Green Peas Kachori Recipe

I absolutely LOVE these!! So does all of my family! We used to buy these a lot when we went shopping. I always used to ponder how these were made because the pastry coating was quite unusual. It has no cracks, but it is flaky and crisp. The filling comes in many different types of recipes depending on the region of India, and different personal tastes. As I say, my Husband and I have always preferred the peas filling, but I would say that the next most popular stuffing would be with lentils. Because these are such a winner in our family, I have decided to post the recipe with peas. I'm sure to blog about the lentil stuffing soon, because they are also too good to miss out on.

Another really good thing about this recipe is that it really is quick and easy to do. When we bought these little goodies they were too daunting to me to ever try and actually cook them.

My family and I were snacking on some peas kachories in a restaurant one day and we ended up having a conversation with a lady that was also dining at the same time. I had mentioned that we all loved them so much, but I wouldn't know where to start with them. Then the lady said to me "Oh my mother and I cook them all of the time with different fillings, but the pastry is so easy if you just do it all in a food processor! I have a pen in my bag, so I shall just jot down for you what we do" I was so chuffed to bits!! I thought that she was just going to write how to just make the pastry, but she very kindly gave me a nice short recipe on how to make a pea filling too!! WICKED!! I couldn't help wanting to go home straight the way and give the recipe a go!

I didn't get chance to try that day, but when I did, it was well worth the wait!!



Ingredients for the pastry:-

1 cup of plain flour (maida)
1 fairly rounded tbs gram flour
2 tbs suji (semolina)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup oil + 1 tbs
salt

For the filling....

2 1/2 cups boiled green peas,
1/2 - 3/4 tsp cumin seeds (*to taste)
1/2 - 3/4 tsp ajwain seeds (*to taste)
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp hing ( asafoetida )
1 tsp ginger paste
1/2- 1 tsp green chilli paste
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice ( or to taste )
salt

Directions for the pastry:-

1) In a blender, combine the oil, water and salt. Blend it on full power until the liquid has turned white.

2) The when you are ready with the flour, turn the blender on again and slowly add the flours and the suji. You should stop half way through to push all the mixture down from the sides with a spatula. When a ball forms, that's when the dough is ready. Give the dough a very gentle knead, just to bring into a smooth ball. Leave to one side while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:-

1) In a pan heat a tbs of oil onto a medium high heat. Once it is hot enough, add the seeds and hing. Let them sizzle for a few seconds before you add the cooked peas.

2) Stir fry the peas for a moment and then add the chilli and the garlic pastes. Stir fry the mixture on a low to medium heat for around 3-4 minutes.

3) Add the salt, sugar and the lemon juice and coarsely mash the peas and check the seasonings.

Assembly Directions:-

1) Divide the dough equally into small balls. Keep one ball to one side and cover the rest of the balls.

2) On a rolling board or flat surface, roll the dough out to be about the thickness of a poori. You really do have to make sure that the pastry is not too thin, but not too thick. I usually like to make up a sample one first and fry so that I can check the thickness and the overall taste of the kachori's. ( Any excuse to have a taste)

3) Once the dough is rolled to the desired thickness, place a heaped tbs of the pea mixture into the centre and carefully gather up the sides of the dough. Pinch the excess dough off the end and give the whole thing a roll with your hands so that it is a nice smooth ball with no edges. ( You can crimp the top for presentation, or you can make into patties like I have in the photo's) Leave to one side, and follow the last steps with the rest of the ingredients.

4) When they are all prepared, fry on a medium to hot heat until the are nice and golden. Oh yes and make sure that you don't fry more than two or three at a time.

Drain onto kitchen towels and serve with chutney.

Please feel free to share and thoughts, or how you make this dish. Any comments really make me happy!! ENJOY!!!! :-) :-) :-)

Tandoori Potato recipe

The first time that I tried these delicious little morsels was at the local market. I was there shopping and it was a dull cold day. I had just dropped off my son at his nursery at the time, so i had been in a usual last minute rush so I hadn't even had time to grab any breakfast, so I was STARVING!!!! Just in the nick of time there was a market stall selling all sorts of home made spicy foods. I didn't even think about what to eat, i just said to the stall holder "I'll have one of those, one of those and one of those please!! When he put all of my goodies into a bag, the whole carrier bag was absolutely full to the brim!! He must of thought that i was a right greedy pig lol!! Never mind, I didn't care because it made my shopping sooo much easier!!

One of the goodies that was in the bag of joy, was some tandoori potatoes on skewers. My mouth watered when I saw them. They looked like shiny red jewels on a chain. When I tasted them it was just heaven! They were instantly one of my new favourite foods.

On the way home I popped into my local supermarket, I was looking in the world food section (as per usual,) and I noticed some tandoori paste. I had seen the paste before, but I never really paid to much attention to it before. Of cause I snapped the paste up and put it in my basket to buy.

When I got home, I had already got some pre cooked jersey royal new potatoes. They really are the best waxy potato! So I grabbed the ingredients, left to marinade and roasted just before the rest of the dinner was ready. They were different to the potatoes that I had had at the market, but they were equally just as delicious. So why don't you give them a go for yourself and let me know how you get on? :-) :-) :-)

Ingredients:-

About 10-20 new potatoes. It just depends on the size.
3 heaped tbs tandoori paste (of your choice)
2 tbs fresh yoghurt,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp lemon juice (or to taste)
just a sprinkle of salt,
Fresh coriander for garnishing.

Directions:-

1) In a large bowl mix all of the above ingredients together, except the potatoes.

2) Then mix in the required amount of potatoes.

3) When every thing is thoroughly mixed in together and all of the potatoes are well coated with the mixture, cover with cling film and put them into the fridge to marinade for a couple of hours, or even over night. I only had time to marinade for a few hours but they were fine with that.

4) When you are just about ready to cook, preheat the oven to the hottest temperature your oven will go to. Give the potatoes one last mix, give the baking tray a drizzle of oil and then spread the potatoes evenly onto the tray.

5) Put the tray onto the top shelf of your oven and cook for 5-10 minutes turning once. You need to keep an eye on them once they are in the oven, because evry oven is different so cooking times may change dramatically!

6) Once they are cooked sprinkle over some fresh coriander and serve with salad and plane yoghurt.

I hope that you enjoy they as much as my family and I did, so why don't you let me know how you got on? :-) :-) :-)

layered butter paratha recipe

LAYERED PARATHA LAYERED PARATHA LAYERED PARATHA! This bread is so so amazing you could make a mantra or a chant from the name. It is that AMAZING!! You can absolutely guarantee that once you have made paratha, you will want to make it again and again. This bread is definitely one of the most popular breads there are around in India!!! They are so so versatile too! You can have them plane, with a meal or as a meal, stuffed with nearly every filling you can imagine. I think that the most popular filling is potato, but spinach, cauliflower, paneer, fenugreek and lots more, taste heavenly too, so you can always experiment with you own tastes and ideas. There are even different ways to prepare this heavenly bread. In this recipe, I have layered the paratha in this recipe, but you can just do this like a thick chapati. The only thing is, if yo cook it like a thick chapati, you perhaps need to cook it for a little longer. This is just because it can become chewy if it is too thick.

Ingredients:- serves 2-3

3/4 cup chapati flour,
a large pinch of salt,
hot water, (as required)
oil for drizzling,
butter or ghee for spreading and cooking.

directions:-

1) Mix together the flour with the salt, and then add enough water to make a smooth soft dough.

2) Drizzle a little oil on to the dough and rub the oil all around the dough ball. Leave to rest in a warm place for at least 15 minutes and also don't forget to cover it with cling film or a damp cloth.

3) Pre heat a tawa or a heavy bottomed pan on a medium to low heat. Next, give the dough another quick kneed and divide into equal portions, take one of the balls and place the rest back into the warm place, covered, just while you roll the dough.

4) Roll them out into a circle and about twice the thickness of a chapati. with the back of the spoon, spread some melted butter over the top, then fold it once, spread a little more butter onto the top of that half, and then fold again. Leave to one side and follow the same steps with all of the other dough balls.

5) When you are ready to roll, place one of the triangles onto the board and roll out to about the same thickness of a chapati, but try and keep everything tucked in nicely. ( This is just for presentation, so don't worry if you cant do this because it doesn't affect the flavour at all.

6) Once this is done, slap the rolled paratha onto the heat and cook until it changes colour slightly and you start to see little bubbles. Flip the paratha over and do the same as the other side, but this time you need to spread some butter onto the top of the paratha. Gently press the bubbles to encourage the paratha to puff up. Flip it over and spread some more butter and cook for a little while longer. You may need to flip the paratha several times to crisp them up.

7) Repeat the process until all of the paratha's are cooked. Keep them warm by wrapping them in tin foil.

Serve with your favourite curry.


Please feel free to add your comments and suggestions. I would be the happiest person in the world if you did! :-) :-)