Kanda kachori

A cooked onion filling bound with besan before it is stuffed.

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

Ingredients

• 300 g maida, plain white flour
• 5 tablespoons ghee, for the dough
• 1 teaspoon salt
• about 100 ml cold water
• 4 onions, chopped fine
• 2 teaspoons nigella seeds
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 green chillies, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 60 g besan, gram flour, for the filling
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, for the filling
• oil for deep frying

Method

1. THE COOKED ONION FILLING IS BOUND WITH BESAN BEFORE IT IS STUFFED, and that is the opposite construction to the plain kachori on its own page, where the gram flour is in the PASTRY and the filling is dry dal. Its article's method is precise about the order: ONIONS ARE SAUTEED WITH NIGELLA SEEDS, FENNEL SEEDS, BAY LEAVES, GREEN CHILLIES, AND SPICES, AND THEN MIXED WITH BESAN. Cooked first, bound second.
2. AND THE BESAN IS THERE TO TAKE UP THE ONION'S WATER. Four chopped onions release a great deal of it, and a wet filling bursts the pastry in the oil. Sixty grams of gram flour stirred into the hot onions dries the mixture and holds it in a ball.
3. NIGELLA AND FENNEL ARE THE TWO SEEDS THAT MAKE IT RECOGNISABLE. Its article names them first, before the chillies and the ground spices. Both go in whole at the start so the oil takes their flavour.
4. SAUTE THE ONIONS LONGER THAN FEELS NECESSARY. Twelve or fifteen minutes over a medium heat until they are soft, sweet and beginning to colour. Half-cooked onion inside a fried pastry is sharp and watery.
5. TAKE THE BAY LEAVES OUT, STIR IN THE BESAN, AND COOK IT TWO MINUTES MORE. Then cool it completely and roll twelve balls.
6. THE PASTRY IS MAIDA, SALT AND GHEE, KNEADED AND RESTED, which is what its article says and all it says: A DOUGH WITH MAIDA, SALT, AND GHEE, WHICH IS THEN KNEADED AND LEFT TO REST. Five tablespoons rubbed in gives the flaky layers the article's own first sentence promises -- CRISPY, FLAKY, DEEP-FRIED.
7. STUFF SMALL CIRCLES, SEAL THEM, AND PRESS THEM FLAT. The article's words are THE FILLING IS THEN STUFFED INTO SMALL CIRCLES OF THE DOUGH. Pinch off the knot at the top and flatten each to about a centimetre and a half.
8. FRY THEM SLOWLY FROM BARELY WARM OIL, TWENTY MINUTES, AND SERVE THEM HOT WITH TAMARIND CHUTNEY. The surface going from smooth to finely blistered is the sign they are cooked through. Its article asks for them SERVED HOT WITH A SWEET AND SPICY TAMARIND CHUTNEY.

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