KORAISHUTIR KOCHURI O ALOOR DUM

We call Green Peas....Koraishuti....n....this Koraishutir Kachuri....as we call it.... used to be a winter treat for us in our childhood. It is usually served with aloor dum or cholar dal among us. Green Peas were available only in winter then. Cold wintry Sunday morning, hot kachoris / kochuris being fried in the kitchen.....who on earth can concentrate on studies....not me at least....

Every five minutes I had to peep into the kitchen to check what is going on.... in each visit, I picked up one and finished in just three little bites. Before my mom could serve them on a plate pairing with dum aloo, I would finish 3-4 kachoris / stuffed hand made breads. 

Dear mom warned....."Girls should not behave like this". My poor self never understood why girls have such restrictions....before I could come to any conclusion, I could hear the baritone voice saying....let her have....someone reading the newspaper was indulgent....he introduced me to the world of reading at an young age, given me immense freedom, even while choosing my life partner. From him, I have learnt we need to guide our kids, never try to control their lives.

Sunday Mornings meant amazing with kid's bi-monthly magazines, special breakfasts accompanied by rasgullas or jalebis, followed by a chicken / mutton curry, stir fry greens with rice for lunch watching Ramayan, Sherlock Holmes on TV....what a treat!

Preparing green peas kachori or koraishutir kochuri has become easy these days with frozen packets available throughout the year. Just get them, thaw, paste and proceed with your recipe. Let us do that now. I would share the recipe of the Dum Aloo too.

INGREDIENTS [For the Stuffed Bread] :

Plain Flour : 2 coffee cups
Semolina : 1medium tea cup
Salt : As required
Green Peas : 250 gm
Ginger Paste : 2tsp
Cumin Powder : 1tsp
Green Chilli : 2
Asafoetida : 4pinches
Turmeric Powder : 2 pinches
Cumin Seeds : 2 pinches
Oil : 150ml + 2tbsp

INGREDIENTS [For Dum Aloo] :

Potatoes[medium] : 500gm
Milk : 1 cup[big]
Lemon : 2[big]
Onion : 2[big]
Kashmiri Mirch Powder : 1tsp
Green Chilli : 4
Ginger Paste : 2 tbsp
Garlic Paste : 2tsp
Salt : As required
Turmeric : 2 pinches
Cinnamon : 1[1 inch stick]
Green Cardamom : 2
Cloves : 3
Bay Leaf : 1
Sugar : 1tsp
Oil : 3tbsp

PROCEDURE : 

Let us prepare the potato curry at first.

Peel and cut the potatoes into halves. Wash them. Make holes in the potatoes with a fork. Marinate with salt, 2 pinches of turmeric, milk n lemon juice. The marinade may curdle, do not worry, this dish demands it. In the end you get a tangy sweet Dum Aloo. Cover and keep aside for at least 4 hours. Get the spice pastes ready, slit the green chillies, slice the onions.

Heat oil in a wok. Temper with bayleaf, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cloves. As they give a nice aroma, add the sliced onions. Fry till brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste along with slitted green chillies. Fry well, add salt, turmeric and Kashmiri chilli powder. Stir, add the potato along with the marinade. Stir well and cover cook at low heat for about 15-20 minutes. You need to stir every 5 minutes to avoid burning or sticking at the bottom. Check if the aloos are done, then add the sugar, little water and switch off after another 3-4 minutes. Transfer into a serving bowl.

Let us prepare the Koraishutir Kochuri or Green Peas stuffed poori.

Prepare a dough with the refined flour, semolina, little salt, 2tbsp oil, water as required. 

Keep aside for 1/2 an hour covered with a wet cloth. 

For the filling, prepare a paste of the green peas along with 2 green chillies. Heat 1tbsp of oil in wok. Temper with the cumin seeds. Add in the ginger paste, fry well. Add the cumin powder and stir. Add in the asafoetida and immediately the green peas paste, followed by salt and turmeric. Keep on stirring until it dries up and the sides tend to come out. Once done transfer into a bowl, let cool. We would use little of turmeric to retain the green colour of the peas filling.

Remove cover, tear off smaller portions, make round balls from the dough. Make pockets to place the fillings, close again. See the picture below.

Once the kachori balls are ready, with help of a rolling pin and base, lets roll the kachoris / kochuri dusting the balls lightly with flour. Do not press the kachoris hard with the rolling pin, filling may come out. Look at the picture below.

Heat oil in wok. Fry the kachoris / kochuris one at a time. When one side is done then flip onto the other side. Just as in the picture below.

Serve hot the Koraishutir Kochuri / Green Peas Kachoris with Dum Aloo accompanied by sweets of your choice!