Dal Kachori

 Holi is a Hindu  spring festival in India and Nepal. Holi Festival of colors and festival if sharing love. It  is the time for celebration and relishing yummy food. People make variety of snacks and sweets  on this day.   I used to love this festival as a kid. But in South India, there is no tradition of making special dishes on this day. But couple of my North Indian friends used to say that they cook variety of food on this day. Gujiya, Dahi Vade, Bhang pakoda, Dal kachori, thandai and many more.

Holi is still few weeks away, but my bloggers friends are celebrating bit early with these delicious dishes. Today on the 3rd day, week 3 of BM 73, I am here with Holi special dish Dal Kachori, under the theme " Valentines Special / Holi Special".

Dal Kachori is a delicacy of North India, these are spicy puffed pastry. I have used yellow pigeon peas here for the stuffing but you can use any kind of dal like, udad dal, moong dal etc....Here goes the recipe.....

Ingredients:

Maida / All purpose flour 1 cup
Oil / ghee / butter 2-3 spoons
Baking powder 1/4 spoon
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Stuffing  Ingredients:

Pigeon Peas 1/2 cup
Khus Khus / poppy seeds 1 spoon
Tamarind pulp 2 spoons
Jeera / Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Hing / Asafoetida  1/4 spoon
Green chilies chopped 2 spoons
Chili powder 1 spoon
Garam masala 1 spoon
Sugar 2 spoons
Salt to taste
Oil 2 spoons

Preparation:

Wash and soak dal  for 6- 7 hours.
Drain water and coarsely grind.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
Once the seeds splutter add  hing and  green chilies.
Saute for a minute and add dal, salt, chili powder, poppy seeds and garam  masala.
Add 1/4 cup of water, mix and let the dal cook completely.
Now add tamarind pulp  and sugar.

How to prepare dough:

Mix baking powder, oil and salt to maida.
Mix well and add water to make a stiff dough.
Cover and let rest for 15- 20 minutes.

Preparing Kachori:

Make small lemon size balls with dal mixture and dough.
Roll one dough ball flat and place the dal mixture ball in centre.
Wet the edges of the dough and bring the edges together to cover the filling completely.
Make sure to seal the edges properly.
Heat oil for deep frying.
Add 1 or 2 kachori's at a time to fry.
Fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with green chutney / ketchup or sauce.

Check to see what my fellow bloggers are cooking for BM 73.