Pyaaz ki kachori

This is a favorite in our home and my DH’s specialty! All I can say is – it tastes delicious! The recipe is from Tarla Dalal.

For the dough (crust)

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ¼ cup ghee
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the onion filling

• 2 cups onions, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji) Skipped since I didn’t have it
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds (saunf)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1½ teaspoons green chillies, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Bengal gram flour (besan)
• 2 teaspoons coriander (dhania) powder
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 3 tablespoons chopped coriander
• 2 tablespoons oil
• salt to taste

Other ingredients

oil for deep frying

For the dough (crust)

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead well for 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and keep covered under a wet muslin cloth.

For the onion filling

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in colour.
2. Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
4. Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.

How to proceed

1. Roll out each portion of the dough into a 50 mm. (2") diameter circle.
2. Place one portion of the onion filling in the centre of the rolled dough circle.
3. Surround the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling.
4. Seal the ends tightly and remove any excess dough.
5. Roll each filled portion into a 62 mm. (2 1/2") diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling does not spill out.
6. Gently press the centre of the kachori with your thumb.
7. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachoris.
8. Deep fry the kachoris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown.The kachoris should puff up like puris. These take a long time to fry as the crust is thick and needs to be cooked in the insides also.
9. Serve hot with chutney.

God’s reach is everywhere

God’s hands are everywhere so that anywhere on this earth when devotees make an offering to him, he can accept it.

His legs are omnipresent so that when devotees lay prostate on his feet, he can bless them.

His ears are all around so that he can listen to his devotees’ prayers wherever they are.

His mouth is everywhere, so that when devotees give him something to eat he can have it.

His eyes are all around us, there’s nothing hidden from him; he sees everything.

His forehead is everywhere so that when devotees seek his blessings by touching his forehead, he can bless them all.

De-clutter

I love the feeling of de-cluttering! Of course, if you have NO clutter in your house you would be bereft of the lovely feeling of de-cluttering :). Ah how unlucky you must be!

I think the number of things in your house as a correlation with the complexity of your mind. The less the number of things in your house, the simpler your mind is.

There are countless advantages of de-cluttering and especially if you do it the right way: by sending things to the right place you’re making sure that things are where they need to be – that reduces waste, saves somebody money, frees up your space and time!

I came across this wonderful article by Martha Stewart – “100 Reasons to Get Rid Of It” - which tells you where all you can donate your things when you de-clutter.

Now once you de-clutter, how do you make sure that it doesn’t re-enter your house? You need to follow a simple rule - “For every item that enters your house, you should give away an item”. Never make an impulse purchase! There’s no deal that’s not going to come again. That item is not the last of its kind on this earth.

Try however much you may, clutter does find its way into your house over some period of time. Then, its time to de-clutter again!

The Red Dahlia

Author: Lynda La Plante

“Red Dahlia” is a murder mystery in the Anna Travis series by Lynda La Plante. It follows a true story “Black Dahlia”, where a woman was murdered – her body cut in two and drained off blood. Yes it sounds very gory and it is but that’s just the description of the murder. Once you get past that, there’s no goriness – if you’re like me and can’t stand gory murders!

The story is very interesting especially because to start with the body didn’t have any evidence on or around it. So it’s interesting to see how the small things here and there give a lead to the detectives. It is very gripping and hard-to-keep-down novel. Though I must say that the biggest clue was given to them on a silver spoon. At that juncture, it’s a bit disappointing but if you can ignore that it has pretty good twists and turns.

Bottom line: A good read