Rajasthani Pyaaz Ki Kachori - I Love My India Series

Continuing my exploration into famous tastes of Rajasthan in the I Love My India Series, today's feature is Pyaaz Ki Kachori aka Onion Kachoris.

There's this feeling I go through when I prepare foods like this kachori. Initially, because its a new dish that I haven't prepared before, the whole thing its intimidating. Then, I sit down, look at it objectively and go through the steps in my head - trying to compartmentalize it and break it down into smaller steps. Which makes it easier in my head. Good progress. And then I procrastinate for a while. Don't we all anyway? Just say yes and make me feel good. I know the truth. Then one day, I finally get to it - there's the food excitement brewing in my head now. And when I start the cooking, the fun kicks in. There's light at the end of this tunnel. I see it now. 

Shaping up these kachoris is a pretty thing. Like frosting a cupcake. Your heart wants to do it. And it brings joy when you see a perfectly fried kachori ..one that does not split open in the middle of frying...one that does not turn black while frying because you walked away to catch up on facebook...and one that does not limp and become an oily mess after it has been fried. Like I said, a perfect kachori brings joy. And so does losing 20 lbs in 3 months - but we'll talk about it when that happens too.

The most fun part of this recipe is all the exotic ingredients that go into it. I thought it would be easier to just show it to you rather than list it all here. So here I go yearbook style..

Top row has crushed coriander, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom.
Middle row has Poppy seeds, chopped garlic, chopped ginger and chopped green chilli (well, orange ones too)
Bottom row has saunf, ajwain and white sesame seeds.
Phew. I know. Is this not fun? Its like these little pieces of sparkle that go into the filling...take one bite at the final product and there's nothing but a great firework in your mouth. 

In a pan, add about 1-2 tsps of oil. When oil it hot, add all the spices above except the sesame seeds. Saute for a min.

Then, add about 2-3 cups of finely chopped onions and fry till they turn pink. Add salt to taste, turmeric powder and a pinch of asofoetida.

In a small bowl, take about 1/2 cup besan. Add pinch of salt, pinch of turmeric powder and some red chilli powder for a kick. Add water to this and make into a paste without any lumps.

When the onions are cooked, add the besan paste and mix well.

Cook this for about 5-8 mins until the raw smell of the besan is gone.

Add finely chopped cilantro and mix well.

Finally add the white sesame seeds and mix well.

The filling for the kachoris is ready. I think one of these days I'm just going to make this as a side dish for rotis.

Now on to the kachori covers. My kitchenaid of late has become my trusted lieutenant in the kitchen - I seem to use it almost everyday and many times its not been for baking. I use it regularly for roti atta and just about any paratha - its a breeze with this. I just dump atta in this and throw in all the other ingredients and in a couple of mins, my parathas are cooking on the tawa.

For the kachori dough, add about 2 cups maida, 1/4 cup butter (that's half a stick), and salt to taste. You could also use ghee instead of butter if that's easily available.

Add water little by little to make a soft dough. If you are mixing by hand, mix up all the butter well with the flour and then add water little at a time until you can knead into a soft dough.

So this is how a little ball of dough turns into a pretty kachori.

Here are a few ready for their oil bath.

Fry the kachori is hot oil but make sure the flame is in medium - the dough has to cook fully and turn golden.

Drain on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Serve them hot. If you are storing them, use a oven toaster for reheating or you could also use a tawa. Don't microwave to heat - that will just make it soggy. 

And now I'll just stop talking and let you all enjoy this. Go ahead, grab a bite.

Click here for a printable recipe for this post. 

Printable Recipe - Rajasthani Pyaaz Ki Kachori

Click here for more I Love My India: Rajasthan recipes. 

Papad Ki Sabji 

Dal Baati

Missi Roti and Gatte Ki Sabji

Enjoy. Peace Out!

I Love My India: Rajasthani Papad Ki Sabji

Rajasthan - the land of the kings has been home for so many kingdoms historically. These kingdoms have left their mark on Rajasthan by building beautiful forts and palaces. Have you thought about how life would have been living inside these forts, villages and palaces. What would people do for entertainment since movies and Ipad were just not there then? How was the education for kids - did they still have to carry a truckload of stuff on their backs while going to school? How would these people travel everywhere - on camelbacks? On horses? 

Well, one thing I do know is that they all enjoyed great food. Have you seen that thali of food that Aish serves Hrithik aka Akbar in Jodhaa Akbar. What a feast!

Continuing my experimenting with Rajasthani food, the next recipe I have here to share with you all is Papad Ki Sabji. This traditional dish can be compared to a kadi and is a really easy dish to prepare. And of course, there's that point of who would have thought to use papad in a curry? Well, someone did and I'm just glad they did. 

Recipe starts with about 2 cups of sour dahi (curds).

Add
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsps coriander-jeera powder
Salt to taste

                                                                               

Whisk it all well together.

Now on to the papads, I used the Lijjat style masala papad. You can use regular urad papadums or rice papads.

Now one style of cooking Papad Ki Sabji is to just add the raw papads in the dahi mix and cook it together.

You could also roast them like I did here or fry them in oil and then add them to the kadi. Totally your choice.

Now that my papads are ready, let's move on to making the kadi.

In a wide pan, add a tsp of oil and then when the oil is hot, add a tsp of jeera. And then add a cup of finely chopped onions. Fry till they turn pink.

Reduce the heat on the pan, and slowly mix in the dahi mixture a little at a time and at the same time keep stirring it so that the curds don't curdle or separate.

Cook this mix in low medium for about 5-10 mins.

Add the roasted papads to the dahi mix.

Mix well and let this cook for a couple of mins.

Add some water to the sabji so its not too thick. Let it cook in medium heat for a few mins.

Almost done here. Wasn't that easy?

I was out of fresh cilantro. But if you do have it, chop them up nice and add to the sabji.

Who would have thought you could make one delicious sabji with papads? I think I'm going to start adding papads to more dishes from now - like on a mixed vegetable curry, or a aloo gobi sabji. I'm sure these papads would add flavor, texture and interest to those dishes.

The papads taste soft but also a little firm because they were roasted initially. So they don't taste sloppy and slimy as I imagined it would. There is a definite bite to these papads that feels very good to your taste buds.
So, don't wait longer. Go start making this now.

And what would I eat those with? This simple Onion Paratha. 

This is not the traditional stuffed pyaaz ki paratha but rather a quick onion paratha. I learnt this from my Marwari friend Shantha who made this a few times when she was visiting me here. It became one of our favorites and when I need something simple and delicious, this is one that comes to mind immediately. We sometime just eat this with acchar and dahi. But of course, they taste better with Papad Ki Sabji. Thanks Shantha for introducing me to something that has been my dinner saver many a times!

Take about 2 cups of wheat flour (atta). Add about 1/2 - 1 cup of roughly chopped onions to the atta. I usually just add one medium onion chopped. Add salt to taste. 

Then, add about 2-3 tsps of oil to the atta.

Mix well to combine the onions and the oil with the atta.

Add warm water and knead into a dough.

Make medium sized balls out of the dough.

Roll into a thick paratha. Its hard to get a perfect round shape on these because of the big onion pieces. So try but if you can't get a perfect circle, don't fret. Its just the nature of the food.

On a hot tawa, cook the paratha both sides and then press down the paratha in a circle - what this does is that it makes it thin and crispy and the paratha thins out into a bigger sized paratha. You can add more oil if you want on both sides while cooking. But I usually don't since the atta already has oil in it.

And there are the simple and easy Onion parathas.

Serve hot with a bowl of Papad Ki Sabji!

Hope you enjoyed the post. I'll come back soon with another delicious Rajasthani dish.

Enjoy. Peace Out!