Preparation Time : 45 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Serving : 6 – 8 members

Description

Chicken stuffed pleated doughnuts . A picture tutorial that I came across in the world wide net that caught my attention immediately as this snack looked so innovative and new with an inspiring idea . Saved the image and googled the water marked name in the saved picture for the recipe . Got the recipe , saved it and gave a try one fine day following the recipe religiously . I had too many obstacles to cross with the original recipe on my first try so my second try tweaked the recipe of the dough , stuffing and method a little  to my comfort zone but with stealing the idea of this innovative snack  as before in an elegant way . The previous had a bread texture as the recipe demanded for yeast in the dough but my version has no yeast so it tastes more like a pie crust pastry . This tweak gave a whole new dimension to the snack that was worth the try and totally justified the effort put in . I enjoy playing around with recipes and ingredients . Served it , surprisingly was an instant hit   and a family favourite now . While on the table , there was an argument going on about naming this dish from chicken vada to pleated vada to chicken stuffed doughnuts . I just jumbled up all the names suggested together to get this name finally .  This did remind me about choosing names for my children when they were new born :-)) . I was just particular about one thing was my kids should have their names starting with the alphabet “A” . No particular reason but it just happened that way . A few months back I did receive a picture from my friend Sindhu Krishna that was about an interview in a Malayalam magazine on her elder daughter  aahana  ( who is a Malayalam movie star ) with some thing written in Malayalam . Me not knowing what was written was dead curious and later found out that. It was about our trio friends ( Sindhu , sulu and myself ) making a promise as kids in boarding school that we name each of our eldest child with the alphabet “A” . Sindhus eldest daughter is aahana , sulus eldest son is abid and my eldest one Anisha  :-)) . Well I don’t remember this incident or promise but it did happen that way :-)) . The liberty of naming is a joy for sure .

Ingredients for the cover

Method

1. Combine flour and salt together . Add oil and mix well .
2. Sprinkle water little by little and knead to get a smooth dough and Set aside.

Ingredients for chicken filling

Method for chicken filling

1. Pressure cook cleaned chicken , salt , turmeric powder , ginger garlic paste and little water for one whistle .
2. Bring to boil and Reduce the water . Cool completely and shred the chicken to treads ( I run it in the food processor for a second ) .
   Heat oil in a non stick board pan . Add onions and fry to translucent .
3. Add green chilies , boiled chopped mixed vegetables , shredded chicken , mint leaves , coriander leaves , salt and pepper to taste .
   Mix well and lower the flame and keep stirring for 3 minutes letting all the flavours infuse together .
4. Remove from heat , cool and set aside .

How to proceed

1. Roll lemon sized balls out of the dough. Roll each dough ball into slightly thick discs .
2. place the cooled chicken stuffing about one tablespoon full over each rolled disc to a ring pattern in the middle leaving a small circle empty in the centre of each disc . ( refer to picture tutorial ) .
3. Take the edge part of the disc and bring it towards the empty centre and press firmly making sure it’s stuck to the centre.
4. Do the same through out the edge of the disc to get a pleated effect doughnut . Insert your last tiny finger from underneath of the empty centre to make a round hole to get a doughnut shape .
5. Do the same with all the round discs and chicken stuffing . Now carefully deep fry the chicken pleated droughts in batches in medium hot oil to a golden brown colour . Drain and serve hot with tomato ketchup .