Chef Shami | Tag

Kulchhaa

Kulchhaa is a No Bake fresh flat bread, soft on the inside and crispy on the out, butter brushed, and a dash of nigella seeds to add to the magic of flavor!

1 cup APF/ Maida

1 tsp Active/live yeast

( you can also use sour Plain Yogurt instead)

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp Nigella seeds/Kalounji ( also known as onion seeds)

3/4 cup warm water

1 pinch of Love

1/4 cup APF for rolling

sift the flour in a mixing bowl, with Baking soda and salt.

make a well in the middle and pour the active yeast, or Plain yogurt ( Nancy’s or Greek yogurt works best)

add the oil, and mix well.

add the warm water gradually, until all comes together in a soft pliable dough. never pour the whole quantity of water at once.

cover it and set it aside for 20 minutes

Heat a thick bottom shallow frying pan or a cast iron griddle with cover, for 10- 15 mins.

The dough is risen nicely in the mean time, you may need to keep it longer if using yogurt.

Knead the dough well, by folding it in and repeat.

Divide it into equal parts, with a fist size chunk ball for each kulchhaa.

sprinkle your rolling board with dry flour, dredge the dough ball in dry flour, flattening it and giving it a slightly oblong shape.

put it on the dusted rolling board and pat it with gentle hands, simultaneously pulling it out at the same time, like a pizza base.

you can also roll it gently with a rolling pin

Sprinkle a pinch of Nigella seeds uniformly on the surface and pat them in.

Sprinkle 1/4 tsp of minced garlic, and pat it in give it a final gentle roll if you like.

You can also put more garlic if you like.

lift it off the rolling board and put it on the griddle, garlic side down, this seals the garlic

as soon as it start showing bubbles, flip it over and keep for a min longer.

Brush the top with a dash of melted butter and flip it, letting it cook till the surface is light brown,

If you like you can add more butter while serving.

serve hot with any curry or Chhole

To make it more interesting you can also add chili flakes

you can also make stuffed Kulchhaa, or onion kulchhaa too

Pooris

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp Semolina/ Ravaa

1 Tbsp oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Jaggery/Brown sugar

1 pinch of Love

1 cup of water or more as needed

Oil to fry

Mix the semolina in the whole wheat flour, add salt and sugar, mix with a fork or your fingers. Make a well in the middle

Heat 1 tbsp oil and pour it in the well, on the flour.

Let it cool, then mix well and gradually add water, with one hand, soft knead the flour , bring it together with the other hand.

its best not to add all the water at once, because every cup of flour reacts differently.

when there is no dry flour left, start kneading the dough together, into a tight ball, pliable but not too soft.

put a few drops of oil on your fingers and smooth out the dough.

cover it with a bowl, and set aside to rest for 15-20 mins.

Heat oil in a frying wok, on low heat, while you roll out all the pooris

you will not need flour to roll because the dough doesnt feel sticky, after the hot oil treatment. smooth it out once by kneading softly.

break off dough into the size of a small donut hole, and role it between your palms firmly and flatten.

roll out pooris and keep them ready on a platter, to be fried 2-3 at a time or one at a time, as per the size of your frying wok. the pooris will not stick to each other.

drop a tiny ball of dough in the oil to check, if it pops up right away, the oil is ready.

gently release the rolled poori in the oil from the side, so that the oil doesn’t splash.

it will start coming up to the surface and puffing up, press it gently with the slotted spoon, to let the steam building inside it spread edge to edge,

flip it to the other side and let it fry till golden pink,

scoop it with the slotted spoon, rest it on the side of the wok, to drain off excess oil.

place it on a platter or a colander to cool, repeat till all the pooris are fried.

Once you get the hang of it, you can fry 2-3 at a time and alternate, flipping the first one in.

serve hot with anything you like.

Kids love those with a dusting of cinnamon sugar too

Tag: soft

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