Tasty Trinidad Kachori Recipe (Fried Seasoned Chickpea Fritter)
Trini kachori is a bit different from its original Indian counterpart. It is made with ground chickpeas, flour and lots of seasonings, shaped into discs and deep fried.
Like aloo pie, pholourie and baiganee, kachori is a popular Trini street food and is often served with chutneys.
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What are the ingredients of kachori
For this recipe, you will need: chickpeas or channa, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, turmeric powder, onion, garlic, culantro or chadon beni leaves and oil.
Optional ingredients can include: yellow split peas or dhal, cumin or geera powder, coriander powder, and cilantro or celery.
Trini kachori is not the same as kachori in India. The Indian versions resemble more of a deep fried stuffed dough with a chickpea (channa) and split peas (dhal) filling.
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How to make kachori
Soak the peas
I always use dried channa for my recipes, but you can use canned chickpeas to skip this step. Check the peas to remove any bad, discolored ones and rinse a couple times. Add to a large bowl filled with water (use at least 4 parts water to 1 part chickpeas). Cover and leave overnight to plump up.
The next morning, the channa should be three or four times its original size. Empty the water and rinse the peas a couple times.
Knead the batter
With the channa all rinsed, add it to your food processor or grain mill with chopped onion, garlic and chadon beni or culantro leaves. Any other herbs that you want to include can be added at this point.
I don’t recommend adding any liquid to the food processor. Next, grind the ingredients together until it is as smooth as possible. My processor left the channa a little grainy and that’s perfectly fine, but you can go smoother.
Transfer into a large bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients like flour, baking powder, salt and turmeric powder. Give everything a good mix and check to see if the batter can hold its shape on its own. If it does not, mix in another tablespoon or two of flour.
Once the dough is mixed, cover and leave to rest anywhere from half and hour to an hour.
Fry
Ten minutes before your batter is ready, place a large pot on medium heat and allow it to heat up for a couple minutes. Add in the vegetable oil for frying and again allow the oil to heat up.
Next, coat your hands with a little water and scoop up some of the batter – about a two or three inch ball should be good. Squeeze the batter together to remove any air pockets before pressing between the palms to form a small disc.
Smoothen the edges before placing the kachori in the hot oil. Flip over after about 2 minutes or so. If the outside of the kachori browns too quickly, lower the heat.
After another 2 minutes, flip again. The kachori should be cooked all the way through at the five minute mark or so.
Remove from the hot oil and place on napkins to soak up any excess oil. Serve the kachoris with tamarind sauce or even some doubles channa.
Trinidad kachori recipe
Trini kachori
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb chickpeas (channa)
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 5 cloves garlic
- 10 chadon beni leaves
- 1 pepper (optional)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- water for soaking
- oil for frying (approx 2 – 3 cups)
Equipment
- food processor
Instructions
- Remove any bad chickpeas and wash several times.
- Place in a large bowl and fill with water.
- Leave to soak overnight.
- Rinse thoroughly the next morning.
- Add chickpeas to a food processor with onion, garlic, and chadon beni.
- Grind until smooth (or as smooth as possible).
- Place the ground chickpeas blend in a large bowl
- Add flour, baking powder, salt, and turmeric powder to the bowl.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- Place a large pot on medium heat.
- Add enough oil for deep frying. Leave to heat up.
- Coat your hands with water or oil.
- Scoop up a 2-inch ball.
- Squeeze the batter together.
- Flatten between your palms and fingers. Smoothen the edges.
- Drop into the hot oil.
- Flip over after two minutes or so.
- Remove from heat when the kachoris are golden brown and cooked all the way through.
Reminded me of home! I made this with some mango sauce and it came out great