Moong Dal Kachori

Festival, food and fun! Yes we had our biggest festival of the year, Diwali and our new year!
Sweets, savory and all yummy treats are still on my countertop. I was so busy with cooking and other chores that I didn't get the chance to write anything for the last three weeks so today I am overwhelmed with words lol where do I start?!

I love Diwali and New Year. I still remember from childhood that I loved to do Rangoli. Rangoli is an art you can do with all different materials. but traditionally it is done with colors. I found fine colorful sand from Michaels.  Also, I have made rangoli with lentils. I love it because when I do it I feel and get so much energy within me as well as divine and spiritual feelings around you!

I have made so many sweets delicacies and savory food. Today I am going to share this tempting traditional Indian recipe with you all.

Kachori is a spicy snack . Kachori is a round ball made of fine flour filled with yellow moong dal, green peas, pigeon peas, Khoya, urad daal or any kind of stuffing. It can be fried or baked. Its a tempting snack with spiciness . So many variations can be found in kachori.
I have made yellow moong daal kachori and green peas kachori. Today I am going to share the yellow moong dal kachori recipe.

Ingredients (makes 50):

Stuffing:

3 cups yellow moong dal
1 1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds (saunf/variali)
2 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon ginger paste
1 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon green chili paste
1 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon mango powder (amchur powder)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup  golden resins and chopped cashew nuts
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida ( hing)
Oil

Outer crust :

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup clarified butter (ghee) room temperature
2 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
chilled water




Procedure:

1. Wash yellow moong dal with water and soak in water for at least 3-4 hours. Make sure water should be 1 1/2 times more than the quantity of dal, so that the dal can soak in the water properly. You can add more if required.
2. After 4 hours, you can see dal is properly soaked and double in size. Drain water and add new water with 2 teaspoon of salt in dal and let it boil at medium heat.
3. Once dal is fully cooked in salty water, drain the excess water and let it cool down.
4. In another bowl mix all purpose flour, salt, cornstarch and whisk. 
5. Add ghee (clarified butter) and mix the flour until it becomes lump free.
6. Knead dough with chilled  water. Dough should be semi soft. Knead dough for 10 minutes and then cover it with cloth and set aside.
7. Drain the soaked moong dal. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and asafoetida.
8. When the seeds crackle, add the drained moong dal and sauté for a few seconds.
9. Add the ginger-green chilli paste, chilli powder, fennel seeds powder, garam masala, amchur powder, sugar, lemon juice and salt and stir for 5 to 7 minutes till the masalas are cooked.
10. Add sesame seed, chopped cilantro, cashew nuts  and raisins. Mix well and let it cool.
11. Grind filling mixture in to food processor for 30 seconds to get coarse consistency so it can be easily form the ball shape. 
12. Divide mixture into 60 equal portions. Shape each portion into an even sized round ball and keep aside. Depends on which size of kachori you want to make.
13. Roll out each portion of the dough into a  2' diameter circle.
14. Place one portion of the filling mixture in the centre of the rolled dough circle.
15. Surround the filling mixture with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling mixture.
16. Seal the ends tightly and remove any excess dough.
17. Make sure filling should not come out from outer layer.
18. Make rest of the kachoris with the remaining dough and filling.
19. Deep fry the kachoris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown .
20. Let them cool at room temperature and store in airtight container.
21. Serve with sweet and spicy, green chutney.

Rangoli

Spinach Dip

Spinach is the superpower of green leaves, nearly calorie - free , yet exploding with vital nutrients. 

Secret of Spinach: Vitamin A, C, K and folate , calcium, magnesium, beta carotene and fiber which help to fight against heart disease, weight loss, cancer, osteoporosis.    

Consuming Spinach every day with your breakfast, lunch or dinner will show you amazing changes in your health. 

My kid's favorite dip is spinach dip. They just loved it. There is no special trick in this dip but it still looks so fancy, inviting and tasty of course, thats why the kids are always asking me to make it. I have made few changes by adding radish in it to get natural spiciness and also for the contrast look with spinach.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 cup organic spinach chopped

1 radish grated 

125 grams Philadelphia Cream cheese  at room temperature 

1 stem of spring onion chopped 

1/4 cup sour cream (2% fat)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch of black pepper

1/8 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Procedure:

1. In medium mixing bowl, whip cream cheese until it becomes smooth.
2. Add sour cream in cream cheese and mix together until well incorporate and until no lumps of cream cheese appears.
3. Add salt, black pepper, lemon juice (optional) and give a stir. Mix well.
4. Now add chopped spinach, spring onion and grated radish into cheese mixture. Fold these veggies into cheese until well coated.
5. Serve as an appetizer with sourdough bread slices, crackers, pita chips, bread, or baguettes.

For the Health and nutrients information please visit :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tajLiakr3mU

Punjabi Chhole

Time to take a break from sweets so lets make something spicy! This is an all time favorite in our household. Who doesn't like chhole. Chhole is a Punjabi dish in Indian cuisine.
Chhole is white chickpeas made in a spicy gravy of green masala. Very authentic dish and tasty too. It can be served with bhatura, naan, rice, even with samosa and tikki... the choice is yours!

You can use ready made tin of pre boiled chickpeas from any supermarket. But I always have prefered to make everything from scratch.

But before I forget let me show you my darling daughter's outfit that I have designed for her for Navratri festival. In my last post I promised I will show you. I love to design clothes!

She looked stunning in this outfit.! Do you guys like it? Tell me :) Fashion and food never go wrong if you put your soul in it.

So come on lets make chhole!

Ingredients (serves 6):

1 1/2 cups white chickpeas

2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup onion chopped

3/4 cup tomato chopped to make paste

3 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon  green chili paste

1 tablespoon ginger paste

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)

1 tablespoon Coriander powder

1 tablespoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon Amchur powder (mango powder from MDH)

1 teaspoon Chana masala

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon jaggery

1 tablespoon chopped coriander

2 star anise

pinch of hing (Asafoetida)

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak chickpeas over night in warm water.
2. Next morning, pressure cook chickpeas with 1 teaspoon salt, 2 star anise and 2 1/2 cups water. If you don't have pressure cooker, then don't worry, you can boil them in a big pot with 4 cups of water, salt and star anise. Make sure you cover it with a lid and boil them for at least for 40 minutes until they become soft and tender.
3. If you have cooked them in pressure cooker, don't drain excess water from chick peas and same with the pot process. Excess water will help to make aromatic taste of authentic chhole and make gravy thick.
4. In a wide pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds.
5. Add hing and then onion. Saute chopped onion until translucent.
6. Add ginger paste and green chili paste and saute for 30 seconds.
7. Add chopped tomato paste and saute until oil separates from gravy (blend and make saucy paste of tomatoes) 
8. Now add salt,red chili powder, turmeric, coriander powder, jaggery, amchur powder and mix well in gravy and stir for 2-3 minutes
9. Now add chickpeas into gravy and stir for 7-8 minutes until gravy become thick.
10. Add chana masala and garam masala and stir again.
11. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with bhatura, rice, naan or paratha.

MDH Amchur Powder