Kachoris with sprouted mug (sprouted lentil filled pastries)

I wrote my recipe for traditional kachoris a couple of years ago.  The recipe for making these kachoris is very similar but I have used slightly different ingredients.  I used sprouted green mung beans, dehusked mung dall and frozen peas for these kachoris.

Ingredients for 20 kachoris

• 1 cup of dehusked mung dall
• 1 cup of a sprouted mung beans
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• bunch of fresh coriander – finely chopped
• A tablespoon of  ginger paste
• 1.5 litres cooking oil:  you will need some for the lentil mixture, some for the dough and some for frying.
• 2 and half cups of plain flour for making the kachori’s outer covering
• 1 tsp of cumin
• 2 or 3 sticks of cinnamon
• 3 or 4 cloves
• 1  tsp. Salt
• 2 to 3 green chillies chopped finely (or less – depends on how hot you like your food!)
• 1 -2 tsp sugar or sugar substitute (optional)
• 1 -2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp of garam masala

Method

1. Wash the dehusked mung dall and allow to soak whilst you organize the ingredients for tempering.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil and add in the dry cumin, cloves and cinnamon

3. Strain the mung dall and add  to the oil – I usually use a long slotted spoon to gently add the lentils to the hot oil. Add in the sprouted mung beans and frozen peas.

4. Add the salt, sugar, chilly powder and  ginger paste.

5. Stir and  transferred the  kachori mixture to the microwave for 10 minutes, checked it, stir it and cooked it for a further 10 minutes.   My mixture was cooked in 20 minutes.  The lentils need to be cooked completely but also remain fairly dry so do not add any water to this mixture.

6. Once the mixture is cooked, add the lemon juice and garam masala to the mixture.

TIP: If for some reason, the lentils are cooked and you have added too much water – allow the water to evaporate.  You can add a couple of tablespoon’s of potato mash to soak up the extra moisture.

7. Add the finely chopped coriander and onions to the mixture and mix.

8. Spread the mixture on a tray to enable it to cool.

9. In the meantime, prepare the dough.  Sieve the dough and add in 4 tablespoons of oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Adding the bit of extra oil to the dough helps to make the outer pastry crisp but nice and flaky too.  Using warm water, prepare the dough and knead it for 5 minutes. The dough should not be too firm.  Cover and allow the dough to rest.

10. Once the kachori filling is cool enough to handle, divide the mixture into 20 small balls ( about half the size of a golf ball)

12.   Now take one ball of the dough and roll it out in a small circle.

13.  Put the kachori filling in the middle of the rolled out pastry.

14. Picking the edge of the circle, try and join all the edges together to form a ball. I tend to go round the circle joining up small bits of the outer circle.  The ball should be sealed from all sides or the mixture will leak out when frying.  Sprinkle some flour on a tray and save all the unfried kachoris on the tray.

15.  Heat the oil in a fryer, wok or something similar.    Once hot, add the kachoris. Turn the heat down and allow them to cook slowly until nice and golden brown.