Description
Kachoris are a delicious, crispy and flaky deep-fried Pakistani snack, and this is my Mom's Indo-Chinese take on them!
Ingredients
Dough
- 2.5 cups all purpose flour (325g)
- 4 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp salt
- 2/3 to 3/4 cup water, added a little at a time
- Cornstarch slurry: 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp cornstarch
Chicken & Veggie Filling:
- 2 cups shredded chicken (about 4 chicken tenders)
- 1 cup finely chopped bell pepper (about 1 large pepper)
- 1 cup grated carrots (about 2 small carrots)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 to 1 tsp red chili flakes
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce each
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp chili garlic sauce or ketchup
- 2 tbsp cream (any cream will work)
Assembly & frying:
- Oil for frying
- Sauce of choice to serve with (I like ketchup or chili garlic sauce)
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Mix the flour, ghee and salt in a bowl. Add water a little at a time and stop until there is enough to make a somewhat firm dough. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Cover, and set aside to rest
Make the filling:
- Prepare the shredded chicken and veggies if you haven't already
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the chicken, carrots, bell pepper, as well as all the spices. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes until the veggies start to soften
- Turn off the heat and taste the filling. Adjust as needed
- Add the chili sauce and cream and stir to combine
- Set aside the filling
Laminate the pastry:
- Prepare the cornstarch slurry by mixing oil and cornstarch in a small bowl
- Divide the dough into 15 equal balls (~40g each)
- Working one ball at a time, roll out into a thin circle with a rolling pin. Spread about 1/2 tsp of the cornstarch slurry on it with a pastry brush
- Make a book fold: fold the top down to the middle line, and the bottom up to the middle line. Then fold again so you have 4 total layers
- Make another book fold in the other direction, so you have a small square with 16 layers in it
- Set aside as you work on the other balls
Fill and shape kachoris:
- Now take the laminated squares - one at a time, roll out into a fairly thin square (about 4"x4")
- Place a scoop (2 tbsp) of filling, generously packed, in the center
- Now pull the corners up to the middle and pinch them together. This will make new corners, pull them to the middle too, so you are encasing the filling with the pastry and creating a little sack like shape
- Pinch the dough collected in the middle to make sure the kachori is properly sealed. Then twist and remove the excess dough - this is important as otherwise this part will not cook through and will be doughy
- Repeat until all kachoris are done. While prepping, keep them on a plate, not touching, and cover with a wet paper towel
Fry kachoris:
- Heat 2-3" oil in a wok until it is medium hot (a small piece of dough thrown in should take ~3 seconds to rise to the top)
- Fry a test kachori first. Cut it open and see if it is cooked through. Use this to determine the ideal temperature and time for frying
- On medium heat, place ~6 kachoris in upside down, so the side with the knot is facing down. Fry for about 8-10 minutes on this side, then flip over and fry 2-3 minutes on the other side. I fried for 12-14 minutes total until the kachoris are a nice golden brown color all over
- Once all kachoris are fried, serve with the chutney of your choice!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Pakistani