Indian chefs in New Zealand celebrate Diwali with this special recipe as a homage to both countries

Two talented chefs from India – Vaibhav Vishen and Varun Toorkey – celebrated the festival of lights in New Zealand with a special dish that’s an homage to their Indian heritage and adopted homeland.

Their dish – Goda Masala Paneer Stuffed Kulcha, served with a Kiwifruit Panch Phoron Chutney – doffs a chef’s hat to the flavours of Vishen and Toorkey’s respective childhoods in Kashmir and Mumbai in India, alongside their time in Wellington, New Zealand.

Chef Vishen is the owner of Chaat Street, an Indian food eatery in Wellington that brilliantly showcases the complex, lip-smacking combination of textures, flavours and spices that go into Indian street food. Chef Toorkey is an actor who left behind a 13-year career in the glitzy world of Indian television to follow his culinary study dream in Wellington.

The chefs are both (or have been in Vishen’s case) students of Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand’s Bachelor of Culinary Arts & Business programme.

The dish they have created is a suitably festive one to add to any Diwali table but isn’t too decadent to be off limits. The creative and emotional aspect of cooking food is what inspires Chef Vishen to play with flavours and textures.

Here's how you can make this too!

Recipe

Goda Masala Paneer Stuffed Kulcha, served with a Kiwifruit Panch Phoron Chutney

Serves 2

The stuffed kulcha (or flatbread) is the dish’s Kashmiri influence, while the goda masala (literally ‘sweet spice’) is a spice mix traditional to Western India, where Mumbai is located. The panch phoron spice chutney has distinct Bengali roots, but the chefs have opted to use tangy-sweet kiwifruit over the traditional tomato to bring classic New Zealand flavour to the dish.

Ingredients

Kulcha

• 1.5 cups plain flour

• 1tbsp instant yeast

• 100ml milk

• 100ml yoghurt

• 50ml water

• Pinch of salt

• Sugar to taste

Goda Masala Paneer

• 1 litre whole milk

• 50ml vinegar

• 1 tbsp onion, finely chopped

• 1.5 tbsp Goda masala – A Maharashtrian toasted and ground spice mix of stone flower lichen, dried red chillies, star anise, caraway seeds, cumin seeds, dried coconut, asafoetida, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, black and green cardamom.

• Salt to taste

• Kiwifruit Chutney

• 250 grams of diced kiwifruit

• 1.5 tsp panch phoran (Bengali five-spice mix made of equal parts toasted cumin, nigella, fenugreek, fennel and mustard seeds)

• ½ teaspoon of ground red chilli or cayenne pepper

• 250 grams sugar

• Chopped coriander, to garnish

Method

Kiwifruit chutney

1. Add panch phoran spice mix to the oil in a pan. Add 250 gm of diced kiwifruit and red chilli/cayenne. Stir in the sugar. Turn the heat up a bit and simmer for about 25 mins to let the chutney reduce. Let cool and pop into the fridge. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Goda masala paneer

2. Add a bit of oil to pan, and the milk. Heat to 55-60 degrees. Pour and stir in half the vinegar. Once the milk starts to curdle, turn the heat off and add the remaining vinegar and mix it in. Strain the mixture into a cheesecloth and gently press out the whey best you can. Cover with a weight and rest. Mush up the paneer in a bowl with chopped onion, coriander and the goda masala. Divide the mixture into golf-sized balls.

Kulcha dough

3. Combine the kulcha ingredients in a bowl and mix well by hand. As the dough comes together, add a splash of oil to finish kneading. Cover the dough and let it rest.

To make the kulchas

4. Flatten each dough ball into a small, thick disc. Stuff the paneer into each of the dough balls, pinch and seal. Roll out each kulcha gently, avoid rolling them out too large, small is good.

Toast the kulchas in a heated pan and brush with ghee to finish (clarified butter). Serve with the kiwifruit chutney.