Paneer Kachori is a delicious snacking option and has been designed to suit your fasting days when the choice of ingredients that can be eaten is fairly constricted and Paneer Kachori comes as a tastier and filing food choice.
Fasting is an important practice followed during nine-days of Navratri. However, unlike some fasts that require one to follow strict abstinence, Navratri fasting comes with limited restrictions and allows fair number of food choices to those who are fasting. It’s a wrong notion that fasting implies subjecting yourself to a physical torment. On the contrary, it’s an act that demands your involvement, both morally and spiritually.
So fasting during Navratri doesn’t imply that one must starve for the nine days but rather it means going without certain type of food. Those who are meat-eaters on other days, can opt for a vegetarian diet and those who eat veg can chose to give up eating grains, lentils and vegetables for these 9-days. Ideally fasting helps you to get in sync with the demands of your body. It helps us understand exactly when our body needs more energy and enough hydration and with this enhanced knowledge, we can make suitable alterations to our food eating habits.
Typically, human body needs are governed by our five senses and for a healthy and balanced life there must exist a synergy between these sense. Often, when it comes to food, we fail to rein in our senses and our choices rely on their whims and fancies, leading us towards an unhealthy food habits.
To elucidate this let me share a personal example. I go for an evening workout in a nearby Gym and by a brutal coincidence, a Vada Pav stall exists straight outside the gate of this gym. Every day I walk in or out of the gym, as a foodie I have a fairly tough task of reining in my taste buds and thus preventing my diet-plan from going haywire. It’s a constant tiff between my brain and my taste buds and fortunately over the years, I have trained my brain to win this fight. At the same time, I don’t mind an occasional indulgence into spicy, crispy and crunchy Vadas stuffed into chutney laden Pav. The point is fairly simple, we must learn to perform this balancing act for a healthy lifestyle. As per Ayurveda, if we pass on the responsibility of brain entirely to our senses, then we risk losing the happiness of staying health too!
Fasting, in my point of view, is not about starving, rather it’s the time to converse with our body! Understand its schedule, its needs and demands and accordingly provide fuel for it, and that’s what I call as a smart eating!
Today’s fasting recipe is Upvas Paneer Kachori. Though it’s a deep fried snack, it is light on your palate and a perfect snack for the evening tea or coffee. Made with a mixture of two different flours which are low on GI- Amaranth flour and Water Chestnut Flour and packed with lot of health benefits. These Kachoris are stuffed with a sweet filing (no artificial sweetener) of paneer and raisins make for a perfect snack and comes as a tastier and filing food choice for the fasting days.
Make these Kachoris for your evening snacking option and share your feedback with us in comments section below.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12-14
- 100 gms Paneer (Cottage Cheese)
- ¾th Cup=90 gms Amaranth (Rajgira) Flour
- ¾th Cup=90 gms Water Chestnut (Singhara) Flour
- 2-3 Green Chilies-finely chopped
- 1-tbsp Raisins-finely chopped
- 2-tbsp fresh Coriander leaves-finely chopped
- Rock Salt
- Cooking Oil
- We will first knead a dough for Kachoris. In a large bowl, add Rajgira (Amaranth) flour and Singhara flour (water chestnut). Add some Rock Salt. If you prefer eating Table Salt in fast, you can add table salt. Mix well. Add 1 tbsp warm Oil.
- I have taken 1 cup lukewarm water for kneading. Add water only as much required. Knead into a dough of Roti dough like consistency. Kachori dough is now ready. Apply some Oil on this dough and give it a knocking. Cover and let this dough rest for 10 mins.
- Meanwhile, let's make a stuffing for Kachoris. In a bowl, put Cottage Cheese block. Crumble Paneer by your palms. You can also grate the paneer.
- Add chopped Chilies, chopped Coriander leaves, chopped raisins. You can also add chopped nuts (almonds, cashews). Finally add rock salt. Mix all the ingredients well to make this stuffing for Kachoris.
- Stuffing is now ready. Let's start making Kachoris now. Now, stuffing is ready and the dough has rested for 10 mins.
- Pull a small portion of dough and roll it into a smooth ball with no cracks. Gently press to flatten it. With your two thumbs press the edges, to form a small bowl. You can also roll it on a board into small Pooris.
- Take a small portion of stuffing and put it in the bowl. Bring the ends towards the center to seal the Kachori. Kachori is now sealed. Roll it one more time into a round ball. Similarly, make all the Kachoris.
- Let's fry these Kachoris now. Remember Oil must not be too hot while frying Kachoris. Heat Oil on low-medium heat then reduce the heat and fry Kachoris on low heat. Put a small ball of dough into the Oil to check if it sufficiently hot. It must gently simmer and not turn brown quickly.
- Lower the Kachoris in the Oil. Fry on reduced heat and keep moving the Kachoris around for more even browning.
- We have fried the Kachoris for 3-4 mins on low heat and it has become evenly golden brown in color. Remove these Kachoris from the pan. Similarly, fry remaining Kachoris.
- Kachoris are ready friends. We can make 12-14 Kachoris in these measurements.
- Paneer ki Kachori for your fasting is ready. We have served this with Coconut-Chili-Coriander Chutney.
Click to watch recipe video
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