Chana Dal Kachauri - Deep Fried Indian Flat Bread
Kachauri/Kachori with Chana Dal Stuffing
Mamta Gupta
This recipe is for ?soft? Kachories, not ?khasta? or crisp, snack kachories that are eaten as a snack or chaat. If you want to make Chana Dal Kahsta Kachories, make the filling as below and then cook them like in this recipe; Khasta Kachauri
Pictures 6 t 10 are from a different Dal Kachauri recipe. They are posted here just to show the method. I forgot to take pictures here!
Ingredients
500 gm. chapatti flour
1 cup skinless Bengal gram or Chana dal
3/4 inch fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic (optional)
3-4 green chillies (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp. fennel or saunf powder
1 1/2 tsp. coriander powder
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 tsp. hing or asafoetida powder
1 tsp. chilli powder (to taste)
1 salt
Oil for deep-frying
Instructions
Making the filling
Wash, and soak dal for 2 hours. Drain it well in a colander.
Place in a food processor, along with ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves, green chillies and garlic, if used. Grind to a COARSE paste.
Take it out in a large mixing bowl, add all spices and mix.
Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a wok or karahi and stir-fry the dal mix for 5-6 minutes. It should be of a firm consistency, not runny. Turn heat off and keep aside until it cool completely.
Making the dough
Place four in a bowl and add water, a little at a time, and make a firm?ish dough. Knead it well. Leave it for 10 minutes and knead a little again. Keep it covered with a moist cloth/handkerchief.
Making the Kachories
Divide dough into small portions to make golf size balls.
Flatten each ball between your oiled palms.
Place a teaspoon of the dal mix in the centre of each flattened ball, pull edges together and make it into a ball again. Do not put too much filling, it will burst during rolling out and then absorb a lot of oil during frying. Make all balls and keep them covered with a moist cloth.
Heat oil in a wok or karahi. To check if it has reached correct temperature, drop a small pinch of dough in the oil, it should sizzle and float to the surface quickly but the oil should not be smoking. If it is smoking, it is too hot and will burn the kachauries before cooking them through. Turn heat down a little.
Grease one ball at a time with oil and roll it out to 5-6 inch diameter. You can do this in a ?poori? or a ?tortilla? press too.
Gently lift the kachauri and slide it into the hot oil from the side. If dropped from top, it can splash hot oil on your hand.
Once the kachauri floats to the surface, press it all over gently with a spatula, encouraging it to fluff up into a ball.
Fry on both sides until golden colour and a little crisp.
Serve hot with natural yoghurt (dahi) and Rasedar Aloo.
Notes
It is easier if you have two people making kachories, one rolling them out and other frying.
If you have a poori press, it makes the rolling out process easy.
Left over kachories freeze well for another day. Reheat on a hot griddle or tava or a frying pan until crisp on both sides.
