Cover Story:Matar Kachori
Fried bread with a mild and sweet green peas stuffing. a popular bengali breakfast as well as snack.
Cuisine: Bengali
Ingredients
For the kachori dough:
- 8 2.5 cups maida or all purpose flour
- 8 2 to 2.5 tbsp ghee or oil
- 8 water as required
- 8 salt as required
For the green peas stuffing:
- 8 1 cup fresh or frozen peas or matar
- 8 1 tbsp besan/gram flour
- 8 1-2 green chillies, chopped
- 8 ½ inch ginger, chopped
- 8 1 tsp cumin powder
- 8 ¼ tsp red chili powder
- 8 1 green cardamom
- 8 One or two pinches of garam masala powder
- 8 A pinch of asafoetida or hing
- 8 1 to 1.5 tsp oil
- 8 Sugar as required
- 8 Salt as required
- 8 Oil for deep frying
- 8 Make Stuffed Peppers with Pork Sausage
Method
- In a bowl add the flour, salt and ghee or oil.
- Mix everything so as to incorporate the ghee or oil through the whole flour.
- Add water in intervals and knead to a smooth and soft dough.
- Cover the dough with a wet napkin and keep aside for 30-45 minutes at room temperature.
- Rinse the shelled or frozen peas.
- Take them in a grinder or blender.
- Grind to a semi coarse consistency without adding any water.
- if not able to grind in your mixer or grinder, then add 1 or 2 tsp of water.
- Peel the cardamom and powder the seeds in a mortar-pestle till finely ground.
- Heat oil in a small pan.
- On a low flame, add all the spice powders one by one – cumin powder, cardamom powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder and asafoetida.
- Fry for 2-3 seconds.
- Then add the ground peas, sugar and salt.
- Saute for 3 minutes.
- n Stir continuously.
- Add the besan or gram flour and saute for a further 2-3 minutes with continuous stirring.
- Take the stuffing in a bowl or plate and let it cool.
- Prepare small balls from the stuffing and keep aside.
- Before making the kachoris, heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or pan.
- make lemon sized balls from the dough and cover with a wet kitchen napkin.
- take one ball and flatten it with your palm.
- apply some oil to it on both sides.
- place the ball on the rolling board and roll to a 3 inches diameter circle.
- keep the stuffing in the center.
- bring all the edges of the dough and press them together.
- apply some more oil if required and roll the stuffed kachori to a circle of 4 to 5 inches circle.
- if the dough tears, then patch that spot with a small piece of dough and roll on that part gently to even it.
- drop a small piece of dough in the oil and if it comes steadily from the bottom to the top, then the oil is hot enough for the kachoris to be fried.
- gently drop the kachori in the hot oil.
- with a slotted spoon, apply gentle pressure on the kachori to help it to puff up, like we do while frying pooris.
- when one side is done and all puffed up – you will see that the oil has stopped sizzling.
- turn over and fry the other side.
- you can turn over twice and fry for a few seconds too.
- when the matar kachori appears crisp and pale creamish golden, remove from the slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper towels.
- serve motor shutir kochuri plain or with yogurt or any chutney or with aloor dum or cholar dal.
Notes
For added flavor and taste, fennel powder or saunf powder can also be added.
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