Ingredients
Dough
- 300 gplain flour
- 150 gfine rice flour
- 200 gghee or clarified butter, soft but not melted
- 150 gicing sugar
- 2egg yolks
- 1½ tsp ground cardamom, freshly ground from pods
- ½ tspbaking powder
- 1 pinchsalt
- 2 tbspmilk, if needed
To finish
- 1egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp milk, for glazing
- 2 tbsppistachios, finely chopped, or nigella seeds
Directions
- Beat the ghee with the icing sugar for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale, light and noticeably increased in volume; this aeration is what gives kolcha their sandy lightness.
- Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then the cardamom.
- Sift both flours with the baking powder and salt and fold them in until the dough just comes together; add the milk only if it will not hold.
- Wrap and chill for 1 hour, so the ghee firms and the cookies keep their shape in the oven.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1 cm thick, thicker than a European biscuit, and cut 5 cm rounds.
- Set them on a lined tray with 3 cm between them, brush the tops with the egg yolk glaze and press a pinch of chopped pistachio or a few nigella seeds into the centre of each.
- Score the tops lightly in a cross or a spiral with the back of a knife, the traditional Afghan bakery mark.
- Bake at 170°C (350°F) for 18 to 20 minutes, until the edges are set and just colouring while the tops are still pale; they will look underdone.
- Leave them on the tray for 10 minutes to firm before moving, since they are extremely fragile hot.
- Cool completely on a rack, then store in a tin. They keep for two weeks and are served to guests with green tea, especially at Nowruz and Eid.
Technique
- The rice flour is what makes a kolcha a kolcha. It has no gluten, so the cookie is short, sandy and dissolving rather than chewy, in the same family as Persian nan-e berenji.
- Traditional bakeries bake these on the floor of a charcoal-fired clay oven, which gives a slightly smoky base and a very gentle top heat; a domestic oven at a modest 170°C (350°F) is the honest substitute.
- Grind the cardamom yourself from green pods just before mixing. Pre-ground cardamom loses most of its aroma within weeks and these cookies are little else but butter, sugar and cardamom.
Substitutions
- No ghee: use unsalted butter, clarified if you can be bothered, though the flavour is milder. Cornflour can replace up to half the rice flour, giving a similar melting texture.
Variations
- Kolcha-e Nowrozi from Kandahar is larger, flatter and heavily perfumed with cardamom and rosewater.
- Kolcha-e namaki is the savoury version, salted and seeded, eaten with tea in the morning.
History
Mazar-i-Sharif’s kolcha-e-nowrozi is baked for Nowruz, when pilgrims gather at the Blue Mosque for the new-year festival.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kolcha?
Kolcha is a bread & pastry from Afghanistan: round cardamom shortbread cookies baked in charcoal-fired clay ovens. Mazar-i-Sharif’s kolcha-e-nowrozi is baked for Nowruz, when pilgrims gather at the Blue Mosque for the new-year festival.
How long does Kolcha take to make?
Kolcha takes 30 min plus 1 hr chilling of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 30 cookies. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Kolcha?
Yes, within limits. No ghee: use unsalted butter, clarified if you can be bothered, though the flavour is milder. Cornflour can replace up to half the rice flour, giving a similar melting texture.
What is the most important thing to get right in Kolcha?
The rice flour is what makes a kolcha a kolcha. It has no gluten, so the cookie is short, sandy and dissolving rather than chewy, in the same family as Persian nan-e berenji.
