Kachori

A round pastry with gram flour and ghee in it, stuffed with dry dal before frying.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (ghee).

Ingredients

• 250 g maida, plain white flour
• 50 g gram flour
• 5 tablespoons ghee, for the pastry
• 1 teaspoon salt
• about 90 ml cold water
• 150 g moong dal, split yellow, soaked 2 hours
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida
• a 4 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 3 green chillies, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, for the filling
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. IT IS STUFFED BEFORE FRYING, FROM A PASTRY WITH GRAM FLOUR AND GHEE IN IT, WHERE A SAMOSA'S IS MAIDA ALONE. Its article's own ingredient list is the difference: MAIDA (FLOUR), GRAM FLOUR, GHEE as the main ingredients, with MOONG DAL, ONIONS as the minor ones. A samosa is a folded pocket of plain flour pastry; this is a ball of enriched dough closed around a filling and pressed flat, and the gram flour is what makes it short rather than crisp.
2. THE FILLING IS DRY DAL, AND THE ARTICLE SPELLS ONE VERSION OUT. Of the Kota kachori it says the filling CONSISTS OF YELLOW MUNG DAL (SPLIT YELLOW LENTILS) COOKED WITH A BLEND OF SPICES AND HERBS, INCLUDING CUMIN, GINGER, GREEN CHILI, TURMERIC, AND CORIANDER -- and that those are KNOWN FOR THEIR SPICY FLAVOUR, WITH A DISTINCT SMELL OF ASAFOETIDA. That half teaspoon of asafoetida is not a background note; it is what people recognise.
3. GRIND THE SOAKED DAL COARSE, THEN FRY IT DRY. Not to a paste -- it should still be gritty. Cumin and asafoetida in hot oil first, then the dal, then ginger, chilli and the ground spices, and keep it moving for ten minutes until it smells roasted and will not clump. Wet filling bursts the pastry.
4. COOL IT COMPLETELY AND ROLL TWELVE BALLS OF IT. Cold and loose is what you want.
5. RUB THE GHEE INTO BOTH FLOURS UNTIL THE MIXTURE HOLDS A SHAPE. Five tablespoons into three hundred grams is more than a samosa pastry takes, and it is deliberate.
6. MAKE TWELVE DOUGH BALLS, CUP EACH ONE, AND CLOSE IT ROUND A BALL OF FILLING. Pinch off the knot of dough at the top, then press the parcel gently flat with your palm to about a centimetre and a half. Thinner and it will split.
7. FRY THEM IN OIL THAT IS BARELY WARM AND LET THE HEAT RISE. Twenty minutes. They sit on the bottom, then float, then blister, and the surface goes from smooth to covered in fine bubbles -- which is the sign they are done through. Fried hot they brown in four minutes with a raw seam.
8. SERVED HOT OR WARM, WITH CHUTNEY. Its article says hot or warm and nothing stronger. Its other variations are worth knowing: mawa kachori, from Jodhpur, is stuffed with dry fruits and khoa and then DIPPED IN SUGAR SYRUP.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes