Heard Of Katlambe - The Flatbread From Dehradun

Dehradun is a beautiful place, buzzing with tourists all-round the year. The breath-taking mountains, beautiful valleys and lip-smacking food that the place offers are a few of the several reasons that the city is so popular among travellers from all over the country. Usually, people have a set pattern as to what places to visit and what to it, based on popular notions, amplified on social media. In doing so, many miss the authentic flavours of Dehradun – a place that is so much more than what is portrayed. One such hidden, underrated gem of the place is one of its local breakfast snack called katlamba.

If you are hearing the name katlambe for the first time, then you are missing out on this crispy, flaky flatbread that is a relished breakfast dish in Dehradun and few other surrounding places. It is, to loosely put it, a cross between a bhatura and a naan. The deep-frying of the bread makes the texture of katlamba similar to a bhatura, but the fact that it is crispy and flat makes it look like naan. So, it is not an overstretch to call it the best of both worlds. It was initially brought in by Baloch people, and has thereafter made its own unique place in the local cuisine. The bread, like bhature and kulche, is best enjoyed with chhole, pickle and some sliced onion. For the ones wondering how to make the dish, here is a recipe you can follow to make fluffy, crispy katlambe at home.

• 250 gms all-purpose flour or maida
• 2 tsp refined oil for the dough
• ½ tbsp salt
• 1 cup rice flour
• 2 tbsp carrom seeds
• Chopped dhania leaves
• Water
• 2 cups Refined oil for deep-frying

Method

• Take a big, kneading utensil and mix maida and salt in it.
• Add oil to the maida and salt mixture. Now mix it well for 5-6 minutes. This will make the katlambe flakier.
• After that, pour water slowly into the flour and knead till you make a soft dough.
• Knead the dough with a little oil in your palms and let it rest for half an hour.
• Half an hour later, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes again, this time with some oil in your palms.
• Distribute the dough into small pieces and with your hands, make those small pieces into a peda like shape.
• Dust the pedas with dry maida and roll them into thin sheets. The sheets should be thicker than roti but thinner than bhature.
• Take a sheet and again apply oil to it. Sprinkle some rice flour and carom seeds over it. Now oil another sheet and stick it to the former.
• Repeat the same process till you stick 7 sheets together. This makes sure that the layers of katlambe are flavourful and flaky.
• Dust the prepared 6 layered big sheet with flour and roll it into a big sheet. Cut long strips from the rolled sheet and brush oil over them again.
• Roll the long strips, and stick in the end. You can add chopped dhania leaves on each rolled strip.
• Using the rolling pin, roll them into thick sheets.
• Heat up oil in a large wok till it is a little more than medium hot oil. The flame while we fry the katlambe should be medium too.
• Put the sheets in the oil and cook both sides for a minute each. They will turn golden brown when they are properly cooked.

Katlambe, as we mentioned, tastes wonderful with a spicy bowl of chhole, achaar and sliced onion. Make this unique snack for breakfast and enjoy the flavours of Dehradun in the comfort of your home.