Our Vegan Onion Kulcha Recipe

Jess Miller

We all love a sizable naan when tucking into our favorite Indian dishes, but did you know it’s not your only option when it comes to bread-based sides?

Kulcha is similar to naan, but a few key compositional elements make it a distinct treat that is delicious in its own right!

And like naan, there are a bunch of different types of kulcha, one of the most scrumptious of which is the onion kulcha, and it’s this bready bite that we’ll be showing you how to make a vegan kulcha today!

While kulcha aren’t very well known in the Western world, they’re a popular north Indian side, ubiquitous even, and with this guide, you’ll be able to get in on the delectable action with your own vegan version!

Contents hide

1 What’s The Difference Between Kulcha & Naan?

2 A Word On Equipment

3 Vegan Onion Kulcha Ingredients

3.1 Bread:

3.2 Filling:

3.3 Notes for the Vegan Version:

4 Making Onion Kulcha — A Step-By-Step Guide

5 Pro Kulcha Tips

6 Onion Kulcha: Serving Suggestions

7 Final Thoughts

8 Our Vegan Onion Kulcha Recipe

8.1 Ingredients

8.2 Directions

What’s The Difference Between Kulcha & Naan?

While the untrained eye may not be able to tell kulcha and naan apart, even the untrained tongue will detect a difference immediately. But that’s not to say there won’t be visual cues to observe…

Traditionally, naan is shaped like a teardrop, while kulcha are typically round. Although they can be quite large, they’re often cut in half and served as semi-circles.

Recipe-wise, the big difference between these two delicious breads is that kulcha are made using maida or refined white flour, whereas naan are usually made with wheat flour.

What’s more, naan is leavened with yeast or yogurt, while kulcha is leavened with baking powder and soda. The impact? Well, naan is lovely and soft, while kulcha dough is delightfully crispy and flaky, sort of like a naan/poppadom hybrid.

However, for this recipe, we’ve dialed down the crispiness a little, as we feel for your first try, you might appreciate some of that softness you’re accustomed to in your naan. This also makes the bread a lot healthier, as there’s no need to fry it up in lots of oil.

The way we’re keeping the softness intact is by using mostly 100% whole wheat. All you have to do if you want to give the crispy version a try is to use maida or refined white flour.

A Word On Equipment

Authentic kulcha made in India and in Indian restaurants here in The States is cooked using a tandoor, which is a large urn-shaped oven typically made of clay.

Needless to say, the average home cook doesn’t own or have access to a tandoor, so our guide will be centered around stovetop equipment.

Vegan Onion Kulcha Ingredients

Bread:

1.25 cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
2 tbsp plant-based yogurt (such as coconut or soy yogurt)
1.5 tbsp oil
1.5 tbsp sugar
½ cup + 1 tbsp warm plant-based milk (such as almond, soy, or oat milk)

Filling:

1 white onion (diced)
¼ tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
¼ tsp cumin seeds
⅛ tsp red chili powder (adjust to taste)
¼ tsp pomegranate seed powder (anardana)
1 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt (to taste)

Notes for the Vegan Version:

Use vegan butter or margarine to brush the kulcha after cooking.
Ensure the yogurt and milk you use are unsweetened and plain so they don’t affect the flavor of the kulcha.

Making Onion Kulcha — A Step-By-Step Guide

Gathered all the tasty ingredients above? Fantastic; let’s get down to business!

Step 1: Fetch a large mixing bowl then pour in your wheat flour, all purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Step 2: Use your fingers to draw the ingredients towards the walls of the bowl, forming a hole in the middle. Into this hole, pour your plant-based yogurt and oil.
Step 3: Using either your hands or a mixing spatula, mix the dry and wet ingredients in your bowl until they’re well blended. It will seem quite dry, but don’t worry; there’s more moisture on the way!
Step 4: Warm up your plant-based milk. It should not be too hot, just a comfortable temperature.
Step 5: Ever so gradually pour your warm plant-based milk into your mixing bowl with one hand while kneading the dough with the other.
Step 6: With all the milk incorporated, continue to knead until your dough becomes nice and soft with a smooth exterior.
Step 7: Drizzle oil over your dough ball so it coats the entire exterior.
Step 8: Cover your mixing bowl, place it in a warm environment, and allow the dough two hours to prove. In the meantime, you can break ground on the yummy onion filling!
Step 9: Dice one large white onion and scrape it from your chopping board into a bowl.
Step 10: Add your ajwain seeds, cumin seeds, red chili powder, and pomegranate powder to the bowl, then give it a good stir.
Step 11: Finely chop your coriander leaves and throw them into the mix too, giving it one last good stir. And voilà; that’s your stuffing complete — Easy, right?

You’ll likely have at least an hour and a half left to wait, so kick back and take it easy for a while, or get on with a few chores, but be sure to set an alarm to notify you when the dough is done proving.

Step 12: When two hours have elapsed, uncover your mixing bowl, give it a quick knead (we’re talking 15 seconds or so), then split it into five equally-sized dough balls.
Step 13: Lightly flour your work surface.
Step 14: Take one of your dough balls and roll it out as though you’re preparing a chapati.
Step 15: Fetch your bowl of onion stuffing and deliver roughly 1 ½ tablespoons of it to the middle of your rolled-out dough.
Step 16: Fold up the edges of the dough and pinch them together, forming a little dough pouch with the stuffing inside.
Step 17: Now roll out your dough again, not too thin and not too thick. Hopefully, the chunks of onion will establish the correct width, so you don’t have to worry about getting it just right manually. That said, if you’ve got the odd large onion chunk in the mix, it’s obviously going to protrude a little.
Step 18: If you have a tawa, heat it up to medium temperature. If you don’t have one, it’s fine to use a common skillet. Depending on the nature of your skillet, you may need to drizzle on some form of lubrication to prevent sticking, but the oily exterior of the dough should save the day in most scenarios.
Step 19: Lay your stuffed, rolled dough on your hot tawa or skillet and cook until you see some bubbles emerging on the surface.
Step 20: Flip your kulcha and wait for bubbles to rise through the other side.
Step 21: Continue to flip and cook your kulcha until brown spots start to form on each side.
Step 22: Remove the kulcha from your tawa or skillet and brush it with vegan butter.
Step 23: Repeat steps 14–22 for your remaining four dough balls.

Pro Kulcha Tips

We’re keeping it classic with our vegan onion kulcha recipe, but we encourage you to expand upon this blueprint with your own culinary flare.

You can stuff kulcha with just about anything, so… what d’ya like? You can go for a keema naan style and stuff your kulcha with tofu, you could take the Peshwari root and fill yours with sweet coconut, or you could do something entirely unique!

The sky’s the limit with kulcha, so let your imagination run wild. Don’t be afraid to get really experimental. Think about different spice combinations, and if you’re into it, get some garlic involved, or possibly even fruit.

Apple, for instance, makes a fantastic addition to the stuffing, injecting a natural sweetness into the flavor profile.

You can use your oven to cook your onion kulcha if you’d prefer. Use a medium-to-high broiler setting, place your stuffed kulcha inside, and cook until you notice the brown spots forming.

Flip your kulcha over, wait for the brown spots to appear on the other side, and that’s the job done. Apply vegan butter, then repeat the process with the rest of your dough balls.

It’s not strictly necessary to use both whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. We advise doing so because it makes for a lighter dough, but if you prefer a heavier, denser bread, stick with whole wheat flour.

When rolling your kulcha dough, you don’t want to go tortilla-thin, but it should be significantly thinner than most naan. You’re aiming for the Goldilocks zone between these two extremes.

To make this recipe gluten-free, swap out the whole wheat flour and all purpose flour with some gluten-free flour.

Onion Kulcha: Serving Suggestions

We could go on all day about potential pairings for onion kulcha, as they’re very diplomatic food that works well with a plethora of different things. And don’t think you have to stick within Indian cuisine with kulcha, as there are plenty of outside dishes that share a lot of synergy with this bread side.

Here’s a list of suggestions to get your creative juices flowing:

Amritsari chole

Chana masala

Pindi chole

Korma

Tikka masala

Hummus

Tzatziki

Tea or coffee

Matar curry

Thai curry

Caramelized red onion

Green chutney

Raita

Tomato pickle

Olives

… The list is virtually endless!

Final Thoughts

What do you think… Are you going to give this delicious recipe a go? Trust us, you won’t regret it! As soon as you take your first bit of that super soft, super flavorful bread, it’s all you’re going to want to eat for a while!!!

Granted, some of the ingredients might be a little tricky to source (looking at you, pomegranate seed powder), but if you’re passionate about Indian cuisine, you’ll want them in your kitchen, so it’s worth putting in the effort to track them down.

Once you’ve got them, a plethora of doors will open for you and your culinary endeavors, but the onion kulcha is as good a place to start as any!