Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
Following an early dinner of “gobi kulcha” (oven baked flatbread filled with spiced cauliflower) ahead of the evening blackout orders in Punjab, most of us remained glued to the screens, monitoring the news updates and frantically checking WhatsApp for the safety of our families and friends. Operation Sindoor!
The needles of the clock froze at 0110 hrs on the night of 9-10 May 2025, just after I had decided to catch some sleep. A sudden, sharp, thunderous crack broke the silence of the night, immediately followed by a fading, heavy rushing air roar.
Unusually petrifying and nothing similar to the screech of a fighter jet. As if, hundreds of motor valves crossed over the roofline.
India was awake, there was an amalgamation of fear and rage. Sounds of emergency sirens, flashing lights of fighter planes in the skies, visuals of Pakistani swarms falling down brought uncertainty.
“It’s a missile!” Tiger at once reacted with his strategic and tactical acumen.
Soon the sound faded away leaving behind the panicked shrieks of peacocks and the birds in the garden. Perhaps Tiger was the only one who maintained calm and tried to pacify me while our Cub also woke up in the next room. Tomorrow was not guaranteed, we were living at the mercy of chance.
Tiger has been a missile pilot with expertise in subsonic missiles during his service in the Indian Army. The churning of turbines made him comment on it. When the explosion was not heard for many minutes, he knew the missile had travelled far beyond.
By six under the new sun, a friend from Delhi called up to say that a missile headed for the capital of India had been destroyed at Sirsa in Haryana.
“Sir, last night I stepped out to answer nature’s call and noticed something flying above the eucalyptus trees that made an eerie sound,” said Danny, our gardener who resided in the adjacent village.
He regretted not capturing the sight. While, the racket got recorded in the exterior surveillance system of our house.
The city remained completely unaware of the missile and its sonic footprint, as the projectile bypassed the urban centre through the suburbs of Patiala towards Haryana.
News broadcasts designated the weapon as Fatah-II, a Pakistani long-range, guided quasi-ballistic missile and artillery rocket system designed for high-precision, deep-territory conventional strikes.
The missile was deliberately programmed to fly low to hide under the “radar horizon” of the Indian air defence system.
Each time I prepare gobi kulcha, the harrowing memories of that night come rushing back, leaving me with a silent prayer to never witness such horror again.
Ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour – 2 cups (can be substituted with refined flour)
- Baking powder – ½ tsp
- Curd – 4 Tbsp
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Ghee – 2 tbsp
- Cauliflower – 2 cups (grated and squeezed)
- Green chilies – 2 (chopped)
- Ginger – 2 inch (grated)
- Red chili powder – ½ tsp
- Garam masala powder – ½ tsp
- Coriander seeds – 1 tsp (coarsely crushed)
- Coriander leaves – handful (chopped)
- Salt – according to taste
- Butter – for coating
Method:
- Mix the wheat flour, salt and baking powder.
- Add the curd and ghee and rub with fingers.
- With lukewarm water knead the dough until soft and smooth.
- Cover and rest the dough for 45 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and make even balls.
- Cover and keep the dough balls aside for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the electric oven or a regular OTG with both top and bottom rods on at 250 degrees.
- Mix the grated cauliflower with red chili powder, some coriander leaves, garam masala powder, crushed coriander seeds and grated ginger.
- Mix the salt just before stuffing the cauliflower masala in the dough balls.
- Roll each ball into a 5 inch thick disc, apply softened butter over each disc.
- Place the cauliflower masala adequately over each disc, bring the dough edges together over the filling. Seal the edges by pinching them tightly at the top.
- Flatten each ball with the palm and press some coriander leaves on top.
- Dust with flour and gently roll out each ball with the help of a rolling pin into round shape discs.
- Bake one or two kulchas at a time until the edges start turning brown and the surface gets brown spots.
- Brush with butter and serve immediately.
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is an accomplished senior consultant Chef and a food historian. A widely travelled Army wife from the Mussoorie hills with exposure to international cuisines & preserving recipes with the medium of food photography and digital content creation in the form of stories.)
