Masoor Kachori

A very common Hindu saying that I grew up listening to is 'Anna Hey Purna Bramha' which means food is equivalent to God. My parents always taught me and my brother to respect the food we ate and avoid wastage. I remember my mom creatively using leftovers to make delicious meals the next day. She would turn leftover chapatis into delicious phodnichi poli or chiwda, leftover bhajis and curries into exotic parathas and cutlets, usals into sweet and spicy misals and leftover rice into many a tasty dish.

Last week I made some masoor usal in a jiffy for Thursday night dinner. I had enough leftovers and thought of using it to make a quick snack on Saturday evening. I reheated the usal to make it completely dry and added few more ingredients to it. Then I formed round balls of this mixture, dipped them into some rice flour batter and deep fried them to make these Masoor Kachoris. I served them with some sweet and tangy khajur- tamarind chutney. The kachoris turned out to be very delicious. 

Masoor Usal (These are approx. measurements)
Ingredients -
1 cup masoor usal (Soaked in water for 2 hrs and cooked in pressure cooker)
1 large onion finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander –cumin powder
2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
Chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

Method –
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic cloves and fry for sometime. Then add chopped onions and cook them till they turn slightly golden brown.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute. Then add chilli powder, coriander- cumin powder, garam masala powder, salt and sugar and mix well.
3. Add the cooked masoor and mix well. Add little water and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro

Masoor Kachori
Ingredients –
Leftover masoor usal (I had @ 11/2 cups masoor usal)
1 tbsp dried raisins
1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
1 cup rice flour
Chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method –
1. Take the leftover masoor usal in a kadhai and cook it on slow flame till all the liquid evaporates and the usal becomes very dry.
2. Add raisins, cashew nuts and chopped cilantro and mix well.
3. Form round ball of this mixture and set aside
4. Mix rice flour, salt and water and make a thick batter similar to potato vada batter.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Dip the round balls into the rice flour batter and deep fry in hot oil on all sides.
6. Serve with chutney of your choice.

I am sending these Masoor Kachoris to COL- Leftover Delicacies event at Spicy Lounge.

These are also going to 'My Legume Love Affair (MLLA)' event hosted by Ruchika for the month of April 2010.