Ingredients

• 500 gm. chapatti flour

• 1 cup green gram or mung dal, with skin on

• 3/4 inch fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

• 3-4 green chillies (to taste)

• 1 1/2 tsp. fennel or sonf powder

• 1 1/2 tsp. coriander powder

• 1/4 tsp. heeng powder

• 1 tsp. chilli powder (to taste)

• 1 1/2 tsp. salt

• Oil for deep-frying

Instructions

1. Wash, and soak dal for 2 hours. Drain it well in a colander.

2. Place in a food processor, along with ginger and green chillies. Try to add very little water.

3. Grind to a COARSE paste. You can grind dry dal coarsely and then soak it in just enough water to cover.

4. Take it out in a large mixing bowl and add all spices and flour and mix.

5. Add water, a little at a time, and make a firm dough. Knead it well. If the dough is too soft, add a little more flour.

6. Heat oil in a wok or karahi. To check if it has reached the correct temperature, drop a small pinch of dough in the oil, it should sizzle and float to the surface quickly. The oil should not be smoking hot, or kachauries will burn.

7. Divide dough into small, golf ball size portions and make balls.

8. Place one ball at a time between two layers of oiled plastic (I use a plastic sandwich bag, slit in half) and roll out to 5-6 inch diameter.

9. Peel the top layer of plastic off, lift the kachauri and slide it gently into the hot oil.

10. Once the kachauri floats to the surface press it all over gently with a spatula, encouraging it to fluff up into a ball.

11. Fry on both sides until golden colour and crisp.

12. Serve hot with pickles, Meethi Lassi 1 or Namkeen Lassi 2 or Namkeen Lassi 3, or serve with natural yoghurt and a vegetable curry like Potao Curry.

Notes

• It is easier if you have two people making kachauries, one rolling them out and other frying.

• If you have a poori press, it makes the rolling out process easy.

• Left over kachauries freeze well for another day. Reheat on a hot griddle or tawa or a frying pan until crisp on both sides. For short cut, soak approximately 200 gm. of 'dal Bari or badi' from your kitchen cupboard in enough warm water to just cover them. In this case, you will not need to add any spices, except salt. Simply mash the soaked baris, add to flour and make dough as described.