theveganpea

Fluffy warm fresh bread, smooth potato mash and truffles…HEAVEN! I am a fan of every type of fresh Indian bread and we have been making bateta rotli (rotli stuffed with spiced potato) in our family since I was very little. This got me thinking about how both the bread and the filling could be taken up a notch…and so here we have fluffy Kulchas stuffed with Truffled Potatoes. They are to die for!

Preparation time: 5 hours (including preparation time)

Ingredients (Makes 18 Kulcha):

Bread Dough:

• 3 cups Plain Organic Flour (I find organic wheat flour makes me less wheat/gluten sensitive because many allergies are actually due to the extra chemicals that go into normal flour)
• 4 heaped tbsp Plain Soya Yogurt (any plain vegan yogurt will work provided it contains a bacteria culture)
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ tsp Baking Soda
• ¾ cup Water (room temp.)
• 2 ½ tsp Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil Extra Oil and Flour for dusting and cooking
• 1/3 cup Red Chillies (finely chopped)

Truffle Potato Filling:

•  5 large Red Potatoes
• 100 ml Truffle Oil (preferred brand is L’Aquila London Truffoil White Truffle Flavoured Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which can be bought from Sainsburys)
• ½ large Red Chilli finely chopped(medium heat wide long chilli)
• 4 tbsp Salt

Method:

1.  To make the dough, place the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl and mix well
2. Make a well in the center of the bowl of ingredients and add the curd, oil and water into it
3. Using your hand in circular motions, start in the center of the bowl and begin to mix the wet and dry ingredients together
4. Once the dough forms, knead it for 10 minutes (at this point it may be a bit wet)
5. If the dough is sticking in between your fingers after kneading, add a bit more flour until it is soft and wet but smooth
6. Keep the dough in a bowl and rub 1 tbsp of olive oil on the outside surface
7. Cover the dough with a wet paper towel and then cling film the bowl and leave to rest at room temperature for 3 hours
8. Meanwhile, begin making the filling by peeling the potatoes and dicing them into dice-sized chunks
9. Boil a big saucepan of water and add the 4 tbsp of salt into the boiling water and mix well
10. Place the diced potato into the boiling water and allow to cook until soft (knife test) for approx. 15-20 minutes
11. Drain the potatoes and place them in a bowl while piping hot and add the truffle oil and chilli and mash with a potato ricer until smooth and fluffy (and try really hard not to eat all the mash at this point…I struggled)
12. Let the potato mixture cool
13. Once the dough is well rested, break the dough into golf ball sized pieces and shape the potato mixture into slightly smaller balls
14. Using a dough ball at a time, press it into a flat disc in the palm of your hand
15. Flour each side of the dough disc and then stretch using your wrist of one hand with the opposite palm into approx. 8cm disc
16. Place the potato ball into the center of the dough disc, and then pleat the dough upwards to completely encase the potato and then squish the resulting ball flat to seal the dough
17. Using your wrist and the opposing palm again, flatten the disc into a 12 cm kulcha (do not use your fingers as you can pierce the dough…if this happens cover any exposed potato with a heavy dusting of flour
18. Once you have the kulcha formed, dust bottom with flour and wet the top surface with a sprinkle of water and then press in a few finely chopped pieces of red chilli for decoration (use approx.. 1.2 tsp) and then place on a dry tea towel
19. Repeat steps 14-18 until all the kulcha are prepared
20. Heat a flat non-stick pan and add the kulchas (cook 3 at a time depending of frying pan surface area) with the chilli wet side facing down
21. Cook at high heat for 4 minutes, and then flip over and cook for a further 6 minutes at high-medium heat until golden
22. Serve on their own or with a tomato chutney
23. Enjoy my Little Peas!