These Gujarati style Dry Fruit Masala Kachori are perfect as a tea-time snack. Crispy and flaky kachoris are filled with a sweet and spicy dry masala of ganthia, mixed chopped nuts and spices. Unlike normal kachori, these have a long shelf-life and can be stored for a few months.
As the name suggests, these Dry Masala Kachori are thought to originate from Jamnagar, a city in Gujarat, India.
The filling is made from an incredible mix of crushed nuts, other dried fruit, spices and crushed ganthia (deep fried snack made from chickpea flour). The kachori are "dry" because no moisture and only dry ingredients are added to the kachori which helps these kachori to last longer.
They are also known as Farsan Kachori or simply Dry Kachori and are enjoyed particularly during Holi and Diwali along with other Deepavali sweets and savoury dishes. Also great for get-together, kitty parties or Indian style high after noon tea.
The flavours of these kachori are unforgettable - mildly sweet and sour with heat from the dried spices, basically a party in your mouth!
Inspiration for the Dry Fruit Kachori recipe
The western state of India, Gujarat is a hub of Farsan. I first tried these kachori when I visited India when I was 18.
They were mini dry kachori from a packet. I liked them so much that we took a photo of the ingredients and attempted to recreate the filling at home!
My Mum has always had this obsession with taking a small container of homemade snacks, like homemade dry masala kachoris, Bajra Methi Thepla, Besan Para, Gor Na Shakkarpara or Nankhatai whenever we went on holiday.
I guess I can understand because it wasn't always easy to find vegetarian food and egg free baked goodies abroad but now I need to break her habit!
Luckily, we usually only pay for hand luggage so we still get to enjoy the fabulous food that our destination has to offer.
Let me know in the comments if you're guilty of this too!
Special Dry Fruit Masala Ingredients
The masala for these kachori is different to normal kachori. Essentially there is no added moisture and only dried ingredients are used which is what helps them keep well for long.
Ground masala are added to crushed mixed nuts and store bought ganthia or papdi. The resulting flavours are tangy, sweet and spicy all combined in one!
These style Kachori are often sold in packets by brands, such as Haldiram, or in mithai shops however, making fresh at home is definitely so much more rewarding.
Kachori Variations
Similarly to samosa, kachori come in many different varieties.
Kachori vary by region. They have different fillings, different casings and also different shapes.
You can find moong dal kachori, lilva kachori and aloo pyaaz kachori.
Some of our favourites include:
Ingredients for perfectly flaky kachori dough
For these dry fruit kachori we need a semi-hard flaky pastry. To achieve this affect, we need plain flour and oil with a shortened
You will need:
All purpose flour - or plain flour known as Maida in Hindi. For traditional kachori recipe plain flour is essential. However, if you prefer use chapati flour or use half the amount of all purpose flour and roti aata. The texture will be differ.
Oil - use sunflower, rapseed or vegetable oil, basically a neutral flavoured oil. Instead of oil, you could also use ghee or unsalted butter. Avoid strong flavoured oil such as mustard, sesame or olive oil.
Salt
Water - if using oil, the temperature of the water does not matter as long as it is not too hot. If using ghee however, the water should be chilled.
Ingredients for Dry Fruit Kachori filling
Fennel seeds - Also known as saunf or Variyali.
Cumin seeds - We will need raw whole jeera seeds.
Coriander seeds - Sabut dhaniya or Aakha Dhana
Sesame seeds - We have used brown sesame seeds. Don't use black sesame seeds.
Nuts and dry fruits - we will need cashews,almonds and sulatana or raisins. You may add other nuts such as peanuts, walnuts, hazel nuts or brazil nuts too.
Farsan - I used fully ganthiya, you may use other varieties such as bhavnagari or papdi ganthiya.
Garam masala- It is a mix blend of fragrant spices. It adds warmth, heat, sweetness and floral notes to the dish. It is a must use for kachori recipes.
Ginger powder - Optional. If not available skip it but do not add fresh/frozen ginger paste.
Red chilli powder - We are using Kashmiri red chilli powder here, it is not very hot and adds lovely colour to the stuffing.
Turmeric powder - Not using in huge quantity.
Sugar - Don't skip the sugar, it' s a must in making these kachori have sweetness. We will need regular white granulated sugar, but you can use brown sugar too. D not use Jaggery.
Tamarind pulp - Thick not runny is required here. If not available you may use amchoor powder, lemon juice, citric acid or vinegar (sirka).
Hing - Asafoetida
Salt
Oil for masala and to deep fry.
Variations:
You can make the following variations to your filling:
instead of ganthia - add roasted chickpea flour, chana dal powder, sev, papdi or aloo bhujia
Variation flavour
To the dry masala, you can add garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon powder or desiccated coconut.
How to make Dry Masala Kachori
The outer coating (for the flakiest kachori pastry)
Place sifted flour and salt in a wide plate or bowl.
Add the oil and rub into the flour with your fingers - this shortens the flour and gives a flakey finish to the pastry.
You will know that you have added enough oil when the flour comes together in your hand when you squeeze it.
Add water and mix together to form a soft dough that resembles poori dough.
Cover the dough with a dry and clean kitchen towel/napkin and set aside.
The dry masala with dry fruit filling
Dry roast all the seeds in a pan. Remove and let it cool.
In the same pan dry roast sesame seeds, remove and let it cool.
Keep 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds separate if you want.
Mix all the seeds with tumeric, red chilli, ginger powder, garam masala and sugar.
Grind ganthia using a grinder, add in the spice mixture.
Then add raisins, remaining sesame seeds, salt and coarse nuts. (I added some raw fennel seeds too, it is optional)
Mix well, add tamarind pulp, oil and hing.
Combine well using your hands.
Form round balls of this filling, measuring each the same size. We made ours 25g which was perfect for 25g of the dough. You could make yours 20g each if you are less confident at wrapping in the dough.
This stuffing can be made in advance to use later.
How to assemble perfect kachori
Take the kachori dough and give another quick knead.
Form equal sized balls - we used a scale and measured each to be 25g and set aside.
The next steps helps achieve a kachori finish where you cannot tell where the seal is and without any cracks.
Take a single ball and flatten beneath your palms. Using your fingers, press on the edges of the ball to flatten but spare the middle part (this leaves sufficient dough to hold the heavy filling).
Once the disk is the right size, make an "O" or "ok" sign with one hand and place the disk of dough on top. Place a ball of filling in the centre and using your thumb and finger, push the filling through and pull the dough upwards to create a seal around the filling.
Twist and tear off any remainder of dough and gently smooth out the kachori. Do not worry if there are small marks left as they will disappear when deep-frying.
Deep-frying perfect kachori without bubbles on the surface
The best kachori have a pastry without any bubbles on the surface which can be achieved with some techniques.
The kachori are best fried in low - medium heat oil. To check if the oil is the correct heat, drop in a small ball of dough. Bubbles should form around the dough and it should take a few moments before rising to the surface.
Gently drop the kachori into the oil and reduce the heat. This takes some patience as the kachori will take a while to cook but the end result ensures a crispy bubble-free coating.
How to make Air-fryer Dry Fruit Kachori
Air Fryer Kachori are a great low oil alternative to deep frying. Surprisingly, the kachori retained their khasta flaky coating.
The bonus of air frying is that you do not have to watch over the kachori as they are frying. Air frying prevents bubbles appearing on the surface of the dough.
Pre-heat the air fryer at 205C for 5 mins.
Brush the kachori generously with oil and place in the air fryer basket. Set the air fryer to 180C and air fry for 15 minutes. At the halfway point, check the kachori and brush more oil.
(we had some leftover pastry and filling so we made Airfried Dry Samosa which is what you can see in the images below)
Best tips for perfect khasta kachori
Patience is the key here for these kachori.
Don't skimp on oil or ghee for the dough. Don't knead the dough too much as it become chewy. The dough should not be too stiff or too loose. The dough also needs time to rest.
Using wholewheat flour will not give the same result as using plain white flour.
Keep pastry layer not too thick or not too thin, edges should be thinner than centre.
Edges must be sealed properly then rolled gently.
keep the dough covered all the time.
Keep the masala dry as possible.
The oil should be kept at low-medium heat and only add the kachori when oil is at this temperature - only a few bubbles should appear when the kachori are dropped.
If the oil gets hot, turn off the heat for few seconds whilst frying then turn back on again on low heat.
Other Gujarati Farsan recipes
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Dry Fruit Masala Kachori
Equipment
- 3 Big plate
- 1 Kitchen towel/napkin
- 1 Blender
- 1 Air fryer/oven
- 1 Slotted spoon/Jaro
- 1 Pastry brush
Ingredients
Outer layer - Pastry
- 3 ½ cup plain flour all purpose flour/maida
- 6 tablespoon oil or 15 teaspoon - I used sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup water chilled
Dry kachori masala filling/stuffing
- 1 ½ tablespoon cumin seeds whole jeera/jeeru
- 3 tablespoon coriander seeds sabut dhaniya/aakha dhana
- 3 tablespoon fennel seeds saunf/variyali
- 5 tablespoon sesame seeds til/tal
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder haldi/hardar
- 5 tablespoon chilli powder kashmiri red chilli powder
- 2 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ginger powder optional
- 4 tablespoon sugar
- 3 cup gram flour noodles Ganthiya or Sev or Aloo Bhujiya
- 3 tablespoon almonds
- 3 tablespoon cashew nuts
- 3 tablespoon raisins kishmis
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 4 tablespoon tamarind pulp
- 2 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon asafoetida hing
Other
- 5 cup oil sunflower
Instructions
Outer Layer - Pastry
- In a wide plate mix flour, salt and oil.
- Rub the flour well with your both hands.
- Take some flour in your one hand and make a fist by tightly pressing, if it is your flour has enough oil (moin) if not add 1 teaspoon oil.
- Add water little by little and bind the dough, the dough should be stiff.
- Cover the dough using dry kitchen napkin and leave it to rest for at least 20 minutes at room temperature.
- Whilst dough is resting, make stuffing.
Dry kachori masala filling/stuffing
- In a pan dry roast cumin, coriander and fennel seeds until light brown and aromatic.
- Remove and let it cool.
- In the same pan dry roast sesame seeds until aromatic and light brown.
- In a plate mix roasted cumin, coriander, fennel and half of the sesame seeds.
- Add sugar, garam masala, turmeric, chilli and ginger powder.
- Put in the grinder and grind until you get coarse powder.
- In the grinder pulse the ganthia to make coarse powder. This procedure should be done in short burst to prevent mixture become oily.
- Next, pulse the nuts in the grinder. Do not make fine powder.
- Add ganthia powder, nuts, raisins, remaining sesame seeds, fennel seeds (optional) and salt in the spice mixture. Mix well,
- Add tamarind pulp, oil and hing, combine well.
- Divide the mixture into equal size, approximate 20-25g and form balls. Leave it aside.
Assembling the kachori
- Take little oil in your hands and knead the dough once again, now the dough should be pliable.
- Divide the dough into equal size approximate 25g each and make balls, there should be no cracks in the balls.
- Keep it covered all the time.
- Roll out a dough ball or press it with your fingers into a small disc.
- Place a stuffing/filling ball on and seal the edges carefully and make round ball.
- Repeat this steps and shape all the kachoris in similar way.
Fry Kachoris
- Heat oil in a kadai or wide heavy bottomed pan.
- Keep the heat low, add kachoris and fry them on low heat.
Air fryer Kachori
- Preheat Air Fryer for 5 mins at 205C
- Brush the kachoris with oil, place a kitchen foil in the basket.
- Air fry kachoris for 15 minutes at 180C, halfway through brush the oil again.
- Remove once they are light golden brown.
Oven baked Kachori
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 or 180C.
- Place assembled kachoris on a lightly greased baking tray.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Share on Facebook Pin This RecipeNote – This recipe has been updated from our recipe archives with new images and content, but the recipe remains the same. First time published in March 2013.
Seema says
We have friends staying over currently and with food catering to different age groups a challenge, this fruit masala kachori was a boon. The filling was the best part we loved, and ofcourse nice to see the kids enjoy it.
Hayley says
@Seema, thank you for your feedback , so happy the kids enjoyed it please try out our other recipes,so nice to hear from you, stay in touch.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
My husband is addicted to this dry fruits kachori! This is so delicious and what a treat of sweet and spicy in our mouth. I did not have ganthiya and used aloo bhujia instead. Thanks for mentioning substitutes as they are helpful.
Hayley says
@Sandhya Ramakrishnan, you are so welcome ,its a pleasure to read your comments and feedback, please try out our other recipes too.
Neha says
This dry fruit masala kachori recipe post is so tempting that I eventually couldn't resist myself from preparing it. It turned out good though I had to struggle. But with practice I will master this recipe. Thanks and regards.
Hayley says
@Neha, thanks for your feedback, so glad you like this recipe please try out our other recipes too and let us know.