Indian cuisine has a huge range of breads but the only one people outside India are aware of is naan. And naan is the least likely bread to be made in an average Indian household, oh what an irony! The more popular everyday breads are roti and paratha, which are made with whole wheat. That is what we usually eat with our sabzi (spiced veggies) and dal (lentils).
Another well known Indian bread but not so common in the western world is kulcha. It is a leavened bread made without yeast. There are several versions of kulcha. The one we used to get on roadside in Delhi used to be very soft and I was so crazy about them! They remind me of college days because we ate kulcha and chole (spiced chickpeas) on a regular basis from a roadside thela (cart). And you guys know how much it used to cost? 7 Rs for regular plate and 10 Rs for a special one in which the guy put some butter on top. And 10 rs is like 0.15 dollars, so yeah dirt cheap and damn delicious. Those were the days! Writing this makes my mouth water, how I wish I was able to relive those days.
Ingredients
Dough2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons yogurt
1.5 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons oil
water to knead the dough [around 3/4 cup]
Filling
3-4 potatoes medium
2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
⅓ teaspoon amchur powder dry mango powder
2 green chili finely chopped [or to taste]
¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
salt to taste
Ghee or Butter
Method
Make The Dough* In a bowl whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
* Make a well in the center and add milk, oil and yogurt to it.
* Start adding water little by little, the dough will start coming together.
* Keep adding water and bringing the dough together with your hands. You will need approximately 3/4 to 1 cup water to knead this.
* If the dough is sticking, apply some oil on your hands and knead to form a totally smooth dough.
* Wet a clean kitchen cloth and squeeze out all the water from the cloth. Cover the dough with this damp cloth and let it rest for 2 hours at a warm place.
Make The Filling* Boil the potatoes, mash them and set aside.
* To a small pan on medium heat, add coriander and cumin seeds. Dry roast till you start getting a nice aroma, this will take approximately 2 minutes.
* Remove from heat and grind the roasted seeds to a fine powder.
* Take the mashed potatoes and to it add the roasted coriander and cumin powder that we just prepared. Also add chopped cilantro, amchur (dry mango powder), green chili, garam masala powder and salt.
* Mix till everything is well combined, the filling for the aloo kulcha is now ready. Taste the filling at this point and adjust to taste.
Make The Kulcha* After the dough has rested, it would have risen a bit. Punch to release the air.
* Divide the dough into 8-10 balls of equal size. Cover the dough balls with a damp cloth and let them rest for 15-20 minutes.
* Take one of the dough balls and roll it in form of a circle using a rolling pin.
* Place around 2 tablespoons of the potato filling in the center. Do not overfill.
* Bring all the edges of the rolled dough together to seal it and then press with your fingers to flatten the dough ball.
* Roll the dough again to a circle. I just used my hand here to flatten the dough but you can of course use a rolling pin. Do not roll it super thin.
* Wet your fingers and apply little water on one side of the kulcha.
* Place the kulcha on a heated tawa (skillet), with the water side facing down. This way the side with water applied to it will stick to the tawa and won't fall off when we flip the tawa.
* Cook the kulcha for 2 minutes or till you start seeing some bubbles on top. At this point, flip the tawa upside down as shown in the picture above. The kulcha won't come off since it's stuck to the tawa. Cook till this side gets golden brown in color.
* Now carefully remove the kulcha from the tawa and put it over direct heat for few seconds.
* Remove from heat, apply ghee or butter on top and serve immediately.