Matar Kachori Recipe

Winters are associated with some specific preparation in northern India.
As winters peep from windows (Windows are otherwise closed to avoid the chill factor) they bring in hot foods along. And in all the winter food lists I have ticked yet another item of this season i.e. Matar ki kachori. Green Peas are a delight in winter. 

Matar ki kachori is a flaky, crispy deep-fried pastry filled with savory, spiced green peas stuffing. These kachori taste awesome with pickle, chutney, or alu sabji, and paneer masala. And to top it all I added fruit cream and gajar halwa to this winter platter.

 

Ingredients: For kachoris

For the dough:

4 cups Flour, You can use maida but I have used multigrain atta

1/2  cup semolina

1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp Ghee/ oil as moan

1 cup water to knead

Oil, for deep frying

For the filling:

4 cups fresh/frozen Green Peas

2 tbsp Chickpea flour(Besan)

1/4 tsp grated Ginger

4 Green chillies, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Red chili powder

3/4 tsp Chaat masala

3/4 tsp Amchur powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala 1 tsp Coriander powder

1/4 tsp Cumin seeds

2 pinches Asafoetida (Hing)

1 tsp Salt, to taste

2 tbsp Ghee

For Dough

• take flour, semolina, salt, sugar, and moan in a big pan or parat.
• Knead well with water to a soft and pliable dough. Keep it aside for half an hour.

To prepare to fill:

• Grind peas, ginger, and green chilies in a mixer. If you like you can add a few garlic pods (optional)

• You can use raw peas or even boil them, I have taken raw peas and washed them before grinding.
• Heat oil in a kadai, and add hing/ asafoetida and cumin seeds.
• Reduce the heat and add grated ginger(if you like it more), coriander powder, and turmeric powder, and fry for a minute.
• Add peas mixture to it and mix well. Fry for 8-10 mins on low heat until it turns slightly brown.
• Add the salt, red chili powder, chaat masala, amchur powder, garam masala, and besan and fry for another 2 mins.
• Remove it and let the mixture cool.

To make Matar Kachori:

• Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying the kachoris.
• Pinch a lemon-sized ball out of the dough and flatten it to a small poori.
• Fill  2-3 tbsp peas mixture and cover it to form a ball and flatten it slightly. Do not roll it much or do not keep it very thick.
• I prefer dry roasting pooris on a tawa or griddle and letting them cool, before frying. This way helps to keep the masala filling intact and also consumes less oil. You can even fry them directly in the hot oil if you like.   

• Once all dry roasting is done then heat oil in deep bottom kadhai.
• Gently drop pooris in the hot oil in kadai and fry them until they turn brown. When you put the kachoris in oil you should keep the flame on HIGH and reduce it later and fry them on LOW flame until they turn brown. Flip it in between.

Serve it with Aloo Sabzi and Pickle.