PALAK PANEER KACHORIS
Palak Paneer Kachori is a deep fried snack where the flaky spinach pastry is filled with a spicy and delicious paneer filling. Best enjoyed hot with a chutney of your choice.
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 2 cups plain flour all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ -1 cup thick spinach puree
For the Paneer Filling:
- 250 g 2-2¼ cups grated paneer (cottage cheese)
- ¼ cup chopped cashew nuts
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- a½ pinch asafoetida
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp green chilli paste or 2 chillis finely chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½-¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp clove powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup chopped fresh coriander
- oil for deep frying
Instructions
Preparation of the pastry:
- Add oil and salt to the flour and rub it in well.
- Add the spinach puree to it and form a dough that is not too hard or soft.
- Cover the dough with a lid or cling film and allow it rest for 30 minutes.
Preparation of the Paneer Filling:
- Heat oil in a wide pan over medium heat.
- When it is hot add the cumin seeds, asafoetida and chopped cashew nuts. Stir fry till the cashew turns very light pink.
- Add ginger, chilli and paneer.
- Stir and add the salt and sugar. Mix well.
- Let the filling cool down a bit. Add the lemon juice, coriander, cinnamon and clove powder. Mix well.
To prepare the Palak Paneer Kachoris:
- Divide the pastry dough into 30 parts.The balls should be about the size of a big marble or a nutmeg.
- Roll each ball into a circle of nearly 3 inches.
- Hold the circle or puree in your palm and add about 1 to 1½ tbsp of the filling. Bring the edges together into a half moon shape. Twist the edges or press with a fork. You may make round kachoris if your like.
- Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Frying the Palak Paneer Kachoris:
- When all the kachoris are filled, heat some oil for deep frying over high heat.
- Test if the oil is ready by putting a small, tiny piece of the dough into the oil. if it comes up immediately the oil is ready.
- Add 6 to 8 kachoris in the hot oil and half fry them. As soon as they turn white, remove them with a slotted spoon. Repeat with the remaining kachoris.
- Keep the half fried kachoris on the side till required.
- Before serving, fry them in the hot oil but this time fry them over medium to low heat till they are light golden in colour.
Notes
- Adjust the spices according to your taste.
- Make sure the pastry dough does not become too soft otherwise the pastry will remain soft on frying. I prefer using plain flour as it makes the pastry more crispy.
- To make spinach puree, blanch the leaves in hot water. Remove the leaves from the water and let it cool. Puree into a course paste using as little water as possible. Blanching is adding the vegetable into the hot water and removing it as soon as the leaves wilt or in a minute or so. One large bunch of spinach makes about 1-1½ cups of puree.
- Freeze the extra spinach puree to use for pasta, paratha, etc.
- The half fried kachoris stay good in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
- If you are left with any dough roll it out into a puri and fry.