Hing ki Kachori/ Hing kachori

Name is Hing Kachori/ hing ki kachori, but there is no big part is taken by hing/ asafoetida in this dish. Basically it is spicy urad dal mix stuffed poori with some amount of hing added.  

It was about 5-6 years back while I was working for a software firm, we used to have nice time during lunch break with 4 of us. Our group had one from Kolkata, one from Kashmir & other ‘re from Karnataka. We were usually discussing about food and I learnt few dishes including Thai salads then. One of the dish I have heard for the first time was this Hing kachori. It was in my to-do since then, but somehow I could not try it! May be due to the reason I am not well versed with stuffing things, I avoid even stuffed parotas. Recently I tried it and it is not as difficult as I imagined. It turned to be delicious too. I served it with stuffed tomatoes/ bharwan tamatar. Used urad dal here, I guess it can be made with tur dal  as well. Yet to try that out!

Preparation time: 6 hours

Cooking time: 30 -45 minutes

Serves: 16 medium pooris.

Ingredients:

Urad dal – ½ cup

Ginger – ¼ inch

Green chillis – 1-2

Fennel seeds/ saunf – 1 tsp (optional), good to have

Salt – 1 tsp

Sugar – 1 tsp

Asafotida/ hing – ¼ tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp, adjust according to your taste

Chilli powder – ½ tsp, adjust according to your taste

Maida/ all purpose flour/ wheat flour – 2 cups, I used (1+1 wheat & maida)

Cooking oil – 3 tsp + for deep frying

Method:

• Wash & soak dal for 5-6 hours.
• Once done, drain water, wash once again with clean water.
• Take green chilli, ginger, fennel seeds in a mixie jar. Grind to make smooth paste.
• Add soaked dal to the same jar. Add garam masala, chilli powder, ½ tsp salt, sugar. Grind coarsely. If required you can sprinkle little water, not too much.
• Heat a pan with 2 tsp oil. Add asafoetida/ hing. Add ground paste, fry it until it is bit dry.
• Switch off the heat, set aside to cool down.  This is our stuffing.
• Now, in a wide mixing bowl add maida and wheat, little salt and 1 tsp oil. Knead to make soft poori dough by adding water as required.
• Keep it covered for 15 minutes.
• Divide dal mix into equal sized balls (about gooseberry sized).
• Similarly, divide poori dough into equal number of balls.
• Heat oil (2 cups) in a frying pan.
• Roll wheat ball to make thick small poori, place one dal ball on it, cover it to stuff properly. Roll again to make poori of medium thickness which is evenly pressed all over.
• Fry poori in hot oil, flipping in between to cook both sides. Remove from oil when it turns golden brown. Use medium flame for frying.
• Same way, finish off all the balls.
• Serve hot poori/ kachori with choice of side dish.