Baked Pyaaz Kachori
These Pyaaz Kachori bites are tender cream cheese pastry rolled with pyaaz kachori filling made by sautéing onions, potatoes and flavorful spices. These are baked. So good with a cup of chai.
Pyaaz Kachoris are round in shape with hollow inside and are deep fried. I did not want to deep fry anything. The idea of these came about from rugelach cookies. If you haven’t tried rugelach cookies, then you need to try them. They are eggless cookies or pastries, filled with chocolate to nuts to many things. These are then baked, and they have a peculiar look to them. They look like mini croissants.
Rugelach is a Jewish holiday treat. Yiddish word that means ‘little twists.
The pastry is made with cream cheese, and it helps in making it flaky and tender. It has a rich texture. Instead of using ghee in the pastry dough I decided to go the classic rugelach dough.
Filling is made of Pyaaz Kachori with onions, potatoes, spices and it taste so delicious on its own, with chutneys and tea or make it a chaat party by adding chutneys, some chopped veggies and sev. The best part is you don’t have to go through the hassle of deep frying or rolling each kachoris. These are baked to perfection.
How to make them?
Making the dough is very quick and easy, just cream the butter and cream cheese, with dry ingredients like flour, salt and kasuri methi. I wanted to give it a savory element. There is turmeric powder in it too.
The dough needs to be chilled for atleast an hour after it is made, it is a lot easier to work with it. You can make the dough in advance and freeze it too. While the dough chills, make the filling. The filling needs to be cooled down. Then once the dough is chilled its divided into 4 equal portions and rolled out into thin circles. Spread the filling once it cools down all over the rolled-out dough. Next cut the dough into 8 equal triangles. I used a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. Then to shape them, start at the wide angle of the triangle and roll each triangle all the way to the point. The filling might come out of the sides. Just press it back in. You can give them a little bend on the sides like a crescent. Then they are baked off but before they go into oven, they cream or milk wash and sprinkling of sesame seeds.
Tips
The cream cheese and butter should be cold but soft when making dough. The cold factor contributes to flakiness.
It is also crucial to put them to chill once rolled out into little shape so that they do not open up in the oven while baking.
Tuck the point end underneath and place that on the tray while baking, so that they stay sealed.
The dough alone or shaped/filled rugelach can be freezed for longer time. It makes for a good make ahead snack or appetizer.
Just thaw at room temperature for 10 mins and then bake them just before having guests over.
When you’re ready to roll the cookies, remove one section of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and place it on a lightly floured work surface. (If necessary, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes until it’s pliable enough to roll, but not too soft.) Dust the top of the dough lightly with flour, then use a rolling pin to roll it into an 8 x 11-in rectangle. Don’t make
Storage
They last for few days in the refrigerator.
Baked Pyaaz Kachori
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup 2 tbsp all- purpose flour
- ½ cup butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp kasuri methi crushed
- ½ tsp ajwain seeds/carom seeds
Filling
- 1 tbsp oil/ghee
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 green chili chopped
- Pinch asafoetida
- 2 onions chopped
- 1 boiled potato
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp garam masala
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- Cilantro
- Milk/cream
- Sesame seeds optional
Instructions
Dough
- Cream the cheese and butter in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. With the mixer on low speed, add flour and mix until just combined. Transfer the dough out onto a well-floured surface and roll it into a disc. Divide the disc into quarters and wrap each piece in plastic and refrigerate for an hour. You can freeze for long time too.
Filling
- Coarsely grind cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds in a grinder. Take oil in a pan, add asafetida, followed by green chilies, onions. Sauté it for few minutes until onions soften up. Add salt and other spices like ground fennel cumin mix, turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala, sugar. Stir well. Add mashed boiled potato and mix well. Add chopped cilantro too.
- Let the filling cool down. Divide the filling into roughly four parts.
Shaping and baking
- Take out the dough, roll out each disc in a circle about 8–9-inch circle on well-floured surface. If the edges are cracked, use a round mold to cut out the circle. Fill each circle with the filling. Spread and press it lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 8 equal wedges/slices by cutting the whole circle in quarters and then each quarter into thirds. Starting with the wider edge, roll up each slice into a croissant shape. Place the rolled pieces, pointy ends tucked underneath in a tray lined with parchment paper and chill them for 20-30 minutes.
- Brush each cookie with heavy cream or egg wash. You can also use milk. Sprinkle sesame seeds if you like. Bake them for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove and let them cool on wire rack.
- Serve them with tamarind and mint chutneys. You can also serve them topped with chutneys, chopped onion, tomatoes and cilantro, sev, chaat masala similar to chaat.
