Besan Kachori

This time they puffed up. Each and every last one of them. And they were so crispy and crunchy, they were just right. Too bad, though. My husband's not going to come home tonight. He will just have to eat them tomorrow, re-heated in a microwave. Too bad.

Ingredients

For the covering

• 2 cups plain flour (maida)
• 1/2 cup semolina (rawa)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda bicarb
• salt to taste
• 3 tbsp hot clarified butter (ghee) or vegetable shortening (dalda)
• water  

For the stuffing

• 2 cups gram flour (besan)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
• 2 tsp coriander powder (dhania powder)
• 1 tsp dry mango powder (amchur)
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 3 tsp oil
• a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• 1 tsp sugar

First make the dough. Mix the plain flour and semolina with baking powder, soda bicarb and salt. Pile it up into a heap and make a deep well in the center. Pour hot ghee in this well and mix it all up. The flour should now look like bread crumbs.Mix water slowly to form a dough. The dough should be soft. Cover the dough with a damp muslin cloth and set it aside.

Now make the stuffing. Roast the cumin and fennel seeds and grind them to a powder. Roast gram flour till all its raw smell disappears. Now add all the dry spices except hing. Heat oil in a separate wok and add hing to it. Pour this oil into the besan and spice mixture. Add salt and sugar and a little water to make it moist.Just a little sprinkle of water should be enough.

Cool the stuffing mixture and divide into small portions. Make balls of each portion. Make equal number of dough balls.

Heat oil in a deep wok for deep frying. Now roll a dough ball into a thin diskette. Place the stuffing ball in the center of the diskette. Bring up the edges together and press them together firmly. Now press the ball slightly and roll it again carefully into a diskette about 5 mm in thickness.

Deep fry the kachoris till they are golden brown. Fry on medium heat for five to seven minutes so that the kachoris become crunchy or "khasta".

Happy Cooking!