Pakora

Cooking Time: 10 mins                           Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 10 mins                  Category: Veg snacks

Pakora is a mouth watering fried snack (fritter) found across South Asia. Pakoras are prepared by taking one or two ingredients such as onion, eggplant, potato, spinach, paneer, cauliflower, chilli, bread, chicken or occasionally mixed vegetables and dipping them in a batter of gram flour and then deep-frying them. The most popular varieties are palak pakora (made from spinach), paneer pakora(made from paneer, Indian soft cheese), pyaz pakora (made from onion) and aloo pakora (made from potato) .
In southern states of India, such preparations are known as bajji rather than pakora. Usually the name of the vegetable that is deep fried is suffixed with bajji. For instance, potato bajji is sliced potato wrapped in batter and deep fried. In such states, pakoda is taken to mean a mix of finely cut onions, green chillies and spices mixed in gram flour. This is rolled into small balls or sprinkled straight in hot oil and fried. These pakodas are very crisp on the outside and medium soft to crisp inside. There is also a variety that is softer overall, usually termed medhu pakoda in restaurants, that is made of any other ingredients, such as potatoes.

Pakoras are usually served as snacks or appetizers across all major restuarants in India. Though its a popular dish for all seasons, its mainly preferred during monsoons as the feeling one experiences is heavenly when pakoras are served with hot tea during rainy evenings. If you haven't tried this yet, I strongly suggest you to as monsoon has already arrived in India. A perfect snack for a perfect season. Hope you enjoy them as I do.

Here is the simple recipe for onion pakora:-

Onion Pakora

Ingredients:

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Onions (sliced) - 4

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Green chillies, finely chopped or grounded - 2

Besan (chickpea flour) - 100 gms

Rice flour - 50 gms

Baking soda (optional) - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Cooking oil - for frying only

   

Preparation:

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• Take all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well to make a batter. Avoid using excess water.
• Heat the oil in a small vessel.
• Take a small portion of the mixed batter at a time and drop it in hot oil or
• Take some batter in your hand and sprinkle it directly and slowly in the hot oil. 
• Fry till they turn crispy and golden brown. 
• Serve hot with mint chutney or spicy tomato sauce or just with hot tea.

 

PS: Add grounded jeera and few chopped mint leaves to the batter mix. This gives an awesome taste to the pakora.