Pyaaz kachori finds its roots in Jodhpur city of Rajasthan state (India). This is a very popular snack and available in many Rajasthani snack/food joints in India. Steaming hot spicy Pyaaz Kachori, with rounded shape is a burst of flavors. Usually these joints serve these kachoris with khatti-meethi (sweet-sour) chatneys but I am adding a twist and serving them as ”Pyaaz Kachori Chaat”. So go ahead and give your chaat craving taste buds another reason to be delighted. The best thing is that the Ingredients used in the recipe are commonly available in every Indian kitchen and doesn’t need any preparations in advance.

Ingredients:

Ingredients for Dough:

• 1-1/2 Cups- All-purpose flour (Maida)
• 2 tablespoons- Clarified butter (Ghee) or Oil
• 2 teaspoons- Carom seeds (Ajwain)
• 1 teaspoon-Salt or as per taste

Ingredients for Filling and Frying:

• 1 Cup- Chopped onion (kate hue pyaaz)
• 2 tablespoons- Gram flour (Besan)
• 1- Boiled potato small (Ubla hua aalo)
• 2 to 3 – Finely chopped Green chilli (Barik kati hui hari Mirch)
• 2 teaspoons- Ginger paste (Adrak ka paste)
• 1 tablespoon- Fennel seeds (Saunf)
• ½ tablespoon- Coriander seeds (Khada Dhaniya)
• 1 tablespoon- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 teaspoon- Red Chili powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 2 teaspoons- Dry Mango Powder (Amchoor powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon – Asafoetida (Hing)
• 1 to 2 tea spoons- Sugar (Shakkar)
• ¼ cup- Finely chopped coriander (Barik Kata hua Hara dhaniya)
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for filling and frying.

Ingredients for garnishing:

• 2 tablespoons- yogurt/ Curd (Dahi )
• 2 teaspoons- sugar (Shakkar)
• 1/4 cup- water (Pani)
• Tamarind and date chutney
• Mint-coriander chutney
• Chat Masala
• Nylon sev

Method:

The entire cooking process for Pyaaz Kachori, is divided into following four steps:

1. Dough Preparation:

• Take all-purpose flour, Carom seeds (crushed between palms) and salt (½ teaspoon or as per your taste) in a bowl and mix well.
• Now add ghee in flour and mix with your fingertips until you get crumbling texture.
• Add water in parts and knead a soft dough.
• Let the dough rest while covered for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Filling Preparation:

• Heat a pan and dry roast Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds and fennel seeds . Once roasted, coarsely grind in a grinder and keep the spice mix aside.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add spice mix, asafoetida, ginger paste, chopped green chilies. Roast everything for a minute.
• Add chopped onion and salt in masala mix. Give it a good mix and cook it for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Now add coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder. Mix everything and cook for another minute.
• Now add gram flour, mash boiled potato and sugar in the filling mixture for 2 more minutes, add dry mango powder and sprinkle chopped Coriander, mix and keep it aside to let it cool down.

3. Stuffing and Frying:

• Smooth the dough and divide it into equally small sized balls.
• Take a ball and flatten with your fingertips or roll it into a shape of “Poori” with the help of rolling pin. Keep the edges thin.
• Now place the small amount (approximately a tablespoon or according to the size of your Poori) of stuffing mixture on the flattened dough. Bring the edges of the dough together and join it (Remove or pinch off the excess dough). Press the stuffed Kachori gently with the help of palms.
• Make all the Kachoris as the process mentioned in the previous step. Keep Kachoris covered to avoid getting cracks from being dried.
• Heat oil in a deep pan/Kadhaai for frying. Keep the heat on low. When the oil is hot enough for frying (to check whether the oil is perfectly hot, first drop a pinch of dough).
• Carefully slide the Kachoris one by one into the frying pan. Once the Kachoris start puffing and the color changes to slightly golden from the one side then gently flip them over.
• Fry the Kachoris until they become golden and crispy from both sides. Turn them often and regulate temperature from low to low-medium as required to get even color and crispy texture.
• Take out Kachoris on kitchen towel/absorbent paper to remove excess oil.
• Fry all Kachoris as per the process explained above.

4. Garnishing & Serving:

• Take yogurt in a bowl add 1 to 2 tea spoons of sugar and water. Mix it with the help of whisk into a smooth batter like consistency.
• Take a serving plate/bowl, crack the top of the kachori , now top it with yogurt, tamarind-date chutney, mint-coriander chutney and sev. Sprinkle some chat masala over it and serve hot.

Note: You can also enjoy these Kachoris without toppings as a tea-time snack.

“Indori Patties” is a super delicious and a unique street food from Indore (M.P.) which is known for its richness in food and snack varieties. This dish is so rare that if you are not from Indore or haven’t visited it ever then there is good chance that you haven’t even heard of this dish. Don’t confuse this patties with the usual veg-puffs which are available in most places and called patties because “Indori Patties” is completely different in the way it looks, is made and tastes. If you want to surprise your family and friends with an uncommon but awesome dish, “Indore Patties” could be your to-go recipe. I am sure you would like to add this in your cookbook. Good luck and happy cooking!!

Ingredients:

• 2 – Medium sized boiled Potatoes (Ubale huye Aloo)
• 1 table spoon – Corn flour (Makke ka atta) / all-purpose flour (Maida)
• 1 – Slice of bread
• 3 table spoons – Grated dry coconut/ desiccated coconut powder (Khopre ka Boora)
• 1 table spoon – Roasted peanut powder (Bhuni huyi Moongfali ka powder)
• 1 tea spoon – Ginger and green chilli paste (Adrak aur hari Mirch ka paste)
• 2 tea spoons- Lemon juice (Nimboo ka ras)
• ½ tea spoons- Red chilli powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 table spoon- Chopped Raisins (Barik kati hui kishmish)
• 1 table spoon- Chopped Cashew nuts (Barik kate hue Kaju)
• Salt (as per taste)
• Oil for frying

Method:

The entire cooking process, is divided into following three steps:

1. Patties Dough:

• Take boiled potatoes, remove the skin and mash/grate finely.
• Add corn flour, crumbled bread slice and salt (as per taste) into mashed potatoes and knead into a smooth dough.

Note: You can use 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs instead of slice of bread if your boiled potatoes are too sticky.

2. Patties Filling:

• Take dry coconut powder in a bowl and add lemon juice, ginger green chilli paste, peanut powder, red chilli powder, cashew nuts, raisins and salt into it and mix all ingredients well.

3. Stuffing and Frying Patties:

• Now take small ball of potato dough, flatten it softly with your fingertips.
• Place coconut mixture in it and enclose all sides and make round ball out of it.
• Repeat this process with remaining mixture.
• Heat oil in a frying pan/kadhaai. Deep fry these balls in batches on low-medium heat until they become golden brown evenly.
• Take out these balls on an absorbent paper/kitchen towel to remove excess oil and serve hot with date-tamarind chutney and green chutney.

Today’s recipe ‘Poha Cutlet’ is an interesting variation of usual cutlets. It uses ‘Poha’ as one of the main ingredients and gives a deliciously different flavour from the usual taste. It can be used both as an evening snack or an appetizer. You can either shallow fry with little oil or you can use an air fryer for a healthier cooking. The ingredients are easily available and the cooking method is quite straightforward. Optionally, you can also add other vegetables of your choice like peas, beans, corn etc. So here it goes…

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup- Thick Poha
• Medium sized boiled and mashed potatoes (Aloo)
• ½ Cup- Finely chopped onion (Barik Kati Hui Pyaz)
• ¼ Cup- Finely chopped capsicum (Barik Kati Hui Shimla Mirch)
• ¼ Cup- Grated carrots (Kisi Hui Gajar)
• ½ Cup- Finely chopped coriander leaves (Hara Dhaniya)
• 1 tablespoons- Garlic and ginger paste (Adrak- lehsun paste)
• 2- Chopped green chillies ( Barik Kati Hui Hari Mirch)
• 1 teaspoon- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 teaspoon- Red chilli powder ( Lal Mirch powder)
• ¼ teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi)
• 1 teaspoon- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Cumin powder (Jeera powder)
• ½ teaspoon- Black pepper powder (Kali Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoons- Black salt (Kala Namak)
• 2 teaspoons- Chat masala
• ½ Cup- Breadcrumbs
• 1½ tablespoons- Oil
• Salt (as per taste)

Method :

• Wash poha two to three times with clean water. Leave it in water for a minute and then drain excess water and keep it aside for 5 minutes. After this process poha will become very soft.
• Take a big bowl, add soaked poha, mashed potatoes, finely chopped onion, capsicum, grated carrots, chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chillies, garlic-ginger paste, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chat masala, black pepper, black salt, turmeric powder and salt.
• Mix everything altogether very well. Taste the mix; you can add more salt and spices as per your taste.
• Take a small portion of a mix and give it a shape as you want.
• Coat your cutlets with breadcrumbs.

Now, you are ready to fry your cutlets. You can either shallow fry it or use an air fryer. Process for both frying methods are given below:

1 – Using pan or griddle:

• Take a pan or griddle, brush it with some oil and let it heat.
• Place the poha cutlets on the pan or griddle, cook for 2-3 minutes on the low Medium flame.
• Brush some oil on the cutlets and flip the cutlets upside-down once they turn slightly golden, repeat the process until it cooks completely (becomes golden brown and crispy) from both the sides
• Once cooked, take the cutlets out on a kitchen paper towels/absorbent paper.
• Serve poha cutlet hot with mint-coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.
• Refer pictures in top strip of below picture (Poha Cutlets – Frying Methods) for reference.

2 – Using air-fryer:

• Brush oil on each side of breadcrumbs coated cutlets and place them in air-fryer.
• Set air-fryer at 320°F (160°C) for 10 minutes.
• Once fried open it and flip the cutlets and again fry them for 8 more minutes at the same temperature.
• Serve poha cutlet hot with mint-coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.
• Refer pictures in bottom strip of above picture (Poha Cutlets – Frying Methods) for reference.

Please post your experience or any feedback in comments section. Thanks.

As the saying goes, “Well begun is half done”. This also applies to a multi-course meal. Starters or appetizers play an interesting part of the meal as they not only stimulate the hunger but they also give a great start to your menu.

Today’s dish “Honey Chilli Potato” is an Indo-Chinese preparation. This popular starter is a combination of sweet, spicy and tangy flavours and can be used a snack by itself. The fried potatos marinated with sauce along with the sprinkling of sesame seeds give a nice crispy and crunchy texture from outside however it’s very smooth from within. Moreover, Spring Onions adds a gush of freshness to your taste buds. Without any further adeu, let’s get to the recipe. Happy cooking!!

Ingredients:

• 5- Medium sized potatoes (Aloo)
• 5 or 6- Spring onions (Hari Pyaz)
• 2 tablespoon- Corn flour (Makke ka atta) or all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon- Rice flour (Chawal ka atta)
• 2 teaspoons- Red Chilli flacks
• 2 teaspoons- Honey (Shahad)
• 1 tablespoons- Sesame seeds (Safed til)
• ½  tablespoon- Vinegar (Sirka)
• 1 tablespoon- Chilli sauce
• 1 tablespoon- Tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon- Soya sauce
• 5 or 6- Garlic cloves (Lehsun)
• 1 inch- Ginger (Adrak)
• 2-Green chilli (Hari Mirch)
• Oil
• Salt (as per taste)

Method :

I have broken down the full process into multiple steps to make it easy to follow:

Step-1 (Preparation)

• Finely chop garlic and ginger.
• Slice green chillies lengthwise.
• Split the Spring onion into green and white portions, chop them separately and keep them aside.
• Dry roast sesame seeds.
• Dilute 1 tablespoon cornflour in 2 spoons of water and make it a paste.
• Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into wedges (lengthwise as french fries)^*.

Step-2 (Potato Wedges)

• Soak potato wedges in cold water for 5 mins. Drain and pat dry with the absorbent paper or kitchen towels.
• Boil 4 cups of water and add 2 teaspoon salt and potato wedges, cook for 3-4 minutes on high flame.
• Take out boiled potato wedges in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon corn flour, 1 tablespoon rice flour and some salt. Toss everything together gently so that wedges get a coat of flours.
• To make wedges crispy, we need to fry them twice; Heat oil in kadai or frying pan. Deep fry potato wedges^# in batches, on low-medium flame till the colour changes to slightly golden. Take them out on an absorbent paper.
• Fry potato wedges again in the same oil on high-medium flame till the colour changes to golden brown. Your potato wedges are done, take out on an absorbent paper and keep them aside.

Step-3 (Sauce)

• Heat 1½ tablespoons of oil in another pan add chopped ginger, garlic and sliced green chillies. Sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the chopped white portion of the spring onions and sauté for one more minute. Now add soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and Vinegar, mix well.
• Add corn-water paste into the pan and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add half of the chopped green portion of spring onion (keep the other half for garnishing) and honey and sauté for a minute. Your sauce is ready.

Step-4 (Final step)

• Add fried potato wedges into the sauce and mix well. Now add roasted sesame seeds and sprinkle some chilli flacks, give everything a nice mix.
• Transfer in a serving plate and garnish it with green spring onions. A tangy and flavorful appetizer is ready to serve hot.

Note:
*- To save time, you can also use frozen potato wedges readily available in the market.
#- For a healthier cooking, you can choose to air-fry or bake the potatoes instead of deep frying.