It's Rimjhim Gire Sawan season and time to bring on the wonderful fried snacks.
Chef Pavan Patel offers Pyaz Ki Kachoris -- or plump, flaky maida puris -- stuffed with spicy onion filling.
Pavan also elevates the humble green chilly by stuffing it with seasoned mashed potatoes, dipping it in a batter of rice and besan, and then deep frying it to yield crunchy Mirchi Vadas.
Pyaz Ki Kachoris
Serves: 5
- 250 gm maida or all-purpose flour
- 5 gm ajwain or carom seeds
- 3 tbsp oil for making the maida dough + 2 tsp more oil for frying the onions + oil for deep frying
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- Water to knead the maida dough
- 2 large onions, chopped fine
- 2 medium-sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
- 50 gm besan or chickpea flour
- Pinch hing or asafoetida
- 10 gm whole dhania or coriander seeds, crushed
- 8 gm chilly powder
- 5 gm haldi or turmeric powder
- 5 gm chaat masala
- 2 gm garam masala powder
- 2-3 green chillies, chopped fine
- 5 gm black salt
- Handful sev, to garnish
- Tamarind chutney, to serve
- Fried green chillies, to serve
Method
- In a bowl, knead a stiff dough by combining the maida, 1-2 tsp oil, ajwain, some salt and as little water as possible.
Cover and keep aside.
- Heat 3 tbsp oil in a kadhai or heavy-bottomed frying pan.
Saute the chopped onions and the green chillies.
Add the besan and cook till it turns slightly reddish and does not burn.
Add the crushed coriander seeds and fry 1 minute more.
Add the chilly powder, turmeric powder, chaat masala, garam masala.
Add the mashed potatoes.
Add a pinch of hing.
Mix well and check seasoning.
Add the black salt and mix.
Take off heat.
Cool.
- Make small balls of the maida dough and roll them into 3-inch circles.
Add 1 tbsp of the onion-potato mixture into the centre and bring the ends together to seal the kachori.
Repeat the process until all the filling mixture is used up.
Press each kachori with your palm to slightly flatten.
- In a kadhai, heat oil over medium-hight heat for deep frying the kachoris.
Fry the kachoris in batches till crisp and golden.
Drain excess oil and transfer onto a tissue or a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve hot, with sev sprinkled on top and with tamarind chutney and fried green chillies.
Editor's Note: Maida should be substituted with oat flour and up the onions and reduce the potatoes to make these kachoris a wee bit healthier. Kachoris can be baked in a oven for 15-20 minutes to serve an oil-free version.
Enjoy these Pyaz Ki Kachoris with Hitesh Harisinghani's Dalgona Coffee.
Mirchi Vadas
Serves: 5
Ingredients
- 3 small or 2 medium-sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
- 10 gm jeera or cumin powder
- 5 gm ajwain or carrom seeds
- 5 gm red chilly powder
- 10 gm dhania or coriander powder
- Pinch aamchur or dry mango powder
- 10 ml tamarind pulp
- 12 bhajji chillies or Bhavnagri chillies
- 250 gm besan or chickpea flour
- 50 gm rice flour
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
- Mint chutney, to serve
- Tamarind chutney, to serve
Method
- Boil, peel, and mash the potatoes in a large bowl.
Add the chilly powder, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, tamarind pulp, aamchur powder.
Mix well.
Adjust the seasoning.
Keep aside.
- In a bowl, mix the besan flour and the rice flour.
Add the ajwain.
Add enough water to make a thick yet flowing slurry -- it should be lump free.
- Make a slit in the middle of each chilly keeping the edges intact.
Stuff with the potato mixture.
- Heat oil in a kadhai or frying pan.
Dip the stuffed chillies in the slurry and deep fry until golden and crispy.
Drain excess oil and transfer onto a tissue or a paper towel-lined plate.
Serve with mint chutney and tamarind chutney.
Editor's Note: Bhavnagri chillies are large, fat long chillies that are generally less spicy than regular chillies used in cooking.
Tuck into Mirchi Vadas along with piping hot masala chai. Whip up Durga Shakti Nagpal's Masala Chai.
Chef Pavan Patel is the executive chef at Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd, near Fort Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan.