Green Peas Karanji

Green Peas, a vegetable loved in my house. My brother who never ate any vegeatable other than potatoes loved to eat peas. It was my aunt who would cook peas in different ways. This "Karanji" was one of them. Karanji is actually cooked for Diwali as a sweet with coconut and sugar filling. This one was a savory item prepared in our family as we were not fond of sweets.

Peas is consumed in large quantites in our house specially in season. It is cooked in various recipes on a daily basis. I remember a story my grandmother would tell me. In the 30's my grandfather would order vegetables from the farms directly, peas used to come by the bullock cart. The whole cart of peas would be offloaded in the front yard and all family members would participate in shelling the peas.

This then is the recipe of peas stuffed in a puri shaped in a half moon and fried.

Ingredients :

• 500 gms peas.
• 1 large onion.
• 3 tbsp grated coconut dry .
• 1 tsp chilli powder.
• 1/2 tsp haldi.
• 1 tsp garam masala.
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves.
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste.
• 1 tsp mustard seeds.
• Pinch of hing.
• 2 tbsp oil + to deep fry.
• 2 cups wheat flour.
• Salt to taste.

Method :

• Make a stiff dough with atta add 1 tsp ghee if you like with a little salt and make dough for puris.
• Heat a vessel and add 1tsp oil.
• To this add 1 sliced onion and stir fry when brown add the grated dry coconut and brown it make a dry paste of this.
• In a pan add 1tbsp oil when hot add mustard seeds and hing.
• When the seeds splutter add the peas salt, haldi, red chilli powder add a little water and let the peas cook.
• When soft, add the garam masala and the coconut mixture dry out the vegetable .
• Sprinkle coriander leaves and cool.
• Make large puris of the dough.
• In the center place the peas mixture and fold to make a semi circle. Seal it with help of little water and cut or curl along the edges to seal it and take care to see the stuffing does not spill out.
• Deep fry and serve hot.
• You could serve it with a coriander chutney tomato sauce or tamarind chutney.

-------------------------------------------------------------------