Soya Beans and Lentil Kachori

I make Kachoris regularly and often improvise with slightly different fillings to make a change. My favourite are the baked lentil and green peas filled kachoris -. They are slightly healthier and you can taste all the spices a lot ore as they are baked. You can either deep fry or bake these too.

Ingredients : for 15 -20 kachoris depending on the size

1 cup of mixture of whole mung beans and split mung beans
2 cups of soya beans (I used Tescos’s frozen Soya beans)
1 red onion
a handful of spinach leaves (I used Tesco’s frozen leaf spinach)
A tablespoon of ginger paste
1 tsps cumin seeds
2 or 3 small sticks of cinnamon 3 or 4 cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder or pepper if you don’t like hot food
1-2 fresh green chilies (optional)
1 -2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 -2 tsp lemon juice – can adjust this after tasting the kachori mixture.
1-2 tsps of garam masala
3 cups of plain flour for making the kachori’s outer pastry.
Cooking oil: you will need some for the filling, some for the dough and some to brush on the kachoris if you are baking them. If you are frying them – you need enough cooking oil to be able to deep fry the kachoris. This would depend on the size of your frying pan.

Method:

1. Wash the mung and mung dall mixture and allow to soak for 15 minutes.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and add in the dry cumin, cloves and cinnamon. Remove the water from the lentils and add them to the oil. Also add in the frozen soya beans.

3. Add the salt, sugar, chili powder and ginger paste and half a cup of water. Stir and put the lid on and allow to cook gently on medium heat until the lentils and soya beans soften. Keep checking and add a couple of spoonfuls of water if the mixture isn’t cooked and sticking to the bottom.

4. Once the mixture is cooked, add the lemon juice and the garam masala to the mixture. Switch off the heat and cover the mixture for 10 minutes. Then transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Chop the coriander and onions finely and add to the cooked mixture. If you are using fresh green chilies then chop them finely and add them to the mixture. Stir and allow this to cool by spreading it on a large bowl or tray.

For the pastry:

5. 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 crispy and flaky. Using warm water, prepare the dough. The dough should be quite loose but not soggy and wet. Cover and allow the dough to rest.

For the assembling of the kachoris:

6. Divide the lentil filling into small balls (golf ball size) and the dough into very small balls (large marble size).

7. To make the kachoris, take one small ball of dough and roll it out n a small circle by pressing the dough with your fingers. Put the kachori filling in the middle of the circle. Picking the edge of the circle, try and join all the edges together to form a ball. Roll the pastry filled ball between your hands so that the lentil filling is sealed from all sides. Finish preparing all the kachoris in this way.

8. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F or gas mark 4). Brush the kachoris lightly with oil and put them in the oven for 20 minutes checking them once at 10 minutes and turning them over to allow for even cooking.

9. You can also deep fry the Kachori in hot oil. Once you add the kachori to the hot oil, turn the heat down and allow them to cook slowly until nice and golden brown.10. Serve the kachoris hot with chutney, ketchup and a cup of tea.