Ras El Hanout enhanced Kachori (Indian fried dumpling snack)

In our home Kachori wasn’t a very popular dish until we invented this version, with the moroccan twist using our Ras El Hanout. Ras El Hanout is a blend of spices that varies from brand to brand. Typically it consists of allspice, ginger, nutmeg, chillies, thyme and salt, plus 5-10 different spices that are the best of the best in stock for each spice trader. At Regency, this includes our Allspice, Cardamom, Cubeb Peppers, Pink Himalayan Salt, Cloves, Mace, Green Peppercorns and some others. The blend is so well balanced that it works with nearly any savoury dish, and we found it makes Kachori have that extra wow factor.

Servings:Makes 20 small sized Kachori

Ingredients
For the filling:

• 1 fresh corn, deseeded and roughly ground
• 6 french beans, chopped fine
• 1/4 cabbage, chopped fine
• 1/4 each of mixed bell peppers – red, green, yellow
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• 1-1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp mixed powdered nuts – almonds, pistachio, cashews
• 2 tsp quick cooking oats
• 3/4 tsp Pink Himalayan salt
• 3/4 tsp Ras El Hanout, freshly powdered
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• a bunch of finely chopped coriander leaves
• oil for deep frying

For the outer covering:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/4 tsp fine cooking salt
• 1/8 cup water to form a very tight dough

Cooking Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the outer covering and knead to form a very smooth and tight dough. Set it aside.
2. Heat a tbsp oil in a pan, and fry cumin seeds and green chillies for a few seconds, add powdered Ras El Hanout,  chopped coriander leaves and immediately add corn, french beans, all peppers and cabbage and salt.
3. Stir well and cook well for about 5-7mins.
4. Switch off the fire and add lemon juice and oats and mix well.
5. Cool and divide and roll into 20 balls.
6. Divide the outer covering you made in step 1 into 20 rounds and roll them out about the size of a tennis ball, fill each one with the vegetable filling, seal the ball by bringing the edges together to form a roll.
7. In a large pan, heat up oil for deep frying.
8. Deep fry the balls in medium fire, stirring all the while until totally golden in color. A medium fire is essential to get the inside piping hot without burning the outside.
8. Serve hot with a Dates and Tamarind chutney, Ketchup, or all by itself!