved the mix of flours and waiting for the recipes that you are go to make so that I can add that mix in my kitchen..
excellent flour mix..Am awaiting to see the recepies that you are going to do with the help of this flour mix…Great work by SMTC team.
why am i not able to see the video?? it says private video 🙁
its fine now 🙂