Bakers stock up on Afghani kulcha biscuits for Ramadan in Pakistan’s Balochistan

QUETTA: Right after breaking their fast with a sunset iftar dinner, it’s back to work for Muhammad Abdullah and his employees who have to start baking a new batch of Afghani kulchas, a mostly sweet biscuit that is a staple at the pre-dawn suhoor meal in Ramadan in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan.
This year, the bakery owner said he had received orders from far off towns in Chaman, Kuchlak and Khuzdar where the biscuits are in high demand through the holy month. Orders had also come in from other provinces. 
And so, after iftar on Sunday, Abdullah and his employees began mixing together flour, baking powder, eggs, oil and sugar and then molded the yeasted dough into different shapes before baking the biscuits in a large oven. Into some batches of dough, they threw in cinnamon, cardamom and nuts for a variation in flavor.
Abdullah said demand for kulchas sharply increases in Ramadan when he daily bakes about 220 kilograms of the biscuits compared to about 70 kilograms each day the rest of the year. Prices are also up by about 20 percent this Ramadan, having increased to Rs300 per kg from Rs250 last year.
“We start receiving kulcha orders from bakery owners in Quetta and other cities about a month before Ramadan,” Abdullah, 42, told Arab News. “Hence, our laborers work here for 10 to 12 hours a day to meet the demand.”
“People who avoid oily food during sehri [suhoor meal] love to eat kulchas with a cup of tea during the holy month,” he added.

Soon after breaking their fasts, customers begin arriving at the more than dozen bakeries on Quetta’s Kasi Road, looking to buy the freshly baked biscuits for their upcoming suhoor meal. Some want the version that resembles flatbread while others are looking for the crunchy cookie-like variety.
Muhammad Baryalai said he preferred bakery items for the suhoor meal rather than traditional Pakistani curry or rice dishes.
“I have purchased seven kilograms of kulchas for my family in different flavors because these biscuits have become a vital part of sehri during Ramadan,” he told Arab News outside a bakery as his children pointed to the varieties they wanted to buy.
“We love to eat kulchas by dipping them in a hot cup of tea.”

Ehsanullah, who only identified himself with his first name, said he had been baking kulchas for the last seven years, and his favorite version was the shana, a soft and large variety that became hugely popular in Ramadan.
“We prepare 25 trays of yeasted dough on a daily basis in Ramadan, each weighing more than 30 kgs,” Ehsanullah said. In other months, around six trays are baked per day.

Ehsanullah’s daily earnings also go up in Ramadan, from Rs15,000 ($82) to Rs20,000 ($109).
And orders come from outside Balochistan also, bakers said.
“People come from Karachi, they say we have eaten Quetta’s kulchas in Karachi and they take 5-6kg,” Abdullah said. “People come from Lahore, from Punjab in the [Ramadan] season.”