Kachoris -Gluten free - Moong Dal

MOONG DAAL KACHORI- -FRIED FLAKY PUFF PASTRIES -STUFFED WITH MOONG DAAL PASTE AND SPICES MIXTURE
Moong Daal Kachori is one of my favorite snacks. Its also the most famous street food of North India, prevalent in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. 

 Kachoris are Indian-style Fried flaky puff pastries stuffed with different types of savory or sweet stuffings.
 What is KHASTA KACHORI ?
Khasta means crisp and flaky. These stuffed kachoris are very crisp and stay like this for a long time. Mostly they are loaded with soaked and coarsely ground moong or urad dal (white lentil ). I choose moong dal here because I like the flavor better. 

 Eating Kachoris in India with my baby brother brings back many fond memories, and even now, when I go, I indulge in these almost daily ( don't tell anyone).
My hometown Ajmer, Rajasthan, serves this with a curry (spicy water and chickpea-based curry ). OMG, ITS HEAVEN in one bite.

 My love of Kachoris is now shared with my daughter, and she frequently requests me to make them. I used to make them traditionally with all-purpose flour. Still, my husband was always left out, so I decided to play around a little bit with different gluten-free flour, and again GF by Jules was a winner, so that's what I recommend if you are making these for the first time. I have had success with 1-1 bobs mill flour, too, but I still prefer the first one. 

 Serve these kachoris with the date and tamarind chutney, readily available in Indian stores. We also like to eat it chat-style by topping these with yogurt, chopped onion, a little chat masala,namkeen, and chutneys to finish. 

 The recipe can be tedious, but it is well worth the work and follows the instructions the first time. I hope you try this soon. Enjoy!!
  

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS

For Dough

2 cups gluten free 1-1 all-purpose flour 
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup olive oil
 ½ cup water or add as required

For Lentil Stuffing

 ½ cup moong dal - washed and soaked for 2 hours .
 ½ tablespoon olive oil 
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
 ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
 ½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon dry ginger powder 
1 teaspoon coriander powder
 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur powder)
  1 teaspoon or as required



oil for deep frying

Directions

INSTRUCTIONS

Preparing the Dough for the Kachoris 

1 Take 2 cups all-purpose flour gluten-free and salt in a bowl. Mix them well. 

2 Add ¼ cup olive oil 

3 With your fingertips, mix the oil with the flour for a few minutes till you get a breadcrumb-like texture.

4 Add water in parts and knead the dough till soft. 

5 Cover the dough with a moist muslin or wet paper towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Making the Moong Dal Stuffing

1 Rinse ½ cup moong dal in a bowl. Soak moong dal with enough water for 2 hours.

2 Later, drain all the water and add the soaked moong lentils to a food processor.

3 Grind to a coarse mixture.

4 Heat a flat bottom pan. Add ½ tablespoon oil.

5 Once the oil is warm, turn the flame to the low

6 Add all the spice powders one by one.

7 Keep the flame to its lowest and mix very well. Make sure that the spices do not burn.

8 Then add the coarsely ground moong dal. Also, add salt and 1 pinch of asafetida.

9 On a low flame, mix everything very well.

10 Sauté and stir non-stop for 3 to 4 minutes on a low flame. 

11 Check the taste, and if required, you can add more spice powders like red chili powder and mango powder or salt. Let the mixture cool down.

12 Now make small balls from this moong dal mixture. You can also spread some oil on your palms while making the balls. Keep aside. 

Assembling the Kachoris

1 After 30 minutes, lightly knead the dough. 

2 Roll the dough into a log. Now cut the dough into equal portions. I had about 10 equal portions 

3 Take a piece of the cut dough and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a 5-inch tortilla

4 Now, place the moong dal stuffing ball on the dough. 

5 Bring the edges of the dough together and join them at the center. Excess dough can be pinched off and removed.

6 Flatten the top and then gently roll the kachori with a rolling pin to get a medium thickness kachori. 

7 Carefully not breaking the kachoris 

8 Stuff and prepare all kachori this way. 

9 Line them on a baking tray lined with aluminum foil.

Very Important ::: For the gluten-free dough to fry well and the kachoris to not break, stick the prepared kachoris on a baking dish and in the oven at 350 for 15 min. They will give it a nice crust, and the chances of them breaking are very slim.

For Frying 

Take the kachoris out from the oven 

1 Heat oil for frying and keep the flame to a low. 

2 When the oil is just hot enough, you can add the kachoris. 

3 When the kachori starts puffing up, then gently nudge each kachori with a spoon so that they puff up nicely. 

4 When the base becomes lightly golden, then gently turn them over. The frying takes about 7 to 9 minutes.

5 One has to be patient with these kachoris 

6 Continue to fry on a low to low-medium flame till they become golden. While frying, you can turn them often to get an even color. 

7 Regulate the temperature from low to low-medium as required. 

8 Fry till they become golden and nicely crisp from outside. 

9 Place the moong dal khasta kachori on kitchen paper towels so that excess oil is absorbed.

10 Fry all kachori this way. 

11 Serve kachori warm, accompanied with some tamarind dates chutney and green chutney. You can also make chat out of these by adding vegan yogurt, chopped onion, and namkeen on top.