Banarasi Kachori aur Subzi ~ Banarasi Dalwaali Kachori

I have been posting this month under 'Indian Thaalis / Platters' theme and last week it had been simple Indian every day thaalis, under which I posted the following. 
Tamil Nadu thaali (From South)
Goan vegetarian meal (From West)
North Indian mini thaali (From North)
Bengali niramish thaali (From East)

It is going to be breakfast platters this week from across India. Initially I thought of cooking a breakfast platter from each Indian zone when this thaali festival was scheduled for April of this year. I kept postponing this theme until the end and my son in between got sick for about a month. I could not then stick to the plan and started cooking simple combo dishes for this theme. I thought of redoing the theme again when this event was moved to this month but I had lost the steam in the way. This kachori subzi, a signature breakfast dish from Benaras, Uttar Pradesh was however non negotiable since I wanted to post this from a long time. 

I wanted to build a platter around this kachori but in the end stuck with the basics which in itself is a delicious combo but a plate of jalebis would sweeten the deal. Trust me this combo of potato and pumpkin curries - the raswaale aloo and kaddu ki subzi gel well with these puffed breads. By the way, kaddu is called sitaphal locally and so it would be sitaphal ki subzi. The way to enjoy these kachoris is to combine both the curries in a bowl, scoop up with a piece of kachori and eat. I would have never imagined to pair a pumpkin curry with bread before I tasted this combo. I am posting the recipe for this classic Banarasi dalwaali kachori today. I am going to post the potato curry aka raswaale aloo ki subzi later. Kaddu ki subzi recipe has already been posted here. (My pumpkin curry looks different colored since I didn't use the yellow colored one.)

What I have on this platter are 
Banarasi kachori - Kachoris made with wheat flour, spices and lentil paste
Raswaale aloo - A potato gravy
Kaddu ki subzi - Pumpkin curry
Chai - Tea

Kachori is said to have originated in the state of Uttar Pradesh and are quite popular in India, particularly in the north though there are variations in Gujarat and Bengal as well. Generally a kachori is a stuffed poori made with a spicy black gram or mung dal filling. However these kachoris which are popularly sold in the streets of Benaras in the mornings are not kachoris but are flavored spicy pooris. Even when these are dalwaali kachoris, no dal /lentil mixture is stuffed but instead the lentil paste and the spices are mixed along with the flour and made into pooris and are called kachoris. There seem to be versions of Benarasi kachori and subzi and these spicy kachoris are usually served with a light curry. I wanted to go with an authentic source and so hopped onto Sangeeta's blog who posts some amazing local fare.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour / Indian atta
1 cup semolina / sooji
Salt to taste
3 tbsp. ghee
1 cup black gram / urad dal, soaked overnight and ground to a paste
1 tsp. red chili powder (or to taste)
Oil / ghee for deep frying

Directions:
* Mix flour, semolina and salt in a wide plate with edges or a mixing bowl. Next rub in the ghee into the flour mixture.
* Next add the black gram paste and the chili powder into the mix and knead to a soft dough, adding extra water if necessary. (I forgot to take the picture of the ground paste of black gram.)

* Divide the mixture into marble sized balls and roll out puris, roundels of about 3 inches in diameter. Work with one ball at atime and keep the rest covered. One can roll and fry the puris simultaneously. If not comfortable with multitasking, first roll some puris and then fry. 

* Heat oil / ghee in a wide pan or a kadai but don't bring it to smoke. Drop a pinch of dough into the hot oil and see whether it floats immediately to the surface. If it does, the oil is ready for frying. If the dough sinks to the bottom, heat the oil for some more time but again do not let it reach smoking point. Drop the roundel into the hot oil, gently sliding from the sides of the pan.

* Gently tap / press the surface of the roundel with the back of a slotted spoon. When they puff up, gently flip and fry the other side as well for few seconds. Remove it with a slotted spoon and drain on a palte lined with paper towels.

* Repeat the frying process with the remaining pooris.
* Serve them hot with curry of your choice. They go well with potatoes or pumpkin curry.

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