Matar Kachori, How to make Matar Kachori

Matar kachori recipe with step by step pics

Matar Kachoris is a flaky and crisp Indian pastries stuffed with spiced and mashed peas. During winter, matar kachoris are nice warm breakfast, especially in North Indian states, where it is a well-known street food. We can also have it as a brunch or evening snack.

If you are making Jain recipe, skip adding ginger to the stuffing and follow rest of the recipe. 

Step by step matar kachori recipe below: 

1. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Add oil and combine them well to form a bread crumb like mixture.
   
2. Now add water and knead soft dough. Kachori dough need not be kneaded much. As soon as the flour combines into dough, stop kneading and cover it and keep it aside for about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile you can make stuffing.
4. Coarsely or semi coarsely grind the peas and green chilies in a grinder.
   
5. Take oil in a pan and heat it. Add cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once it starts spluttering, add fennel powder, coriander powder, grated ginger.
   
6. Add ground peas, salt and stir the mixture for about 3-4 minute.
    
7. Now add red chili powder, garam masala, dry mango powder and coriander leaves. And sauté it for 2 more minutes.
   
8. Check the seasoning and add some more spice powders or salt, if required. Turn off the heat and keep it aside.
   
9. Now in a frying pan take oil and heat it.
10. Make equal sized 10-12 balls from the dough.
11. Take one dough ball and roll it into 3-4 inches diameter disc with a rolling pin or using your palms and finger flatten the ball.
12. Place the matar (peas) filling in the center of the disc. Bring together the edges in the center and join them. Then press them downwards towards the center. This step is much like the way we do for stuffed parathas. Make sure there are no gaps in the kachori.
13. Flaten the kachori gently using you palms into a 3-4 inches disc. You can also roll using rolling pin, but do very gently as otherwise the kachori covering breaks. Likewise prepare rest of the kachoris.
    
14. Cover all the prepared kachori with a kitchen napkin and keep it aside. Once oil is ready, slide them gently into it. The oil should not be very hot nor should be at low heat, but medium hot. Read the tips for getting the right temperature while frying kachoris.
    
15. The kachoris would start puffing up.
    
16. Fry the kachoris till they become golden brown and flaky from both the sides.
    
17. Drain the kachoris on tissues to remove excess oil.
    

Matar Kachori recipe below:

Matar Kachori Prep time Cook time Total  10 min 20 min  30 min Crisp Kachori stuffed with spiced Peas masala. AUTHOR: Monali RECIPE TYPE: breakfast, snack CUISINE: North Indian SERVES: 12 Kachoris INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup=240 ml) 2 cup whole wheat flour/all-purpose flour/maida (or both in equal proportion) ½ tsp salt ½ tsp baking powder 2 tbsp. oil ½ cup warm water or as required For Stuffing- 1 cup green peas (frozen or fresh) 1-2 green chili, chopped 1 tsp ginger, grated 1-2 pinch of asafoetida/hing ½ tsp cumin seeds/jeera 1 tsp fennel powder/sauf powder 2 tsp coriander powder/dhania powder ¼ tsp red chili powder ½ tsp garam masala ¼ tsp dry mango powder 1 tsp coriander leaves/cilantro/dhania patta, chopped ½ tsp salt or as per taste 1 tbsp. oil to make stuffing Oil for frying kachoris DIRECTION Sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Add oil and combine them well to form a bread crumb like mixture. Now add water and knead soft dough. Kachori dough need not be kneaded much. As soon as the flour combines into dough, stop kneading and cover it and keep it aside for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile you can make stuffing. Coarsely or semi coarsely grind the peas and green chilies in a grinder. Take oil in a pan and heat it. Add cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once it starts spluttering, add fennel powder, coriander powder, grated ginger followed by ground peas. Add salt and stir the mixture for about 3-4 minute. Now add red chili powder, garam masala, dry mango powder and coriander leaves. And sauté it for 2 more minutes. Check the seasoning and add some more spice powders or salt, if required. Turn off the heat and keep it aside. Now in a frying pan take oil and heat it. Make equal sized 10-12 balls from the dough. Take one dough ball and roll it into 3-4 inches diameter disc with a rolling pin or using your palms and finger flatten the ball. Place the matar (peas) filling in the center of the disc. Bring together the edges in the center and join them. Then press them downwards towards the center. This step is much like the way we do for stuffed parathas. Make sure there are no gaps in the kachori. Flaten the kachori gently using you palms into a 3-4 inches disc. You can also roll using rolling pin, but do very gently as otherwise the kachori covering breaks. Likewise prepare rest of the kachoris. Cover all the prepared kachori with a kitchen napkin and keep it aside. Once oil is ready, slide them gently into it. The oil should not be very hot nor should be at low heat, but medium hot. Read the tips for getting the right temperature while frying kachoris. The kachoris would start puffing up. Fry the kachoris till they become golden brown and flaky from both the sides. Drain the kachoris on tissues to remove excess oil.   TIPS For making any flaky pastry the proportion of flour to oil is important. Keep the dough covered with a napkin all the times. Next comes the frying, too hot oil won’t allow the dough to get flaky resulting in a crisp exterior with uncooked interiors and filling. Too warm oil would end up the dough soaking a lot of oil and result would be an oil pastry. To check the temperature before frying, add a small piece of dough to the oil, if it comes steadily to the surface, then the oil is ready. If the dough comes quickly, the oil is, so lower the heat. If it takes a lot of time to come, then the oil is not ready. Increase the heat. A point to be remembered is that when you add the kachoris to the hot oil, the temperature of the oil does get lowderd naturally, so accordingly increase a bit of heat. The spices in the filling can be adjusted as per your preference. If mango powder is not available, then add some lemon juice instead. You can store the stuffing in an air tight container in refrigerator for about a week. Whenever you feel like eating, knead the dough and make the kachoris instantly J SERVING SUGGESTION Serve matar kachori hot with sweet date’s chutney and coriander chutney. You can also serve it with pomegranate chutney or rasedar aloo sabji.