Achari Paneer Tikka Kulcha

The Achari Paneer Tikka Kulcha is a kulcha or flatbread stuffed with achari Paneer Tikka, giving the kulcha a spicy kick and making it instantly filling. One first needs to prepare the kulcha dough, put that aside, prepare the achari paneer tikka, let that marinate, then stuff the latter into kulchas and cook. It’s a time-consuming process but the final product is tasty and satisfying. To make the kulchas, one needs flour, curd, eno, baking powder, salt as per taste, water, and ghee. For the achari Paneer Tikka, one will need mashed paneer, tomato, capsicum, mango pickle masala, salt to taste, yoghurt, jeera powder, and green chillies.

The Achari Paneer Tikka Kulcha is just one variant of the vastly popular kulcha, a successor of the naan. The French cooks of English officers allegedly introduced the seven-layer pastry technique to cooks in India, which inspired the kulcha. Popular during the Mughal era, the story goes that Shah Jahan was a fan of the kulcha, eating it regularly for breakfast. It became popular among the Mughals and Nizams and soon travelled to northern parts of India, becoming vastly popular in pre-partition Punjab. The Nizam of Hyderabad also seemingly included a kulcha on his flag as a gesture toward the food. Today, it has evolved into the much-loved Amritsari kulcha, famous for its various stuffings, from potato to onions, and of course, achari paneer tikka.