Garam Masala Tuesdays: Amritsari Kulcha
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Stuffed Indian flat bread
Author:
Recipe type: Bread
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 20
Ingredients
  • 1 kg all purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup yogurt
  • 1 egg slightly beaten at room temp (if you do not eat egg, skip it and just adjust the liquid- I have successfully made this recipe without egg, just make sure you adjust the liquid- the dough should be a fairly wet yet smooth dough)
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup semolina flour (sooji) (this is added to make the kulcha a little crisp)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 500 ml water (adjust accordingly)
  • ½ tsp baking powder (optional)
for filling:
  • 400 gms paneer, grated (3 cups)
  • 2-3 potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed (see not above in post)
  • ¼ cup coarsely ground cashews
  • 1 tbsp saunf/ fennel seeds
  • 1 tbsp ajjwain/ carom seeds
  • 1 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 tbsp ginger
  • 1 tbsp green chilli
  • 2 tsp salt, or to taste
  • ¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
  • 1 tbsp kalonji/onion seeds
Instructions
For the dough:
  1. Mix together the flours, salt, yogurt, egg, oil and knead together till it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
  2. Add in the water, and mix the dough with your fingers. Knead till smooth. Keep the dough a little tight but wet.
  3. Use a little more oil between your hands to handle the dough without it sticking to your fingers. Keep covered for an hour or two.
For the filling:
  1. Boil the potatoes, peel and mash them and keep aside.
  2. Add in the seeds, onion, ginger, chillies, cashews.
  3. Grate the paneer in a separate plate.
  4. When ready to stuff, mix the potato mixture with paneer. Add in salt, chopped cilantro and onion seeds.
Stuffing:
  1. Fifteen minutes before stuffing, oil your hands and divide the rested dough into dough balls. Keep covered under a clean towel, while you make the rest of the dough balls.
  2. Once rested for 15 minutes, flatten the dough ball, and stuff a sufficient amount of filling in the flattened dough. Pinch sides together to make a stuffed dough balls. Using a little oil/or flour, flatten the stuffed dough to make a thin round.
  3. Bake in tandoor for 5 minutes. Remove and top with butter and serve with chickpea curry, pickle and onions.
For pressure cooker/ skillet method:
  1. Heat pressure cooker without the lid on or your skillet on high for 3 minutes.
  2. Remove the whistle from the lid. Put the stuffed flattened kulcha on the bottom of the cooker and tighten the lid. If using skillet, put flattened kulcha round on the skillet and cover with a lid.
  3. Remove the cooker lid, after a minute, reduce heat to medium high and flip the kulcha over and again cover with lid and cook for few more seconds till the bubbles start charring. I generally do this for a few seconds and then remove it from the cooker and then char the kulcha on open flame till I get the desired charred look. It just takes a few seconds.
Update: I have also made the kulchas successfully in a big cast iron kadhai/wok. After stuffing and shaping, I wet the top side of the shaped kulcha with a little water and then stick the water side to the sides of the kadhai and cover the kadhai/wok with a lid and let cook for 4-5 minutes till the side facing you starts looking a little done. Then I flip the kulchas so the other side gets charred as well. For the heat, I start with high till the wok heats up nicely and then after placing the kulchas turn it low and cook covered till both sides are done. Since I have a large wok, I can cook 2-3 kulchas this way at a time.
Recipe by The Novice Housewife at https://novicehousewife.com/2014/07/22/garam-masala-tuesdays-amritsari-kulcha/