Khasta Kachori

Long ago when I was a new bride with limited cooking experience, Manjula's Kitchen saved many of my evenings where I was missing the street food from back home. She taught me many recipes and the proper way of making them.

The Kachori I made today, I never thought they will puff up like they did the first time I made them. I was soooo happy. And even yesterday they puffed up so nicely and delicious. My kids liked them too, so....I will be maaing kachoris more often

Khasta Kachori (Deep fried puffs with spicy lentil stuffing)

Khasta Kachori

Kachori with moong filling

Ingredients for dough:

1. 11/2 cup all purpose flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, carom seeds
3. 2 tablespoons oil
4. chilled water as needed

Ingredients for Filling:

1. 1/2 cup yellow moong dal
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilli flakes, fennel seeds
3. 1 teaspoon each of grated ginger or ginger powder, coriander seeds
4. 2 teaspoons oil
5. Warm water 2 tablespoons

Mix the all purpose flour with all the ingredients except water. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time and mix till the dough comes together. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.

Grind the fennel seeds and coriander seeds just a tad, until they break a little. Take them out and set aside. Grind the monng dal to almost powder. Heat oil in a pan and fry the moon dal powder, coriander and fennel seeds and ginger till the dal becomes golden brown and you start getting nice aroma. Mix all the other ingredients and set it aside to cool.

After it cooled, add 2 tablespoons warm water and mix.

Knead the dough for 1 minute and divide it into 12 parts. With your palm and fingers make it into 3 inch disks with the middle being  a little more thicker than the edges. Add a teaspoon of filling and close the edges into a dumpling and set aside for a few minutes.

Heat the oil for deep frying. With you path flatten the filled balls into 3 inch disks again making sure there are no holes. Add a tiny piece of dough and it should come to the surface slowly. Add a few kachoris and fry for 5-6 minutes until they become golden brown. Drain, let cool for a bit and serve as is with sweet yogurt, tamarind and date chutney and mint chutney

Sweet Yougurt toping

Mix about 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 11/2 tablespoons of sugar and beat well. Serve on top of sev puri or Kachori