The food in India is so delicious – we are missing out in Toronto! Over the course of our time in Amritsar, we discovered that the most famous food for Northern India is called Kulcha, (pronounced cull – cha). It’s a local speciality similar to a chapati, but stuffed with potatoes.
We asked around town to see which place the locals recommended. We needed a place that spicewise our North American tummies could handle. Lucky for us, one shop was close by called Kulcha Laddy. We decided to give it a try and see what this famous dish was all about.
Yes, I know what many of you are thinking….first you’re eating in the temple and now you’re letting your kids eat street food.? But this is what our trip is about…trying new things! We are being watchful of the water, fruits and veggies, (peeled/cooked only) and introducing dairy products slowly, but to my way of thinking, if it’s cooked – it should be okay.
It was amazing to watch the process…it was so fast! The cook took the potato and bread mixture, added fresh onions and spices, rolled it, smacked it, and then put it on the side of the tandoori oven.
Once it was crispy, he took it out – scrunched it in his hand – put it on a tin tray and then dolloped it with butter and more spices. The traditional side dishes are choles.
We watched in amazement and then ordered 4 for us!
We observed other customers and learned that we should tear the kulcha and scoop up the chole and get it to our mouths as fast as possible.
Total for this order of 4- $2.40 Canadian – delicious and budget friendly!!
I found a recipe to try and make it at home http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/kulcha/
Afterwards, we walked along the street and saw the Big M. We wanted to see what a MacDonalds would look like in India –especially since the sign said it was vegetarian. We went inside to take some photos of the menu board, but were quickly asked to stop. One type of sandwich they have is a McPaneer – which is like a “pressed cottage cheese”. We have tried paneer, but did not try it at the Golden Arches so we can’t give feedback on it. Interesting to see though!
To finish off our time in Amritsar, the girls tried an Indian soda, called Limca. It’s similar to our version of Sprite – a nice light bubbly lemonade. We want to thank our friend Serena for recommending we try it – it’s a perfect drink to rehydrate as well as have enough bubbles to settle your stomach!
We really enjoyed our time in Amritsar. Although we were only here for a few days, it’s left an incredible impression on all of us. We are looking forward to more amazing times in this wonderful country!
Comments
11 responses to “Kulcha Fan Klub”
Two questions: how do they keep the ovens hot.; how do the Kulchas stick to the side of the ‘oven’? Also, great price! Will research the recipe.
HI Herta,
The tandoor ovens are heated by coal. If you look at some of the images above, you’ll see one with burning coals in it. THe cook takes the flattened dough and “smacks” it onto the side of the oven. It sticks there and then cooks very quickly. In this case, the cook used iron rods to stoke the fire and to take out the hot bread. We have now seen this process a number of times in our travels. Since our homes do not have tandoors, the link to the recipe I gave uses the top of the stove and a frying pan.
Perhaps it’s time for a new type of oven!
Cheers,
Kat:)
If you’re Jones-ing for Indian food when you are back home, I have a short list of good places in the T-Dot….. I learned a lot from south-Indian colleagues.
HI Terry,
Please post your list of good places to eat here as I’m sure many followers would love to know some great Indian restaurants to visit while in TOronto!
Cheers,
Kat:)
Yes Terry, please tell us the best Indian restaurants in Toronto and Durham if poss. Thanks.
Hi Kat,
It is really interesting to see how they cook/bake their food! Does it take very long to make the kulcha? How lucky you have been to visit all these interesting places!
Hi Mom,
The kulchas are cooked in the tandoor and only take about 5 minutes to bake in there as it is such a hot oven. We were served within a total of 10 minutes and watched the whole process. It was really neat!
kat:)
Hi, Katina, we enjoyed your adventure of trying out local specialities. I have questions: Are the people there all vegetarians? and second, the potatoes: are they regular (like Opas) or sweet potatoes? Was there a favourite “choles”? It’s great that you could watch your food being prepared. Love the photos and also the comparison to McDonalds. If Zoe wants to ride a Zebra to school, why not build a tandoor in your back yard? 🙂 Again, we learned a lot.
Hi Oma,
Great questions! First the easy one…we have yet to see sweet potatoes, I’ve only seen the regular potatoes that we have at home. As for your second one on vegetarians…I thought most of India would be vegetarian, but we were wrong! A great majority are mainly vegetarian, but they will eat chicken or mutton (goat). So signs on a restaurant will indicate if they serve meat or not…it would be called “non-veg”. Restaurant menus will be divided into veg and non-veg sections. Some restaurants are strictly vegetarian and will not allow meat products in their kitchen, so they will advertise this information. This reminded us a lot of Israel where they would advertise if everything was kosher. We also found out that if the people are practising Hindus, they will not eat meat on Tuesdays and will only eat veg.
Interesting isn’t it?
Cheers,
Kat:)
Kat,
I did not think about where you were eating as I was too busy thinking how amazing it was and how delicious it looked! 😀
As always the pictures are great!
Ginny
Hi Ginny,
The food is absolutely delicious! Again, we have to be careful because refrigeration can be an issue, but if things are cooked through, then we’re good to try it!
Cheers,
Kat:)