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An easy kulcha flatbread stuffed with delicious savory chicken, onion, and cheese filling. The bread is cooked on the stove and perfect on its own or as an accompaniment to any dish.
What is kulcha bread?
Kulcha bread is a type of leavened, oven-baked flatbread that is popular in Northern India and parts of Pakistan. It is typically made from refined flour (maida), water, yeast or baking powder and/or baking soda, and other ingredients like yogurt, oil, salt, spices, and sometimes sugar. The dough is usually allowed to ferment for a few hours, which helps make the bread soft and fluffy.
A quick version of kulcha without yeast
This kulcha recipe doesn’t use yeast to leaven the bread. Instead, baking powder and baking soda are used to leaven the bread. So this cut down on time but still yielded really good results.
Stuffed kulcha bread
This kulcha bread is stuffed with chicken, cheese, onion, fresh herbs, and spices. They are so delicious and can be a meal on their own because they also have protein in the filling. Of course, if you are a vegetarian, you can always leave the meat out and use more cheese or other non-meat protein of your choice
Is kulcha the same as naan bread?
They are actually very similar, but not the same. They are both flatbreads. The main difference used to be that naan bread was made with whole wheat flour and kulcha was made with refined flour such as all-purpose flour (maida). Naan was also made with yogurt instead of water. But in this modern day though, I’ve seen kulcha made with yogurt and also naan that is made without using yeast anymore, but using chemical leavening like baking powder and/or baking soda. So, the differences I mentioned I think are more applicable to the old days. Kulcha and Naan are very similar nowadays if you ask me, due to all the adaptations in these modern days!
Easy Chicken Cheese Onion Stuffed Kulcha (No Yeast)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
Wet ingredients:
- 125 g milk or more as needed
- 60 g plain yogurt
- 1 Tbsp melted ghee plus more for brushing
Filling: (read the post below for some ideas on the filling)
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper diced
- ¼ cup Cilantro leaves chopped, plus more for garnishing
- 200 g cooked chicken meat finely shredded, I used leftover rotisserie chicken meat
- 120 g shredded cheese I use sharp cheddar
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp salt or more to taste
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Put all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients into the bowl and then use your clean hand to knead for 2-3 minutes to form a rough dough. If the dough feels dry, you can add a bit more milk, one teaspoon at a time. The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch and ragged-looking. Cover and let the dough rest for 1 hour
Prepare the filling:
- Update: I highly recommend caramelizing the onion and the peppers with a bit of oil. It really brings out the flavor further.
- Combine all the ingredients for the filling. Have a taste and adjust if you feel like it needs more seasonings like salt and/or pepper or other spices
Shape the dough:
- After 1 hour of rest, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Give each piece a few kneading and roll them into a round dough ball. It should be a smooth dough now compared to before the one-hour rest.
- Lightly flour your work surface. Flatten the dough into about 3-inch disc. Then roll the dough out with a rolling pin, dusted with some flour, into about 6-inch circle. Add 1/6 of the filling into the middle of the dough and then gather the edge of the circle towards the center and squeeze it together to seal. Turn it over so the seam side is facing down now. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling
- Use a rolling pin to roll the stuffed dough out into a round circle again, roughly about 1/4-inch in thickness or as thin as the filling lets you roll. Repeat with the rest
Cooking on the stove:
- Use a heavy-bottom large pan. A cast-iron pan is the best if you have one. Preheat until the pan is really hot. Put the bread on the hot pan and cook for about 1 minute and then flip over and cook for another 30 seconds and then flip back again and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until the bread is cooked through. You will see nice golden brown spots on the flatbread and it should feel fluffy and no longer wet. The bread also puffed up after being cooked
- Brush with some melted ghee while still hot and sprinkle with some fresh cilantro leaves. Repeat with the rest of the bread
Serve:
- Serve them warm
To store:
- Leftovers can be kept in an air-tight container, in the fridge or about a day or two. The longer you keep them in the fridge, the drier it gets, just like any other bread
- For longer storage, I recommend putting them in a freezer-friendly bag after they have cooled down completely and they can be kept frozen for about 1 month
- Simply reheat on the stove (without thawing if frozen) until warm through or in the microwave by sprinkling some water on the bread and then cover with a damp paper towel and reheat on high power for 30 seconds and then check and add more time in 10-second increment if needed
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
How to make chicken, cheese, onion stuffed kulcha bread without yeast
1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. 
2. Add the wet ingredients into the bowl 
3. Then use your clean hand to knead for 2-3 minutes to form a rough dough. If the dough feels dry, you can add a bit more milk, one teaspoon at a time. The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch and ragged-looking. Cover and let the dough rest for 1 hour
4. Combine all the ingredients for the filling. Have a taste and adjust if you feel like it needs more seasonings like salt and/or pepper or other spices
5. After 1 hour of rest, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Give each piece a few kneading and roll them into a round dough ball. It should be a smooth dough now compared to before the one-hour rest.
6. Lightly flour your work surface. Flatten the dough into about 3-inch disc. Then roll the dough out with a rolling pin, dusted with some flour, into about 6-inch circle. 
7. Add 1/6 of the filling into the middle of the dough and then gather the edge of the circle towards the center and squeeze it together to seal. 
8. Turn it over so the seam side is facing down now. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling. Use a rolling pin to roll the stuffed dough out into a round circle again, roughly about 1/4-inch in thickness or as thin as the filling lets you roll. Repeat with the rest
9. Use a heavy-bottom large pan. A cast-iron pan is the best if you have one. Preheat until the pan is really hot. Put the bread on the hot pan and cook for about 1 minute and then flip over and cook for another 30 seconds 
10. Then flip back again and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until the bread is cooked through. You will see nice golden brown spots on the flatbread and it should feel fluffy and no longer wet. The bread also puffed up after being cooked
11. Brush with some melted ghee while still hot and sprinkle with some fresh cilantro leaves. Repeat with the rest of the bread. Serve them warm
Varieties for the filling
I have tried with some grated paneer cheese instead of cheddar and it was delicious. I have also tried stir frying ground beef/ ground chicken, with some onion and the spices (added a bit of curry powder), and seasonings mentioned in the recipe card. If you choose to use meat filling, I recommend precooking them as raw meat may not be cooked through in a short period of time while you cook the bread at the same time.
Did you make this easy chicken, cheese, onion stuffed kulcha bread recipe?
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2 comments
It’s not often that I follow a recipe hot-off-the-presses: I cook based on ingredients I need to use, what’s on sale, or even what’s just accessible to me. This not only hit all the criteria, but I ALSO started making kulcha just about a year ago, and I was very interested to try WiCT’s take. I also appreciated the run-down on Naan vs. kulcha because I’d actually looked that up to very little clear answer lol. Anyway, I love making south-Asian breads because I find them more forgiving and more delicious to make at home compared with other breads (example- I refer to ‘oil paratha’ as basically the closest, easiest croissant I’ll ever make). I found this recipe to be a breeze, and the result was totally scrumptious. I would recommend it to anyone. I did make a few minor changes, one being that I used chili powder since hot peppers never look good at my local grocery. The second was that while I waited on the dough, I caramelized my onions. Lastly, I sprinkled the dough balls with nigella before rolling them out. All of these were less from necessity, but rather from my experience making breads from Indian recipe blogs. I think cheddar cheese was delicious, though a little weird hahah, I usually do stuff like aloo paratha and maybe have a yogurt-based dip, or a jarred UK-style chutney on the side (hey, I’m not Indian so I do my best lol). The meat/cheese filling gives this a very sandwichy vibe, so it’s a convenient all-in-one meal/bread. My FAVORITE part of making this is how they puff up during cooking! Like a cheesy beach-ball!
I’m glad you enjoy this recipe! I really like how easy it is to put the dough together! I like how you caramelized the onion first. I think that definitely brings out the flavor and sweetness of the onion. My boy loves it when I caramelized the onion first (but I’m all too lazy sometimes). You may not be Indian, but it does sound like you know what you are doing 😉 I think next time, I’m going to try paneer instead of cheddar! I know cheddar is stronger and more savory, but I love paneer too.