Pyaaz Kachoriप्याज़ कचौरी
⏱ Prep 40m🍳 Cook 30m🍽 Serves 12🌿 Vegan
Video: Your Food Lab (YouTube)
Pyaaz Kachori is a flaky, deep-fried pastry from Jaipur and Jodhpur filled with a boldly spiced onion stuffing. Kachori-wallahs serve them piping hot from dawn at roadside stalls across Rajasthan, always accompanied by tamarind chutney and a side of curried potatoes. The outer shell shatters into delicate flaky layers while the filling carries the warmth of fennel, crushed coriander seeds, and dried mango. It is rounder, puffier, and more complex in spice profile than a samosa.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- For the dough
- ▪all-purpose flour (maida) — मैदा2 cups (240g)
- ▪ghee or vegetable shortening3 tbsp
- ▪salt0.5 tsp
- For the onion filling
- ▪onions, finely chopped — प्याज़3 medium
- ▪fennel seeds (saunf) — सौंफ1 tsp
- ▪coriander seeds, coarsely crushed — धनिया1 tsp
- ▪dry mango powder (amchur) — अमचूर1 tsp
- ▪red chilli powder — लाल मिर्च1 tsp
- ▪coriander powder — धनिया पाउडर1 tsp
- ▪oil for cooking filling and deep frying1 tbsp plus deep frying oil
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- Maida (refined flour) and regular supermarket all-purpose flour are interchangeable here — both produce the same texture. Find maida at Indian grocery stores if you want the traditional label.
- Ghee gives the most authentic, crisp flakiness. Cold butter rubbed in works as a substitute. Avoid liquid oil for the dough — it cannot create the same laminated layers. Vegetable shortening is a practical diaspora substitute.
- Dry mango powder (amchur) is the tang in the filling. Find it in Indian grocery stores as amchur or dried mango powder. Substitute a squeeze of lemon juice stirred into the cooled filling just before stuffing, or use a pinch of chaat masala.
Method
- 1Make the dough: combine flour and salt, rub in the ghee until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time and knead into a firm, smooth dough. A stiffer dough makes flakier kachoris. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
- 2Make the filling: heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add fennel seeds and crushed coriander seeds, let them splutter for 30 seconds. Add the finely chopped onions and cook on medium-high heat, stirring often, until deeply golden brown — not just softened — about 15 minutes.
- 3Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, amchur, and salt to the onions. Mix well and cook for 3 to 4 more minutes until the masala is fragrant and the filling is completely dry. Cool before stuffing.
- 4Divide the dough into equal balls about the size of a small lemon, roughly 12 portions. Flatten each into a disc about 3 inches across.
- 5Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre. Bring the edges up, pleat, and seal tightly so no filling can escape. Gently press into a round ball then flatten slightly to about 2.5 inches across with uniform thickness.
- 6Heat oil in a deep pan to 160 C — lower than standard frying temperature. Slow frying at lower heat creates the flaky layers; high heat makes them dense and hard.
- 7Slide 3 to 4 kachoris in at a time. They will sink, then slowly puff and rise. Fry for 12 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until evenly golden all around. Drain on paper towels.
- 8Serve immediately with tamarind chutney, green mint chutney, and a side of curried potatoes.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.