Subscribe to RSSSpicy stuffed potato buns (Khara buns)
From many days I am terribly missing these khara(spicy) buns available in Bangalore bakeries. These buns are nothing but very soft bread stuffed with some kind of very spicy vegetable. But I have a very bad history of baking breads. I must have attempted it atleast 5-6 times(that I know of) and consistently I got rock hard products which I am sure would work great as cricket balls :). But no matter how many times I failed, I wanted to try it again, I am pretty optimistic when it comes to cooking.
Then last week when I was blog hopping, I came across Sunitha’s amazing bread creations. While reading through her post, I came to know it was November daring baker’s challenge. Now my next stop was Meeta’s blog. I have been reading Meeta’s creations for this “event” for last few months. I didn’t know Sunita was also a part of daring bakers till now, as soon as I came to know, I spent next few minutes digging her old posts. I am always bowled over by the amazing creations by these two for the challenge every month. Though all of their creations were very tempting, they looked very difficult to me. But this bread looked very very simple. With lot of difficulty, I postponed the baking for over a week. Finally I baked it yesterday.
I had very less hopes because of my previous attempts, but since all the daring bakers had created such nice results, I ordered my mind to keep cool ;). When the bread dough beautifully rose, I was sure the bread would come soft. It was amazing :). Very soft and very tasty.
Since I am not officially a daring baker (or to be honest, I missed one step while reading it), I kind of took a slight shortcut - I added all the flour at once instead of adding it in steps. It made my life much easier, because the dough was not very sticky and therefore easily manageable. I made a very small batch, I didn’t want to throw a big batch if I messed up this time. Try it, its the best. Thanks a lot daring bakers and to Tanna for coming up with this recipe. Here is the measurements I used-
I use the measuring cup+spoon set, so measuring was exact.
Ingredients for bread:
1 medium potato
1 cup water
1/4 tbl spn + 1/4 tea spn salt
1/2 tea spn active dry yeast
2 and 1/8th cups all purpose flour
1/4 tbl spn unsalted butter
1/4 cup wheat flour
Method:
Put the peeled and chopped potato in 1 cup water, 1/4 tea spn salt and bring it to boil. Cook till the potatoes are very tender.
Drain the water (save the water). Mash the potatoes. Measure the saved water. If it is less than 3/4 cup, add extra water to get a total of 3/4 cup.
Take the mashed potatoes and water in a big bowl. When the mixture is cooled to about 70-80F (ie, when it is still a bit warm but not hot), add the active dry yeast. Add all purpose flour, mix and leave for 5mins (According to original recipe, at this stage only 1/2 cup all purpose flour is added. so the dough was not at all sticky).
Add remaining salt, softened butter and wheat flour and mix well. (According to original recipe, at this stage 1/2 more cup of all purpose flour is added. Remaining flour is used to dust the surface where the bread is kneaded. I am not sure what difference it makes if I add the flour at once because the dough rose well without any trouble).
Now take the dough on a clean surface and knead it well for 10mins (if you follow the original recipe, the dough at this stage has only 1 cup of flour, so dough is very sticky. Keep adding flour to get a dough that can be easily managed. Since I added all the flour earlier, I didn’t dust the surface at all).
Leave the dough in a warm place for about 2hrs or till the dough doubles in volume.
Stuffing:
1 cup onion
3-4 green chilies
1/2 tea spn garam masala
1 tbl spn chopped coriander leaves
A pinch turmeric
Oil
Salt
Method:
Heat a little oil and add green chilies, onion, turmeric, salt and fry till the onions are translucent. Add a little water, close the lid and let it cook. Add garam masala, coriander leaves. Cook till onions are completely cooked and the mixture has become very dry. Take off the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
How to make the buns
Preheat the oven at 400F for 10mins.
Take the dough and knead for some more time. Make big balls of the dough. (For above measurements, divide the dough into 8 equal parts).
Divide the stuffing into 4 equal parts.
Take one ball of dough and keep one part of stuffing on it. Cover with second half of dough and Cover properly from all sides. Make sure all the edges are sealed properly, otherwise the buns open up while baking. Slightly flatten with hand.
Drizzle some olive oil or butter on top of the bun. Spread some oregano on top (optional). Repeat same for remaining dough and stuffing to get 4 buns.
Bake in the oven for about 10-12 mins (or the top becomes brown).
Cool on a wire rack.
Note : This is by no means a simple recipe. As you all see, it’s a daring bakers challenge recipe. Daring bakers is a group which takes up very difficult challenges every month and tries to bake them. Whatever I knew about the recipe, I have already posted here. So, try on your own risk :).
Kudos!!!! What a daring baker you are - your persistence has paid off - the buns look simply yummy!
December 4th, 2007 at 11:17 pmOh wow Shilpa, this is sooo awesome. I really love the idea of using the onion masala as a stuffing. I think I want to make this bread all over again!
Shilpa: Thanks Meeta for stopping by. You are an inspiration for this post :).
December 5th, 2007 at 2:08 amShilpa,
December 5th, 2007 at 3:34 amLovely, fluffy looking stuffed-bread there!The only success we get to see is after a couple of failures…especially me too! But rising abv the failure with more attempts and succeeding is an achievement in itself! Keep it up Shilpa! I won’t dare to bake this ..not atleast now..:)
hey i am in blg and i never miss out these buns from the iyengar bakery whenever we go out…i am big fan of this..thanks for sharing
December 5th, 2007 at 5:08 amOh Shilpa… you made my day:) just y’day i had called my amma and she was telling how much she missed kara buns from her home town (Salem… very near Karnataka but in Tamilnadu). We have not found it in Chennai yet. I’ve printed your recipe to surpirse her whenever i get the chance.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:10 amThat looks just incredible. I have to try this one!!
December 5th, 2007 at 5:18 amI can’t thank you enough. I had already requested for this recipe on your blog.
Great job with blog. Due to pictures I dare to try new recipes.
December 5th, 2007 at 7:55 amI missed khara bun / palya bun.
I can’t wait to make it and relish it and thank you again!
Hey Shilpa,
December 5th, 2007 at 8:38 amVery yummny looking bun. I will definately try this one!! Thanks for sharing.
I live in NJ so lucky me I get to eat these stuffed buns at Hot Breads.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:19 amThat said those buns are not spicy enough to meet Bangalore bakery standards or mine :)..so still end up missing Khara buns…
This recipe sure does encourage me to try out making my own Khara buns.
Good idea to use potato bread for soft bread. If I have any success doing these the regular bread way will let you know.
buns look soo good
December 5th, 2007 at 9:45 amThis looks delicious! I’m going to try it today and make a spicy chicken filling instead. Thanks for the excellent idea:)
December 5th, 2007 at 10:24 amHello shilpa,
December 5th, 2007 at 11:06 amThis is very cool recipe, i used to love these buns a lot i can eat it 24/7.
Thank you very much for sharing this lovely recipe.
Residing so far from home, but always in touch with all the lovely food that my aayi cooks,never to miss her through ur site.
Thanks again
shreya
Hi Shilpa,
Excellent !!! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:14 pmeven I love Khara buns….these looks very professional.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:36 pmHi Shilpa,
.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:44 pmBuns r looking very tempting. fresh and hot from oven , is perfect for these days… thanks for sharing. this seems easy to make. Will give it a try
stay tuned…
-Pooja
Absolutely amazing, I am going to HAVE to try this one. I wish there was a way to eat from the internet
December 5th, 2007 at 2:51 pmHi Shilpa..
Buns look really yummy..
I shal try this recipe..
Can u tel me, Y does some times the yeast does’nt raise… Is der any trick to raise as so..? Last time i made pizza and it did not raise at all.. [:(]
Shilpa: If the yeast is too old, sometimes it does not rise. Also if the temperature is not proper yeast dies. I had this problem for a long time too. With trial and error, now the yeast rises well. You can also use a thermometer to test the temperature.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pmwow! amazing…i never eat this type bun..this shows very yum…sure i have to try this..thx shilpa
December 5th, 2007 at 6:11 pmI made these with a spicy pork and onion filling.. my husband loved it.. I had doubled the recipe so I had some leftover dough and baked a loaf of potato bread.. it turned out incredible and soft.. I put a little sea salt, garlic powder, oregano and chilli flakes on the top.. thanks for the excellent recipe..
December 5th, 2007 at 7:28 pmOMG!!! you are so damn good!!! Your buns look lovely….. better than the store bought ones!!
December 5th, 2007 at 9:40 pmHi Shilpa,
December 5th, 2007 at 11:02 pmGreat job with the Khara buns. I used to have them all the time too in blore. Everytime I passed by the bakery, it was so hard to resist the fresh baked buns, since the aroma would be all over. Its great u made these.
These buns look really nice. I will surely try them sometime soon.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:23 pmI’ve bought these from stores..never tried them though! THanks for this.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:10 amHi shipa,
December 6th, 2007 at 9:31 amShreya again:)
I made these buns they came out very good.
I tried stuffing few with potatoes too, on the whole it was yummy my family loved it. Now we are never going to miss the famous khara bun from bangalore staying in here in canada.
Bye
Shreya
You shock me Shilpa! Not only a delicious-looking recipe for filled buns, but you made beautiful bread! And I can see that you are getting a “feel” for how much flour to add. It changes a bit with the humidity of the air, so its hard to be exact with giving measurements of how much flour, but you know…you just know when there is enough flour. The first mixture is called a “sponge” and this is done to activate the yeast to start multiplying before more flour is added. Some recipes use this, some don’t, but I usually do. Great job!!!
December 6th, 2007 at 10:34 amYour bun looks delicious. You are such agood baker with your lovely cakes, I am sure you will do great as a daring one too
December 6th, 2007 at 11:22 amHi! I think we can put the same stuffing for making stuffed paratha. so poor bakers like me will not have problems .
December 6th, 2007 at 11:30 amLove these khara buns! My other favorites used to be the potatoe palya buns :). Totally delicious!
December 6th, 2007 at 8:13 pmbun was hard, please give clear steps for soft bun.
Shilpa: Rajini, I think I have already mentioned everything I know about these buns.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:44 amHave you used exact measurements? Did your dough increase double the volume when you let it sit for 2hrs?
oh, man!!! this is the best of the whole lot. fabulous.
we made buns stuffed with spicy potato bhaji once and took them to a party. a friend kept holding them in the palm of his hand with a quizzical look. then he broke one one, and said, “ha!!! i was wondering why these rolls were so heavy!!!” then he ate three or four. lol.
Shilpa: Haha…I have a strong feeling that most of the times when people are skeptic about some food, they finally turn out the biggest fans of the dish when they eat it
December 7th, 2007 at 10:15 amWow, those r some yummy looking buns Shilpa.. still drooling over the last pic!
~ Siri
December 7th, 2007 at 9:38 pmI made this last night, Shilpa…and they turned out just delicious! I followed your instructions carefully, only adding some peas to the filling. The dough was infinitely sticky
but I managed to flour my hands well and then it was quite easy to work with. The buns were delicious: crispy crust and tender soft on the inside. And this amount was perfect for our family of two. Next time, I will try using this dough as a pizza base. Thanks for scaling down the recipe for us, and for your detailed post!
Shilpa: Yay..I am happy to know you tried it Nupur. Yeah, pizza base would be great with this.
December 15th, 2007 at 5:29 amHi Shilpa,
December 26th, 2007 at 10:49 amI tried the potato bun yesterday for Christmas Special for all my guests. It was a huge hit.
I told everyone that this recipe was from your site.
This was my first baking experience, I am glad it came out well.
Thanks so much.
Hi Shilpa,
I tried this out. But the bun turned out to be more like a pizza base. Was’nt that soft. I used the exact measurements as mentioned and the same cups given in that link too :). But still came out hard, though the dough rose to double in volume. Any solution?
- Vinaya
Shilpa: Ohh..I am not sure Vinaya. I followed the recipe given by daring bakers and it was fine. Just go thr’ the links of Meeta’s and Sunita’s blog that I have mentioned above. I think they may be able to help you. I am also novice in this :(.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:17 pmHi,
I tried these last night. I followed the exact same recipe as mentioned but I am afraid, it did not come out so very well. My problem was the buns did not brown on top. I smeared butter as mentioned instead of olive oil. The stuffing became too less and had moved to one side, hence the buns did not come out soft and fluffy as expected. Let me know where I went wrong. ( I used all the flour at once instead of adding it later. At first it was not sticky at all, but when I tried to knead, it was alright) I want to try them again. Please let me know properly if I missed out anything.
Thanks,
Neela
Shilpa: Neela, please check out the links I have mentioned. Do not add all the flour at once, that was what I had done by mistake. Did the dough rise well?
January 28th, 2008 at 12:30 pmYes Shilpa,
January 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pmThe dough did rise well. I could see the air inside, if I parted the flour. The recipe called for further kneading after 2 hours, so, I kneaded the dough for another 10 mins. Was that a mistake?
I will however try again without adding all the dough at once and then see what happens.
Thanks
Neela
your recipie looks very intersting and i am very much interested in baking bread though i am afraid to try. i am searching for this recipe for long.i would likr to know whether we can prepare it without onions ?like the other bread item we get in banglore bakeries?and can we prepare in microwave?please let me know these details and also wheat bread recipe
Shilpa: Bavya, you can use any stuffing you like. I don’t know the steps to bake a cake in microwave.
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 am[...] choice. So now when I crave spicy buns, I couldn’t anymore drive to Hot Breads. A while ago this post coerced me to try out spicy buns at home. But I had to figure out a healthy bun recipe with whole [...]
February 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pmHi Shilpa,
March 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pmI have a doubt. B4 adding yeast, we need to mix the potato and the water together in a bowl and then add the yeast , am i right?
i am impressed
March 8th, 2008 at 10:06 amHello,
It was interesting to read your bun recipe. I have come from my kitchen just now after a failed stuffed bun making attempt. I was searching for some of these recipes and came across yours. My dough did rise well, but while baking, it did not do well.
I read somewhere just now that once the dough rises, you need to punch it down and let it rise again. Then after rolling it, you need to rest it again for a while so that it will rise agian.
Any tips on making fluffy buns from you would be appreciated.
I do read your site often and appreciate the interest and efforts you take in posting these recipes.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:47 pm[...] don’t know whether I can call this dish a bun, but it was inspired by Shilpa’s Spicy Stuffed Potato Buns. Maybe we can also name it as Stuffed Pizza, Indian Style. It’s very simple to make and is [...]
March 28th, 2008 at 9:26 pmi have read ur recipies it was super ,i would like to know how to make a bun?
April 27th, 2008 at 7:57 amI love cooking the stuff that children like to eat quite often, the buns are one of them. But I normally get confused by the term ‘oven’ and ‘microwave’. Wud there be any difference in the temperature settings if one uses ‘microwave’ in place of the normal ‘oven’. Please advice.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:55 amShilpa: Vivek, both are different. If you have a conventional oven setting on your microwave, use that for any baking(cakes, breads etc)
Hi Shilpa,
May 20th, 2008 at 9:48 amMy husband loves khara buns and so I thought I would try this recipe out. I followed the recipe but finally the dough was very very sticky, just like only maida dough. I somehow managed to cover the stuffing with a layer of dough on either side. I baked them for some 15 mins. They tasted ok but the shape was weird. Not to mention how difficult it was to stuff them. Any idea what I did wrong that the dough ended up so sticky?
Hi!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:15 pmI tried your potato bun recipe,the buns turned out really hard!! Any idea what might have gone wrong? I LOVED these as evening snacks growing up, and want to make them right!
Thanks!
mamta again..
i love kahara buns too..
easy way out… u can buy frozen bread dough from frozen section in any american grocery store…
follow the instructions to make simple dough bread…
get creative & use ur own stuffing..
what u have posted is palya bun shilpa..
for khara bun.. coarsly grind green chilli, ajwain, jeera, with ginger.. add finely chopped dill leaves..
just mix it with already risen dough.. & shape it.. let it rise for another half hour & bake it…
mamta
June 26th, 2008 at 5:48 pmFor those whose buns turn out hard….sprinkle some water on the buns and steam it for around1/2 hour… your labor won’t go waste
July 6th, 2008 at 12:41 pmShilpa - you can actually stuff the buns with potato and onion curry. Thats how they make it in Bangalore bakeries - but I am sure the buns you have baked are tasty as well they look great.
July 12th, 2008 at 4:17 pmHai,
September 17th, 2008 at 11:14 pmUr khara bun looks so yummy.
I am not a baker at all. But i can tell the flavors by its smell.
oh..yes i remember those aloo buns from the bakeries in bangalore. But in those famous classic khara bun/aloo bun the aloo is not in the bread dough but in the stuffing. I have been searching for that method of aloo bun for years and being a non-baker I never ever dared to try it. I once tried it with ready bread dough but as i did not know when to stuff it- before or after rising, i made it and the curry was so so less compared to the bread when it got baked.
I would appreciate it if you could really post that recipe- normal bread dough for bun with aloo curry stuffing.
Thank u.
hi shilpa,
January 5th, 2009 at 3:02 amthanks for helping me get bangalore ‘Butter spong’ khara bun right out in my home in mumbai.. I had filled two buns with onion palya and two with alu..