Part of the Virtual Vegan Potluck, this post is my effort to bring some traditional Indian snack to the virtual potluck table !! I am so excited for it and hope the readers like this recipe and try recreate it.

Every now and then i feel the need to pamper my Indian culinary senses and in my opinion, authentic street food is the quickest way to get closer to spicy, comfort treats of India. This is my second post covering the chaats/street food corner of India and this time i am walking through the food lanes of Jaipur, Rajasthan ! For my first post on chaats, see DSB Dahi Chaat – Savory yoghurt snack.

Jaipur, also known as the pink city of India is an extremely popular tourist destination in Rajasthan and India. It has some amazing fried snack dishes and i am particularly fan of the chilli pakodas (recipe to follow soon) and kachoris. Kachoris are Indian puffed pastry stuffed with vegetables like onions, potatoes, peas etc or lentils and spices.

The first time i visited Jaipur as a tourist, i walked down the busy lanes of Johari bazaar (Jewellers market) in pursuit of buying myself some silver earrings and landed up in one of the snack shops to take a food break. There i had my first onion kachori and i had instantly fallen in love with it ! The kachori had just come out of the frying kadhai/pan and was pipping hot. Not only the taste but the aroma of this snack was awesome. Infact, it was the aroma i could smell half a kilometer away which led me to the shop.

This is a recipe for kachoris stuffed with spicy onion filling. It is simply delicious !!

JAIPURI ONION KACHORI

Jaipuri Onion Kachori Recipe Preparation time : 30 minutes Cooking time : Approximately 5-7 minutes for frying each kachori. Makes about 12 3′ dia kachoris For the dough 2 cups All purpose flour (maida)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp carrom seeds (ajwain)

1/4 cup oil

Water for making the dough – About 3/4 cup water or more For the Onion Filling

2 medium sized onions – finely chopped

4 tsp chickpea flour (besan)

3 green chillies – finely chopped

1/4 tsp asafoetida (optional)

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp nigella seeds/ kalonji (optional)

2 tsp fennel seeds/ saunf

2-3 bay leaves

2 tsp of grated ginger

4 cloves of garlic- minced (optional)

2 tsp fresh coriander -finely chopped

2 tsp dry coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala (optional)

1 1/2 tsp salt or to taste

2 tsp red chilli powder

3 tsp vegetable oil For Frying Oil for frying Method Mix all the ingredients for the dough except water and combine well. Now slowly add a little water at a time and knead the all purpose flour into a soft dough. Keep it aside and meanwhile prepare the onion filling. Cover the dough with a damn cloth to keep the dough soft. The ghee/oil in the dough helps in making the kachoris crunchy upon frying. For the filling, take a saucepan. To this, add oil and put to medium high flame. Add asafoetida, cumin seeds, nigella seeds and fennel seeds and let the cumin seeds splutter. Now add in the bay leaves and chopped onions. Put the flame to high and roast the onions till golden brown. Now add in the salt, red chilli powder, chopped green cillies and coriander powder. Combine well and lower the flame to low heat. You may taste the filling at this moment and adjust the spiciness as per choice (the filling will taste less intense upon filling to form the kachoris). Add in the chickpea flour, garam masala and chopped coriander and combine well. The chickpea flour will act as a binding agent and absorb excess water from the onions. It is important to dry out the excess water or the filling will not hold tight and it will be tough to form the kachoris.

Remove from heat and keep aside. Let it cool down a bit. Remove the bay leaves from the filling. Forming the kachoris For making the kachoris, divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Taking one part at a time, roll out the dough into about 2 inch dia circle. Repeat with all the 12 parts. Take one circle in the palm of your hands and form a cup shape with your palm. Divide the filling into 12 portions as well and place one part in the centre of the dough circle. Stretch a little portion of the circle and surround to seal the dough from all sides tightly. With your thumb, press the center of the kachori to stick all the corners together. Wet your hands with water and use to seal the ends. Keep it on a plate and let it rest for a couple of minutes. Repeat with all the parts of dough and the filling. Take a deep pan and fill it half way with oil. Let the oil get medium hot and then drop in a couple of kachoris together. Fry on medium low flame till the kachoris are golden brown. The kachoris will puff up on cooking.This will take several minutes on each side to ensure the kachoris are cooked well till inside. Serve hot with Tamarind Chutney or Mint-coriander chutney

This recipe is simply amazing !! I was pretty apprehensive while trying to recreate the kachori experience but once i started making them and got my first batch of kachoris from the fryer, i was thrilled to the core. The first bite took me to the food lanes and all the hustle-bustle of the magnificent Jaipur city and i was immersed in the nostalgia of my visits there.

Try this kachori recipe. If you are not too keen on using so much of onion, you can also substitute half the quantity of onions with one mashed potato and proceed with the recipe or can make a peas kachoris by substituting the entire quantity of onion with peas (remember to mash the peas nicely upon cooking to make the filling paste like consistency)

Give this recipe a try and get authentic taste of Jaipuri onion kachoris on your dinning tables today !! I hope you are enjoying the recipes on the Virtual Vegan Potluck November table

Or go back to the beginning at Vegan Bloggers Unite !! Happy reading

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

More

Pinterest

Reddit



Tumblr

