Kalari Kulcha

Kalari — sometimes kaladi — is a dense, mozzarella-like cheese from the Dogra region of Jammu, and it is the fastest thing on this site to make. It is cooked in nothing but its own rendered fat plus a little ghee, then stuffed into a kulcha with onion and chutney. The cheese squeaks, then stretches, then goes golden.

Ingredients

• 200 g kalari cheese, sliced 1 cm thick
• 1 tbsp Gobind Ghee
• 2 kulchas or soft bread rolls
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp chaat masala
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• Mint chutney and lemon, to serve

Method

1. Heat a non-stick tawa on medium. Do not use iron for this — half the kalari will weld itself to the pan.
2. Add the ghee, then lay the kalari slices flat with space between them.
3. Within a minute the cheese begins to release its own fat and sizzle. Let it be.
4. After 2 to 3 minutes, press each slice gently with a spatula and turn. Press intermittently as it cooks so the middle heats through — but do not flatten it or you squeeze out the fat that is doing the cooking.
5. Cook 5 to 7 minutes total, until both sides are golden brown and the inside is soft and stretchy.
6. Sprinkle with chaat masala and chilli powder while still in the pan.
7. Warm the kulchas in the same pan, using the fat left behind. Split, fill with the kalari, add sliced onion and chutney, squeeze over lemon and eat immediately.

The ghee note

Good kalari renders so much of its own fat that you barely need anything else — a single tablespoon of ghee is there to start it off and to stop it sticking in the first thirty seconds. If you find yourself adding more fat, the cheese is likely low quality rather than the pan being dry.

Tips

• Non-stick tawa. This is the whole recipe in one instruction.
• Medium heat, never high — the outside burns long before the centre softens.
• Eat it straight away. Kalari turns rubbery as it cools.

Substitutions

Fresh, unsalted paneer is the closest easy substitute, though it will not stretch. Halloumi behaves similarly in the pan but is much saltier — skip the chaat masala if you use it.

Storage

Uncooked kalari keeps a week refrigerated and freezes for a month. Cooked kalari does not keep — make what you will eat.

Serving

In a kulcha with raw onion, mint chutney and lemon. A cup of tea alongside.

Nutrition

Approximately 480 kcal per filled kulcha. Estimated values.