Punjabi Kulcha- No yeast Recipe

Kulcha- is it a naan Or is it a bhatura? Well a mix of both. The table below can explain how similar and how different all these three are from each other.

Naan	Bhatura	Kulcha
Yeasted bread	With or without Yeast	No yeast
Triangular in shape	Triangular or round	Triangular or round
Made in oven/tandoor	Deep fried	On tawa/griddle or deep fried
Refine flour/whole wheat	Mostly refined flour	Refine flour/whole wheat

Remember the stuffed mutter kulcha recipe that I posted before, those kulchas were round in shape, prepared using whole wheat flour and yeast and finally roasting them over the tava- a healthy option. The Punjabi Kulcha recipe I am sharing today is without yeast, deep fried and simply salted in taste.

No yeast bread be it Indian or not are always what I look for. Yeast makes the recipe complicated and elaborated. Thats why when I had these kulchas for the first time at my friend’s place I was so happy to know that they are yeast free.

Good old yogurt (dahi) is used as rising agent or to give that authentic tangy touch to the kulcha. The recipe also calls for semolina (suji/rawa)- it gives nice crunch to the dough. So all you need to do is mix the flour with simple basic spices and let it rest for 2-3 hours, then roll the dough to desire shape and either deep fry it or roast on tava.

Now it depends, on a regular day I would go and use the healthy variation and use tava method. But this was made on Diwali so it had to be deep fried-period! Kadai chole, channa massala, aloo chole, kala channa massala are the best accompaniment for this kulcha. Enjoy it even more-have it with raw onions and green chillies with dash of lemon juice.

Ingredients:

2 and ½ cups all purpose flour/maida

5 tablespoon yogurt/dahi

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoon oil+ more for deep frying

1 teaspoon carom seeds/ajwain

Salt to taste

Warm water as needed for kneading

Method:

1. Sieve and mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Now make a well in the center and add yogurt, carom seeds and oil. Mix.
3. Slowly add warm water little at a time and begin to knead the dough.
4. You will need soft and smooth dough. Keep kneading till dough becomes shiny.
5. Cover the dough with wet towel and leave aside in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
6. Pinch out the dough and form a ball. On a dusted surface roll out the dough in the desired shape. Prick some holes with the fork. You don'twant kulcha to puff up like bhatura.
7. Heat the oil in kadai/wok for deep frying. When oil is hot, carefully put the rolled out kulcha and fry till both the sides are golden in colour.
8. Thats it, serve hot.

Notes:

You can use whole wheat flour also in the recipe.

To prepare on the tava, just use the same method like you would do for parathas.

Serving suggestions:

Goes well with any spicy Indian side dish. To make the platter serve with subji, raita, chutney and onion rings.

Punjabi Chole: Channa Masala: Chickpea Curry: Pindi Channa: Chola for Puri, Kulcha, Batura and Rice

Punjabi Chole or Chola massala is the spicy north Indian curry. The same curry is also known as channa massala or pindi channa. This is a spicy curry and is mostly paired with puri, batura, kulcha or rice. I have made this curry many times but I always felt that there is something missing. Last year when I tasted it during my trip to punjab, I knew what I was missing in my recipe This dish is full of protein and everyone loves this dish in my house. Its really easy to make. So here it is!

Ingredients:

Raw Chole/Chickpeas - 2 cup

Onion -  2

Tomato - 4 medium sized (chopped)

Channa/Chola Masala - 2 tbsp

Chilli powder - 2 tsp (Add more if you need spicy)

Anardana powder - 1 tsp

Whole cumin - 1/2 tbsp

Whole spices (Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves) - 1 inch piece, 4 pods and 5 cloves.

Cumin seeds - 1 1/2 tsp (Roast and powder)

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Green chilies - 3 very finely chopped

Salt

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Oil - 3 to 4 tbsp

Tea bag- 2

Coriander leaves - handful (finely chopped)

Ginger pieces to garnish (optional)

Method:

Soak the chickpeas overnight.

Take pressure cooker. Add the washed and soaked chickpeas. Then add 5 cups of water, salt, 2 tea bags, and in a small muslin cloth crush small cinnamon, 2 cloves, 2 cardamoms tie it and add it to the chickpeas.

Close and pressure cook for 3 whistles (depends on your cooker).

When pressure is released, discard the tea bags and whole spices knot drain and keep it aside. Don't throw the water; we will be using it to the gravy J

Heat oil and ghee in the heavy bottom vessel.

Add the whole spices followed by whole cumin seeds.

After it splutters, add chopped green chillies and the ginger garlic paste cook until raw aroma goes away.

Now it’s time to add finely chopped onion till light brown color.

Add tomato and let it cook for some time until oil separates.

Add red chilli powder, chole/channa Masala, roasted cumin powder, anardana powder.

Now add cooked chickpeas and water that is drained from the chickpeas when cooked.

Add salt and let it simmer for at least 20 to 25 minutes.

Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves and ginger.

Notes:

Chole massala is easily available in any Indian grocery store. I used MDH Chana Masala.

Anardana powder is dried pomegranate seeds. I always use MDH Anardana Powder use

Tea bags give nice black colour, you can omit if you don’t want black colour.

Pressure cookersaves time and is easy to use.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with palak poori, plain kulcha or any paratha. Goes well with steamed rice as well.

Make whole Punjabi thali. Serve as a side with puri, paneer butter massala and dal makhani and sujika halwa.