4.4/5 rating (9 votes)

Rajasthani Muttar Kachori

Spiced Pea Pasty

  • Heat Medium
  • Serves 6
  • Dietary Info LACTOSE-FREE
  • Prep 20 mins
  • Cook 10 mins

Spiced pea pastry - Indian style

Hari says

This is a classic snack dish from India usually bought from outdoor food dubba's or street stalls. They are served as snacks dishes with a tangy chickpea chaat, spicy chutneys and some tangy yoghurt. 
The textures are really quite special and the quantity of oil you add to the flour to make the crust is really important in getting the crispiness right. The vibrant green soft 'mushy pea' centre and the crisp outer crust work so well togther and with all the delicious chutney's this is a taste explosion.

You can fill these pastries will all kinds of different spiced fillings so try something different either spiced onions, potatoes, meat or even spiced lentils. In this recipe I have included the pea and an onion filling for you to try. This mixture should make about 20 kachori - let me know what you think.

  • Ingredients
  • Method

Pastry

  • 400g plain flour
  • 5 tbsp oil / ghee
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp carom seeds
  • 120ml (approx.) water to make the dough

For Green Pea Filling

  • 300g frozen green peas
  • 2 chopped green chillies
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • ½ tsp kalongi seeds
  • 2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • handful fresh coriander
  • salt to taste

For Onion Filling

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 tbsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 chilli, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp amchoor

Frying

  • oil for deep-frying

Method

The Crust

  1. Combine all the ingredients and knead into a semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead well for 4 to 5 minutes.
  2. Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes.
  3. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Keep aside.

Pea Filling

  1. Combine the green peas, green chillies and ginger and blend in a mixer to a coarse mixture without using any water. Keep aside.
  2. Heat the oil in a deep non-stick pan, add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves and green pea mixture and sauté on a slow flame for 6 to 7 minutes.
  3. Add the chilli powder, garam masala, coriander and salt, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 1 more minute, while stirring occasionally.
  4. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Divide the filling into 12 equal portions. Keep aside.

Onion Filling

  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the fennel seeds until they become aromatic.
  2. Add the onions and cook them until they start to brown. Stir in the chopped chilli, salt and amchoor powder.
  3. Once the onions are golden brown transfer them to a plate and leave to cool.

Making the Kachori

  1. Roll out a portion of the dough into a 6cm diameter circle.
  2. Place one portion of the green pea filling or onion filling in the centre of the rolled dough circle. Surround the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the the pastry closed.
  3. Using your fingers press out the pastry until its about 9cm in diameter, be really careful to keep the filling inside.
  4. Gently press the centre of the kachori with your thumb.
  5. Heat the oil in a deep karahai and deep-fry the kachori on a high heat for a few minutes then reduce the heat and continue to cook for another 5 minutes until they are golden brown in colour and crisp in colour.
  6. Serve immediately with a saunth imlee chutney.

Top tip:

The kachori should puff up but the dough is fairly thick so it needs time to cook all the way through.

Nutritional information

Typical values* per Serving
Calories232
Fat (g)11
of which saturates (g)0.8
Carbohydrates (g)29
of which sugars (g)1.9
Fibre (g)3.8
Protein (g)6.2
Salt (mg)0.82
*Based upon calculated values, supplied by myfitnesspal.com. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated.

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Comments

Comments (3)

  • RichardW

    11 March 2016 at 02:23 |
    Is it really "2 tbsp fennel seeds" for the Onion recipe?

    reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      11 March 2016 at 07:27 |
      Hi Richard I know it sounds like a lot doesn't it? It's heavily spiced so you get the flavour once the filling is encased inside the pastry and then fried. However, as with all recipes you have to cook them to your preference so if you feel that it's too much you can reduce it to 1 tbsp. Hope this helps, thanks so much for commenting. Hari

      reply

    • Hari Ghotra

      11 March 2016 at 07:27 |
      Hi Richard I know it sounds like a lot doesn't it? It's heavily spiced so you get the flavour once the filling is encased inside the pastry and then fried. However, as with all recipes you have to cook them to your preference so if you feel that it's too much you can reduce it to 1 tbsp. Hope this helps, thanks so much for commenting. Hari

      reply

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