Amritsari Chole Kulche

Weekends are for eating eating and eating. And of course sleeping after eating! Well these chole and stuffed kulchas are a perfect sleep inducing food! Chole Bhature, Chole kulche, aloo puri.. these are like national weekend brunches in a north Indian household. They could be used as an anesthetic 😀

My husband hails from Punjab and on my last trip to India, I visited Amritsar in Punjab. Yes, its famous for Golden temple and also Stuffed kulchas. The kulcha is basically a flat bread made with all purpose flour and stuffed with choice of stuffing and traditionally cooked in a clay oven or Tandoor. It is smothered with a lot of butter and it tastes oh so good!

I have made these kulchas with 25% whole wheat flour and 75% All purpose flour. The stufffing is of boiled potatos+onions+paneer. The chole (chickpea curry) is made just with dry spices (without onion-tomato) along with tea bags and anardana (pomegranate powder) for that lovely dark brown color.

Chole Ingredients:

Chickpeas- 2 cups (soaked for 6-8 hours)

Water- 4 cups

Tea bags- 2 (remove stapled pins)

Bay leaf- 2

Big cardamom- 2

Cinnamon stick- 1/2 stick

Green cardamom- 3

Star anise- 3

Cloves- 3

Ginger- 4 (finely chopped)

Garlic- 1/2 tbsp (finely chopped)

Green chilli- 2-3 (finely chopped)

Salt- 2 tsp

Dry Spices:

Cumin seeds- 2 tsp

Asafetida(Hing)-1/2 tsp

Cumin powder- 2 tsp

Red chilli powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Dry ginger powder- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala powder- 1 tsp

Dry fenugreek leaves- 1.5 tsp

Anardana powder- 1.5 tsp

Chana masala- 2 tsp

Kulcha dough ingredients:

Whole wheat flour- 1/2 cup

All purpose flour- 1.5 cups

Salted butter- 1/2 cup (soft)

Salt- 1 tsp

Baking powder- 1.5 tsp

Sugar- 1.5 tsp

Water- as required to make a sticky dough

Stuffing ingredient:

Boiled potatoes- 4-5 (mashed)

Paneer- 1/2 cup (grated)

Onion- 1/2 cup (finely chopped)

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup (finely chopped)

Salt- 1.5 tsp

Red chilli powder- 1 tsp

Coriander powder- 1.5 tsp

Cumin powder- 2 tsp

Carrom seeds- 2 tsp

Whole wheat flour- 1 tbsp (to keep mixture dry)

Chole Method:

1. In a pressure cooker, add soaked chickpeas with 4 cups of water.

2. Add all the ingredients except the dry spices.

3. Cook at high heat for 5 min then at med-low heat for 15-20 min.

4. In a small pan, add all the dry spices in the order they are mentioned in the ingredients list above.

5. Stir and roast at med-low heat for 4-5 min. Don’t burn the cumin seeds.

6. Add this to the boiled chickpeas and cook at med heat for 15 min. Add more salt or chana masala according to your taste.

Stuffing method:

1. Mix all the ingredients of stuffing together and make a dough.

2. Add 1 tbsp of flour in the end to make the dough dry. It will be easier to stuff in kulchas.

Kulcha Method:

1. In a kneading bowl, add whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix.

2. Slowly add water to form a sticky dough.

3. Apply 1 tbsp butter to the dough and knead for 10 min. Work with a sticky dough.

4. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 1 hour.

5. After 1 hour knead the dough again. Dust with a little dry flour if sticky.

6. On a chopping board or kitchen counter, spread the dough in rectangular shape with fingers.

7. Apply butter on top. Sprinkle a little flour ana fold 1/3rd from top and remaining from bottom such that 3 layers are formed.

8. Apply butter thoroughly again and fold top half to meet bottom.

9. Now roll it in cylinderical shape and cut equal size piece. 5-6 pieces approx.

10. Make individual balls of all the pieces and cover and rest for another 15 min.

11. Now take a ball, flatten it a little in a circular shape and add 1.5 tbsp of stuffing.

12. Seal it properly from all sides like a dimsum and start pressing it with fingers to make it flat. Avoid using rolling pin as it doesn’t give a nice texture. Keep thickness of kulcha .5 inch approx. Not very thin.

13. Heat a tawa (avoid non-stick) or a stainless steel pan, apply water on 1 side of kulcha and place it on hot pan with wet side down.

14. Apply water on top and make indentations throughout with your finger pores. Stick some coriander leaves if you like.

15. Now lower the heat and keep pan upside down to slowly roast kulcha from top. Keep moving the pan so that it doesn’t burn.

16. After 5-6 min, remove from pan and roast on direct flame like a roti.

17. Smother with a dollop of butter.

18. Garnish chole with chopped raw onions and tamarind chutney (optional) and serve with hot kulchas!

Warning- Do not drive after eating this combo as you might get sleepy! 😀