Khasta kachori - Friday Night's treat

 

Friday evenings for me mean some spicy and  easy to eat dinner.  Last night we had khasta kachori.   We didn't have any sev noodles so I used some chevdo,  I had made earlier in the week,  as a topping for my kachoris.

The kachoris are really easy to make and make a wholesome meal with all the toppings of chopped onions, chopped chillies, green chutney and tamarind chutney.  Do checkout my recipe for khasta kachori and pop in later today for a brunch of  hot jalebis.

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Sev mamra (Gujarati nasto (snack) with chick pea noodles and puffed rice)

Sev mamra is an Indian snack. It is a mixture of spicy dry ingredients such as puffed rice called mamra and chick pea savoury noodles called sev.  It is a very light yet filling  dish.  Some people add fried peanuts and spicy rice noodles to it as well.  I tend to make it with a  mixture of sev and mamra. This can be eaten on it's own as a snack or used for toppings on bhel puri and other Indian street foods such as pani puri, ragda patis, sev puri etc...

Ingredients:

4-5 cups of home made sev Recipe is here (you can use ready made sev but can never be sure how fresh it is)
3-4 cups of mamra (puffed rice)
1 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp sunflower oil

Method:

1.  Transfer the mamra to a microwave dish and cook for one minute, stir and cook again for 1 minute. All microwaves have different wattage so the time is according to my microwave which is only 750 watts. The mamra can burn or leave a burnt smell if cooked at very high wattage or for too long. You shouldn't need more than 2-3 minutes to crisp the mamra.

2.  Sprinkle the turmeric on the mamra.  Dip your spoon in the oil and mix well.

3.  Add to the cooked sev and mix well. Some people add extra oil to the mixture by doing a tadka or vaghar but I don't as there is really no need to add extra oil to the sev mamra.

4. Once cool, store it in an airtight container.  This can be stored for a couple of weeks if using home made sev.

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Crispy and Hot Gathia (Tikha Gathiya)

I made some crispy and hot gathias for my son as he loves munching them when he comes home from school.  Gathias can be made and stored for a couple of weeks.  I love them in my lunch box and they also make a handy snack when you are travelling.

Gathias are shaped slightly thicker than sev and made a bit hotter by adding chilly powder to the recipe. It makes a great snack and quite easy to make at home.   Apart from the ingredients you will need the following gadget. I call it the sev gathia machine which has different discs to make various sizes of sev, gathia and chakri. . This gadget is sold in most Indian shops selling utensils.

Ingredients:

2 heaped cups of chick pea flour

2 tablespoons of rice flour

1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon chillypowder ( you can add more if you like hot food)

 pinch or turmeric

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 litre oil for frying

1 cup warm water for mixing the dough  - to use as required

Method:

1.  Sieve the chick pea flour, rice flour, chillypowder and salt in a mixing bowl. 

2.   Add the turmeric and lemon juice.

3.   Add warm water and mix the dough using a fork for as long as you can.  Chick pea flour can get very sticky.   Once you get the dough mixed, grease your hands and check that  the dough is of  a fairly soft consistancy.  Transfer this to a clean plate, cover  and allow the dough to rest for half an hour.  I tend to divide the dough into managable pieces so that it is easy to refill the sev gathia machine.

4.   In the mean time, heat the oil to medium heat. 5.   Grease the gathia maker cylinder lightly with oil, choose the appropriate  disc and fill it with the dough. 6.   Check that the oil is hot - by dropping a small piece of dough in the oil. If it rises quickly - the oil is hot and ready.  Now lower the heat whilst you are dropping the gathia into the oil. Turn the handle of the gathia makes and  drop the gathia directly into the oil - if possible- in a circular fashion, spreading it evenly in the oil, so it does not stick together. Only use half the mixture in the gathia mixture at each stage. ( Note to self: remember t  lower the heat whilst you are making the gathia over the oil and then raising the heat once the mixture is all in the oil.) 7.  Turn the gathia once and allow to cook.  The gathia is best cooked at medium heat or it will burn.

8.  Remove the gathia  with a  metal skimmer and place it  in a colander to allow any excess oil to drain off.

9.  Once cooled, the gathia needs to be stored in an airtight container.

My recipe was sev is posted here.  

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Sev (Gujarati nasto) Chickpea noodles Snack

Crispy sev is shaped very much like thin vermecelli.  The thickness of the sev depends on the disc you use.   Sev  is usually made salty but  can also be made spicy by adding chilly powder.  It is  eaten as a snack on it's own or as sev mamra where you add puffed rice to it.   It's also used to sprinkle on a lot of Indian fast foods such as bhel puri and sev puri.  It is sold in packets in most grocery stores or Indian takeaways.  But did you know how easy and cheap it is to make at home?  Apart from the ingredients you will need the following gadget.  I call it the sev gathia machine which has different plates to make various sizes of sev.  This is sold in most Indian shops selling utensils.

 Ingredients for making sev (using the following measurements I got about 500 grams of sev): 

2 heaped cups of chick pea flour
2 tablespoons of rice flour
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
pinch or turmeric
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 litre oil for frying
1 cup warm water for mixing the dough  - to use as required

Method:

1.  Sieve the chick pea flour, rice flour and salt in a mixing bowl. 

2.   Add the turmeric and lemon.

3.   Add warm water and mix the dough using a fork for as long as you can.  Chick pea flour can get very sticky.   Once you get the dough mixed, grease your hands and check that  the dough is of  a fairly soft consistancy.  Transfer this to a clean plate and allow the dough to rest for half an hour.

					4.   In the mean time, heat the oil to medium heat. 5.   Grease the sev maker cylinder lightly with oil, choose the thinnest disc and fill it with the dough. 6.   Turn the handle and  drop the sev directly into the hot oil in a circular fashion, spreading it evenly in the oil, so it does not stick together. 7.  Turn the sev once and allow to cook.  The sev is best cooked at medium heat or it will burn. 8. Remove the sev with a  metal skimmer and place it  in a colander to allow any excess oil to drain off. Skimmer 9. This is the bit - I hate doing as I like the round piles. The sev needs to be broken gently and stored in an airtight container. You can use some sev to make sev mamra too.

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