Matar Karanji..fresh peas pasty
Matar,Matar everywhere! This used to be our screaming when the seasonal matar–fresh peas hit market in month of January-February. Mum used to make Peas pulav, Masale bhat, peas curry, peas this and peas that. Dad used to sit for hours together watching news on Doordarshan channel and unknowingly his hands peeling the kilos and kilos of fresh pea pods. This was our Sunday afternoon and followed by some ‘matar’ recipe for evening snack or dinner. Me and my siblings would pray ‘Oh! when this matar season will finish?’ and after a month or so we would start craving those matar delicacies 🙂
But there is one exception…’matar karanji’ which was our all time favourite. Nowadays it has become even easier as frozen peas are readily available at any day. The taste and crunch of fresh is peas is unbeatable but it is always better to have something than nothing at all.
Getting back to topic..What is Matar Karanji?
Matar as we discussed earlier are peas whereas Karanjis are Maharashtrian pasty . They are called Gujias in North India,usually made with sweet stuffing of dry fruits +sugar+ coconut + semolina .But the one we are discussing here have savoury filling of fresh peas and fresh coconut simmered with some authentic spices.
One can make them on the go ,there is no big preparation that needs to be done beforehand.Fresh peas or Fresh coconut can be easily substituted with frozen counterparts . The traditional recipe asks for plain flour crust / covering but I’ve used more of wholewheat flour and just little plain flour for the gluten.
For the party /get together:
If you are health conscious, making it for family, i would suggest to go for the wholewheat version. But if this is a starter or a snack for a party or guests where you will make it beforehand, use of plain flour is advisable as it will keep the karanjis crisp for longer.
to watch video click here:
- Make the dough for the covering …add ghee to flours and semolina,,rub with fingers for the flaky crust.Later add enough water to make dough little harder than the chapati dough.
Steps to make:
2. Make a coarse paste of ginger,garlic,coriander,chillies,curry leaves.
3.Cooking the peas mixture: make tadka of oil, cumin and hing.Later add dry masalas ,put peas, coconut, lemon juice, salt and sugar.Add enough water and let peas cook well with minimal water.
4. Making karanji shape: roll 10cm circlewith little dough, place 2 tbsp of cooked mixture on half of the circle and fold over other half and seal it by pressing firmly.Give a pattern with help of fork.
5.Make all karanjis in the same way.Keep covered as they may dry.
6. Deep fry Karanjis till light golden and crisp.
: Recipe Card :
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
pieces
|
- 1 cup Wholewheat flour (chapati ata)
- 1/2 cup Plain flour (maida)
- 1 Tbsp Semolina (sooji/rava)
- 1 tsp Salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp Carom seeds (ajjwain/ova)
- 2 tbsp ghee /oil
- 1/2 cup water (use as needed )
- 3-4 green chillies (or to taste)
- 2 inch ginger piece
- 8-10 curry leaves
- 2 garlic pods (optional)
- 1/4 cup coriander powder
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 2 cups fresh peas(or frozen)
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt--or to taste
- 1/4 cup or more fresh scrappeed coconut
- 1 tsp goda masala
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 5-6 cashew--broken (optional)
Ingredients
To make covering:
For filling: 1. for paste:
2. For peas mixture
|
|
- In a mixing bowl, mix the ingredients listed under 'for making covering.' Rub ghee gently to flour which will give a nice crispy crust. Add in water slowly as needed to make a dough little tighter than chapati dough.Cover with cloth and keep aside to rest as we make filling.
- First make the paste of ingredients listed under 'for paste.'
- Heat oil in a pan/wok. Add in cumin seeds. As they crackle, goes in asafoetida. Drop in the prepared paste and saute fr a minute.
- Add in turmeric, coriander and cumin powder. Saute well.
- Later add in peas ,salt and lemon juice.Mix well.
- Add in scrapped coconut. You can add as little or more as you like.Add goda masala, sugar and 1/2 cup of water.Put lid on pan and let it cook with the steam for 3-4 minutes.
- Check if the peas are cooked..you don't need to make them mushy. You can leave the peas whole or crush them little bit with help of masher.
- Take a small lime sized piece of dough and roll into 10 cm circle. You can use little oil so it doesn't stick while rolling.Hold the roti in palm of your hand and in the centre add 2 Tbsp of prepared filling. Seal the edges together making it into half moon shape. Alternatively, Place circle on surface, add m2 tbsp mixture on half part of circle ,taking care it doesn't go on edges.Fold over other half and seal edge to make half moon shape.
- You can either make a pattern with help of fork or fold it as shown in the video.
- Follow same to make rest of the karanjis.
- Deep fry the karanjis on medium flame till they turn light golden.
- Serve them warm with choice of chutney like green chutney/ tamarind-date chutney or simply with tomato ketch up. Trust me a got cup of chai and karanjis are enough to make your evenings happy!
- You can make the karanjis ahead of serving, Refrigerator (maximum 2 days) and later deep fry.
- Karanjis can be baked in oven as well... Just brush them generously with butter before putting in oven preheated at 180 C for about 25-30 minutes or till they turn light brown.
- I've used even puff pastry dough sometimes with same filling and baked them for 35 minutes at 180C.
- Traditionally plain flour is used but to make it healthier I've used Wholewheat flour along with some plain flour.
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