Khasta Kachori

I was never fond of kachoris while growing up and hadn't tried making them at home. However, after a request from a family member, I decided to make it at home. These kachoris turned out delicious. I saw a few videos on youtube and understood that the key to a pastry/khasta texture and bite is to fry the kachori on really low heat. 

Also, I have realized the kachoris taste delicious with stuffing like aloo sabji or choley instead of just chutney. So next time you make or buy kachoris, try it out with some stuffing.

Ingredients:

The cover

4 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp salt

8 tsp ghee

water to knead a soft dough

The filling

4 heaped tsp coriander seeds

3 heaped tsp fennel seeds

1 heaped tsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp oil

¼ tsp Asafoetida / Hing

1 inch ginger, grated

2-3 green chillies, finely chopped

1 tbsp kasoori methi, crushed between palms

1 tsp red chili powder

2 tsp - garam masala

1/2 cup besan/chickpea flour

1 cup - Moong dal (soaked and coarse ground)

1 tsp black salt

salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp - amchoor /raw mango powder

oil for deep frying

Method 

For the cover

Add the salt and ghee to the all purpose flour and rub the ghee in. The ghee should be very well mixed with the flour. The test to check if the quantity of ghee is enough is to clench some flour in your fist and when you open your fist, it should retain its shape and not fall apart. Then add water to the flour and make a soft dough. Knead till soft and pliable and then keep aside to rest. Cover it with a towl or platic wrap. Taste the dough, and make sure it has a slight salty taste and not bland. Else after frying, the cover will taste very bland.

For the filling

Soak the mung dal till soft (2 hours) Mix together the coriander, fennel and cumin seeds and coarsely grind it. Heat oil in pan and add the hing and then add the ground seed mixture. Stir fry till fragrant and then add the ginger and green chillies, then add the garam masala, kasuri methi, red chilli power, black salt and black pepper. Then add the besan and mix well and cook till the besan starts to smell fragrant. Then add the the mung dal and cook till a dry mixture is formed. If you feel it is too dry, you can add some more oil. However, since this is going to be deep fried, I didn't add anymore. Add salt, sugar, and amchoor powder. Mix well and taste, adjust seasoning if needed. The dough should be slightly salty, since it will get less salty after frying.

Assembly and frying

Take a fistfull of dough and roll it out into a thick 2.5"-3" puri. It should be not be thin. Then add a 2-3 tsp of filling in the center. Gather the edges and bring it together and bring the dough together and pinch it well to seal well. If there is any extra dough, remove it. Flatten into a disc using your palm and roll it lightly to form a thick disc, about 3" diameter. Make sure that the cover is not too thin while you do that.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan. The oil should be luke warm and not too hot. Keep the heat on low/low flame. Then add the kachoris. It should take a couple of minutes for the kachori to start to puff up and start coming to the surface of the oil. Do not be tempted to increase the heat. Once they are puffed up, you can increase the heat slightly, and then fry them till golden brown on both sides.

Serve warm with chutney or potato curry or chole.

Tips

Soak the mung dal in hot water. The mung dal will be ready to be ground in 30-40 mins. This recipe will make about 20 good sized kachoris. Each batch of kachoris takes about 15-20 mins to fry.