I am a south Indian however have grown up eating kachoris , thanks to Dad 🙂 . I have relished so many kachori’s that I was averse to it from over years now. I basically had decided I know how that tastes and had passed the verdict and it never featured on my wish list . One day we colleagues were getting back from a meeting and stopped at a kachori joint . I didn’t order for one as usual but was amazed by the varieties and decided to take a bite , what harm eh? There I bit into this piece of heaven and I devoured it . Later I learnt about the matar kachori and decided to try my hands on them one day .

Let me set the ambience , imagine crispy yummy piping hot kachori in a Bangalore weather . Heaven isnt it? Below is the recipe

Ingredients

For The Dough 

2 cups Maida / plain flour

1/4 cup melted Ghee or oil ,(ghee gives an amazing flavor J)

Salt as per taste

Oil for frying

For The Green Pea/Matar stuffing

2 cups Green Peas/Matar

1 tsp chopped Green Chillies

1 tsp grated Ginger

2 tbsp Oil

1/2 tsp Nigella Seeds /Kalonji

2 tsp Fennel seeds /Saunf

2 Bay Leaves /Tejpatta

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala

3 to 4 tbsp finely chopped coriander/Dhaniya leaves

salt to taste

How to make the Dough :

 Combine all the ingredients for the Dough in a bowl along with enough water and knead for about 5 minutes into a soft dough. Once done keep it aside for 15 minutes covered in a wet muslin cloth.

How to make the Green Peas Stuffing :

Combine the peas, chillies and ginger in a mixer and blend to a coarse mixture without using any water. Keep aside.

Now heat the oil in a deep pan(I use non stick) , add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bayleaves and green peas mixture, mix well and cook on a slow flame for 6 to 7 minutes, while stirring occasionally.

Once its about 7 minutes add the chilli powder, garam masala, coriander leaves and salt, mix well and cook on a medium flame for another minute, while stirring occasionally. The bay leaves can be discarded as it has already imparted the flavour and is not a good idea to use as stuffing J .

Its time to roll the dough now! Here our creativity is key while the standard kachori is circle and about 2.5 to 3 dia circle , I advise you can stuff it the way you want and play with it . The regular way is to keep the dough in the centre , seal it tightly (imagine the modak shape) , remove the excess dough and roll the kachori carefully so that the peas masala does not spill out. This can be tedious for beginners but trust me after making 2 or 3 we get into the rhythm. The kachori is now ready to be fried, heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry the kachori for approximately 6 to 7 minutes and remove it into a tissue so that it absorbs the excess oil. The next step is my favourite just eat and feed the others.

This is one of the simplest and tasty recipe I follow. Alternatively the peas stuffing can be mixed with the atta/Wheat Flour to make rotis too and that is the healthy alternative . It tastes equally good minus the guilt factor of eating oily snack if you know what I mean 😉

#HappyEating