Hunza Cuisine has a savory touch to every dish. Whole Wheat Crepes is one of many flatbread recipes in Hunza and people make it across Gilgit-Baltistan. The names of Whole Wheat Crepes across different regions of Gilgit- Baltistan are different for instance, Rishiki in Chitral, Kiseer in Baltistan, Goli in Shinaki language, and Giraal in Upper Hunza. This oily flatbread made with wheat flour has three different variations that include Maltaschy Giyaling, Khalonch’chy Giyaling, and Bis’chy Giyaling. There exist another two types of Giyaling called Baru’e Giyaling and Hamamo Giyaling, the latter is made particularly for Ginani festival.

Maltaschy Giyaling/wheat crepes with butter:
We serve crepes with oil and the name of crepe changes with the type of oil we use. For instance, Maltaschy Giyaling is basically a wheat crepe we brush this crepe with a generous quantity of butter. Maltas in this case is butter.
We also use Walnut and apricot oil with crepes but then the first name of crepe changes according to the type of oil we use. For instance, the crepes coated with walnut oil are tilli’e dail’chy Giyaling, and the crepes coated with apricot oil the name changes to Hani’e dail’chy Giyaling. Dail in both names refers to the oil.
Hunza women eat this after their postpartum for months. The Hunza women use preserved butter after their postpartum which has a pungent smell. They believe that it helps in healing and fast recovery.

Khalonch’chy Giyaling/ wheat crepes with carbon coating:
We use firewood for cooking in Hunza. The pan that we use to cook flatbread gets a layer of carbon from wood burning, and carbon is called Khalowang in the local language. We cook this type of wheat crepe on theside of pan that has a layer of carbon. we scrap the excess of carbon and leave some of it and pour the batter on make crepes like any other crepe. The resulting crepe is black. The women of Hunza believe that this black crepe helps to relieve menstrual pain. I have seen women in my family eating this during their menstrual cycles.

Bis’chy Giyaling/ wheat crepe with animal fat:
To make this type of wheat crepe we add animal fate to the batter. This was a common type of crepe once which now has almost extinct because people these days no more use animal fat for cooking in Hunza.

Whole Wheat Crepes Preparation

For Maltaschy Giyaling recipe or Whole Wheat Crepes, we need only a few ingredients. Traditionally we do not use eggs and we only grease the pan with butter so that the batter does not stick to the pan. Adding an egg to the batter will skip greasing the pan every time. For 4 servings of whole wheat crepes recipe, we need:

Ingredients for Whole Wheat Crepes  Batter

Wheat Flour   1 Cup
Salt                   1 tsp.
Egg                    1
Oil/butter        1 tbsp.
Water               1 ½ Cups

 Directions:

• In a large bowl whisk an egg seasoned with salt while adding a tablespoon of oil or butter to it.
• Pour the 1 ½ cups of water into it and start adding wheat flour in batches to avoid any lumps. The batter should have a running consistency.
• While the batter is being ready, get the pan ready on medium-high heat.
• When the batter reaches the perfect consistency pour it over the pan. Spread the batter from the center to outwards in a circular motion.
• The batter dries out in few minutes, at this point take a flat tool and flip it over. when we flip over the crepe it makes a shhh sound and when this sound stops it is a signal that the crepe is ready to dish out.
• Transfer the Giyal to a plate and grease it with melted butter, while you are greasing the giyal your pan will be ready for the next batch.
• Repeat the same process. Make sure you mix your batter every time before using it.
• You can make 8 Giyaling out of this amount of batter.

 Serving:

The best way of serving Maltaschy Giyaling is with savory tea. Serve them when they are still warm. Fresh Giyaling tastes better than the cold ones.