Home made baked Falafels
Baked falafels is easy and healthy middle eastern snack. Crispy and extremely flavorful.
Baked Matar Karanji
There are so many memories associated with this season. Winter for me brings back my favorite memories, especially food related. There is so much abundance in nature’s beauty and bounty in the last few weeks of the year..
WINTER AND MATAR ..
I remember accompanying Mom to buy seasonal vegetables. Gosh! there were so many winter special veggies – Carrots, corn, pumpkins and peas. Mom usually stocked up on peas whenever the price dwindled down.
And when that happened, the family unitedly cleaned and sorted the peas. These were then safely tucked in the fridge for later use.
Peas also referred to as Matar, would then be incorporated in all food items- breakfast, sabzi, rice, snacks for next couple of few weeks.
MY FAVORITE SNACK ..
One of my favorite dish is Matar Karanji. Usually on lazy sunday afternoons, Mom made deep fried Matar Karanji (small hand pies).
I would insist her to make it in the morning and I munched on it all day. Eventually, I started avoiding the deep fried version. Desk job got the better of me (and my weight).
Life comes full circle..
Fast forward to a decade later, I met my husband who is Matar Karanji lover. The very first thing he made me do after we got married was make Matar Karanji. I remember making almost a kilo of Karanjis for his office potluck. Thus, the Matar Karanji fever gripped me again.
I make Matar Karanji specially for him. After moving to US, we make Matar Karanji during this time of the year. Hot baked Karanji with bubbling hot tea has been our weekend ritual in this snowy season.
I have slowly moved our favorite deep fried snack into baked version. But I assure you, the taste remains absolutely same, even though its baked.
It’s flaky, crisp, spicy and flavorful.
Step by step recipe..
To make the flaky pastry covering..
- In a mixing bowl, add together 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tbsp carom seeds.
- To this add 3 tbsp hot oil. Mix the oil into the flour well to make it flaky.
- Once all the oil is properly mixed, start kneading the dough with it.
- Add water as and when required. Do not add to much water. About 4-5 tbsp water will be enough. The dough should be tight.
- Once the dough is properly kneaded, let it rest for 30 mins- 1 hour.
For the stuffing:
- Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil on medium flame.
- Once the oil heats, add 1 tsp each mustard, fennel and cumin seeds and let it crackle.
- You can add 2 cloves of chopped garlic (optional)
- Into this oil, add 4-5 curry leaves (optional), pinch of asafoetida and 4-5 chopped chilies.
- Then add 1 cup peas and 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut. You can either use fresh peas or frozen.
- To this add 2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp chili powder (skip if you don’t like spicy) and 2 tsp chaat masala. Add 1 tsp of salt (adjust as per taste)
- Mix everything well and cook for 10 mins on medium.
- Mash few peas to make sticky filling that sticks together when stuffing in dough.
- If using fresh peas, add 4 tbsp water, cover with lid and cook for 5-10 mins more. The peas should cook well.
- I recommend making the stuffing slightly spicy because once baked, the covering and stuffing balances the flavor.
Assembling:
- Roll a round dough of 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle some Nigella seeds while rolling the dough.
- Into this round dough, add the stuffing and conceal the ends properly.
- I have used an empanada mould/karanji mould to shape the Karanji.
- Place these Karanji onto a plate and cover it with damp cloth until all other karanji are done.
- Preheat the Oven/Airfryer to 425F.
- Line the baking tray with baking sheet and grease with cooking spray.
- Transfer the Karanji to the baking tray and apply some milk on top of each Karanji.
- The milk will help make the top crisp and golden brown. You can also use egg wash if you wish instead of milk.
- Sprinkle some more nigella seeds.
- Bake for 10 mins.
- Flip the Karanji and cook for 7 more mins.
- Once done cooking, turn the oven to Broil mode at 525F.
- Place the baking tray close to the upper coil of oven and broil for 4 mins. Keep checking the tray to avoid burning the Karanji.
- This makes the Karanji look golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly.
- Serve with assorted chutneys or sauce and enjoy!
You can find my Green Chutney and Khatti Meethi Chutney.
Instead of making the covering at home, I have a shortcut..
You can buy Pie crust dough in the frozen section or ready to make Pie crust mix. It’s quick and outcome is delicious..
If using the frozen Pie crust sheets-
- Defrost the Pie crust sheets.
- Sprinkle some flour onto the cutting board and then spread the Pie crust.
- Using round bowl or cookie cutter, make rounds onto the sheet.
- Stuff these rounds and seal them well with water.
- Bake as per instructions in the recipe.
- There are usually 2 frozen sheets, you can roughly get 10 Karanji in those sheets.
If using Pie crust mix,
Make sure you are buying the instant version.
- Transfer the mix into the bowl and add the Pie crust mix.
- Now add water slowly by tablespoon and start kneading.
- Make a slightly tight dough and let it rest for 30 mins.
- Then roll into small rounds and follow the rest of the steps in the recipe.
Matar Karanji
Matar Karanji is crisp and flaky pastry filled with spiced and flavorful Matar masala. The Karanji is baked and easy to make.
Ingredients
For the covering
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 3 tbsp Oil hot
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp crushed carom seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 4-5 tbsp water
For the stuffing
- 1 cup Fresh sweet peas
- 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
- 2 tbsp oil
- 5 Green chilies chopped
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp asafoetida
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- salt as per taste
- 1 tsp Garam masala
- 1 tsp red chili powder as per your choice
- 1 tsp Nigella seeds
- 1 tsp chaat masala
- 2 tbsp milk
Instructions
For the covering:
- In a mixing bowl, add together 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tbsp carom seeds.
- To this add 3 tbsp hot oil. Mix the oil into the flour well to make it flaky.
- Once all the oil is properly mixed, start kneading the dough with it.
- Add water as and when required. Do not add lot of water. About 2-3 tbsp water will be enough. The dough should be tight.
- Once the dough is properly kneaded, cover the dough with lid/damp towel and let it rest for 30 mins -1 hour.
For the stuffing:
- In a small saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil on a medium flame.
- Once the oil heats, add 1 tsp each mustard, fennel and cumin seeds and let it crackle.
- You can add 2 cloves of chopped garlic (optional)
- Into this oil, add 4-5 curry leaves (optional), pinch of asafoetida and 4-5 chopped chilies.
- Then add 1 cup peas and 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut. You can either use fresh peas or frozen.
- To this add 2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp chili powder and 2 tsp chaat masala. Add 1 tsp of salt (adjust as per taste)
- Mix everything well and cook for 10 mins with a lid covering the pan. If using fresh peas, add 2 tbsp water and cook for 5-10 mins more.
- I recommend making the stuffing slightly spicy because once baked, the covering and stuffing balances the flavor.
Assembling:
- Roll a round dough of 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle some Nigella seeds while rolling the dough.
- Into this round dough, add the stuffing and conceal the ends properly. Dip your finger in water and line the outer edge of the covering and then stick the ends together. With a fork press the edges after sticking the ends for extra pressure on the ends to stick.
- You can use an empanada mould/karanji mould to shape the Karanji.
- Place these Karanji onto a plate and cover it with damp cloth until all other karanji are done.
For Baking
- Preheat the Oven/Airfryer to 425F.
- Line the baking tray with baking sheet and grease with cooking spray.
- Transfer the Karanji to the baking tray and apply some milk on top of each Karanji.
- Bake for 10 mins. Flip the Karanji and cook for 7 more mins.
- Once done cooking, turn the oven to Broil mode at 525F.
- Place the baking tray close to the upper coil of oven and broil for 4 mins. Keep checking the tray to avoid burning the Karanji.
- If done properly, this makes the Karanji look golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly.
- Serve with assorted chutneys or sauce and enjoy!
For Frying
- If you wish to fry these Karanji, make sure the ends of the Karanji are secured well and the stuffing doesn't fall out.
- Dip index finger in water and then apply to the ends (of the Karanji) which will be sticking together and then fold to make sure it's closed completely.
- Heat oil in a deep wok. Make sure the oil is heating on medium flame. Do not heat on high flame.
- Test if the oil is ready by adding a small piece of dough. If the dough comes up floating in the wok, the oil is ready for frying.
- Add 2 karanjis to the oil and fry until golden brown. As you put Karanji into the oil, there will be bubbles around it. To know the Karanji is cooked, notice the bubbles vanish. Make sure the Karanji is evenly cooked from both sides.
- Once done, transfer to paper towel lined plate and let it cool slightly.
- Serve with chutneys
Notes
I have used US measuring cups for measuring the ingredients. For more details. click here
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Something about me...
Hi!
I am Jui. If you love tea, vegetarian food and lots of giggles, we probably work on the same wavelength. I mostly re-create long lost Maharashtrian traditional recipes and also develop recipes that are vegan and vegetarian.
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