Kachori-Spicy Peas Pasties

Crispy Kachoris courtesy of Tiffany Madon
Crispy Kachoris courtesy of Tiffany Madon

Kachori કચોરી

Course: Anytime, Main Dish, Side Dish
Cuisine: Gujarati, Indian
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4 people
This recipe will makes up to 15 kachoris. Serve hot with green coriander chutney.
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 200 g Whole wheat flour For a more eye appealing Kachori replace half(or all) of whole wheat flour with plain flour. Replace wheat flour with gluten/free flour when required.
  • 3-4 tbsp Vegetable oil
  • Upto half cup Room temperature water

Vaghaar Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
  • 2 whole cloves
  • 1 stick Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp jeera
  • Half tsp Rai
  • Pinch asafoetida
  • 1 tsp Turmeric

Filling Ingredients

  • 1 medium Onion Finely chopped
  • 1 small Potato finely chopped or grated
  • 250 g Fresh shelled or frozen peas Minced
  • 2 tsp Paste of chillies and ginger
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp Salt to taste
  • Juice Of one lime or half lemon
  • 1 tsp sugar to taste
  • 2 tbsp Coriander Finely chopped

For Frying

  • One third full vegetable oil in a deep frying pan. corn or groundnut oil.

Instructions

Making Pastry

  • Rub oil into the flour. The flour should clump when squeezed.
  • Add 2/3rd of water and mix quickly and knead. Add more water if required. The resulting dough should be soft but not sticky. Smear some oil in the palm and knead for a few minutes. Set aside.

Making the Filling

  • Heat the oil for the vaghaar.
  • When the oil becomes very hot add cloves, cinnamon, jeera, and rai, in that order.
  • When the seeds start to splutter add the asafoetida, turmeric and the chopped onions.
  • Fry onions until translucent and just turning golden brown.
  • Add the peas, potatoes and the chilli/ginger paste. Sprinkle the salt and carefully mix everything.
  • Cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the filling does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
  • When the filling is cooked(potatoes should be soft), turn off the heat and add the garam masala, lime/lemon juice, sugar and the coriander. Mix again.
  • Taste and adjust spices/salt to taste. Allow to cool. The filling should be quite stiff, when cool.

Making Individual Kachoris

  • Take a one inch diameter ball of dough and roll out into a 3 inch disc of even thickness. .
  • Hold your hand out and form a C shape using just the first finger and thumb. For the left handed, it would be an inverted C.
  • Place the rolled pastry over the C shape and softly place a teaspoonful of filling onto the middle of the disc.
  • Using the first finger of the other hand, press the filling into the disc. With the help of the second finger and the thumb of the opposite hand, slowly bring together the two opposite sides of the pastry, forming a half moon shaped pasty.
  • Seal the semi-circular edges of the pastry by pressing them together. Using the thumb and the first two fingers of the opposite hand flute this edge to further seal and make the kachori look pretty.
  • Place on a grease proof paper lined tray and cover with a clean tea-towel to prevent the kachoris from drying. Continue until all the kachoris are filled.

Frying the Kachoris

  • Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
  • Test the readiness of the oil by dropping a small blob of pastry into the oil. The pastry should immediately start sizzling and raise up to the surface of the oil. Now fry a batch of 4-5 kachoris at a time, turning over a few times. Lower heat for the latter part of the frying.
  • Fry until evenly golden brown. Place freshly fried Kachoris on to a paper towel on a plate.The paper towel will absorb the excess oil.
  • Always turn up the heat half a minute before frying a new batch.
  • These kachoris are best eaten hot as the pastry will remain crispy at this stage.
    Kachori with Chutney, Tiffany Madon

Notes

These kachoris can be eaten on their own or as a snack or can make up the savoury part of a full gujarati thali.
Eat with green coriander chutney.
A huge thank you to Tiffany Madon for the wonderful photos of the kachoris, made using this recipe.
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