Pakora Indian vege fritters
These are Indian vegetable patties, spiced and fried until golden and crispy. They can be made with virtually any vegetable, so use this pakora recipe as a springboard to do your own variations.
These little nuggets are dangerously easy to eat, the sort of food you just keep popping into your mouth, one after the other, until you suddenly realise the plate is half empty and you look around to find someone to accuse – Who ate all the pakoras??!!!
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups chickpea flour (Note 1)
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp fenugreek powder (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder (pure chilli powder, Note 3)
- 2 tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt)
- 3/4 cups + 2 1/2 tbsp water
- 1 1/2 cups onions , grated using standard box grater (~1 1/2 onions)
- 2 cups potato (~1 large), peeled and grated using standard box grater (Note 4)
- 2 1/2 cups cauliflower (~1/4 large head), finely chopped into rice size pieces (or grate)
- 2 large red chillies (cayenne peppers), finely chopped (adjust spiciness to taste, or leave them out)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger , finely grated
- 2 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves , finely chopped
FOR COOKING:
- 3 – 4 cups vegetable or canola oil (4cm / 1.5″ depth in pot)
CORIANDER MINT SAUCE FOR PAKORAS (OPTION 1):
- 2 cups mint leaves
- 1 cup coriander/cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup eschalot , sliced
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 2 ice cubes (loosens + keeps sauce green)
MINTED YOGURT SAUCE (OPTION 2):
- 1 cup plain yoghurt
- 1/2 cup mint leaves , packed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Make batter: Place chickpea flour in a bowl with the spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, chilli). Slow whisk in the water.
- Mix in Vegetables: Add potato, cauliflower, onion, ginger, chilli and coriander. Mix well with a wooden spoon. It should be a thick batter, almost paste-like.
- Preheat oven to 80°C/175°F – to keep cooked pakoras warm. Set a rack over a tray.
- Heat oil: Heat 4cm / 1.5" oil in a large heavy based pot to 180°C/350°F (Note 6).
- Form patties: Drop 2 tbsp of batter roughly formed into a patty shape into the oil. I use my hands (as is typical in India!) but you can also use 2 tablespoons (be careful of splash-age). Don't crowd the pot, it will lower the temperature too much.
- Fry pakoras: Fry 2 – 3 minutes until golden. Drain on paper towels. Keep cooked pakoras hot in the oven on a rack set over a tray.
- Serve: Serve pakoras with Coriander Mint Sauce or Minted Yogurt Sauce!
CORIANDER MINT SAUCE OR MINT YOGURT SAUCE:
- Place ingredients in a small food processor or Nutribullet, or use a stick blender. Blitz until smooth.
Recipe Notes:
Batch size – This makes quite a large batch. Around 40 pakoras! Figure we may as well make it worth our while. Leftovers resurrect well – see Storage note below.
1. Chickpea flour – Also known as gram flour, and besan, made from dried chickpeas. Staple in Indian cooking. Nowadays sold at large grocery stores in Australia. Using this instead of flour makes this a naturally gluten free recipe. 2. Fenugreek powder – Staple Indian spice, kind of smells like maple syrup. Available at stores that carry a decent range of spices. I found it at Harris Farms (Australia). Also, of course, at Indian grocery stores!
Best sub: Garam Masala or a generic curry powder. (No it’s not the same but the extra flavour will compensate).
3. Chilli Powder – This is pure ground chillies, not to be confused with US Chili Powder which is a spice mix. Sub cayenne pepper. Fee free to reduce chilli powder if you’re concerned about spiciness. You can cook a test one, taste, then add more chilli into the batter.
4. Potatoes – Any all rounder or starchy potatoes work best. Aus: Sebago, US: russet, UK: King Edward/Maris Piper. Waxy potatoes will work ok too.
5. Other Veg: Use 6 cups in total.
7. No deep fry option – shallow fried: Just dollop batter into a skillet with about 1cm/ 0.2″ of preheated oil and cook on medium high until golden on each side (about 4 minutes). Won’t be the same as traditional pakoras because you don’t get the crunchy scraggly bits, but all the flavour is there! Don’t try to just pan fry in a little oil – we tried it and it doesn’t work (inside doesn’t cook through).
8. Storage – Keep leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for 3 months in an airtight container. Reheat in a 180°C/350°F oven on a rack set over a tray for 12 to 15 minutes until hot and crispy.
9. Nutrition per Pakora, assuming 1/2 tsp oil is absorbed per Pakora. (Deep frying absorbs less oil than you think, as long as you properly drain on paper towels as it wicks excess oil away).
1. Chickpea flour – Also known as gram flour, and besan, made from dried chickpeas. Staple in Indian cooking. Nowadays sold at large grocery stores in Australia. Using this instead of flour makes this a naturally gluten free recipe.
- Carrots – finely julienned or grated
- Broccoli, broccolini – chop finely into rice size
- Green beans, asparagus – finely spice or julienne
- Zucchini – grate and squeeze out excess liquid)
- Spinach, cabbage and similar – julienne then grab handfuls and squeeze out excess liquid
- Capsicum/bell peppers (finely slice into 2.5cm/1″ pieces)
- Parsnip, celeriac and other root veg – grate like potato
- Peas and corn – use whole
- Not recommended (or requires extra prep steps) – eggplant, pumpkin, celery, fennel, cucumber, tomatoes
Comments
Oh they are delicious,give it a go at making them yourself, they are cheap as,and not much ingredient if your a vegetarian you will always have some vege in the fridge & if you have a store cupboard like mine, I have all the ingedient & herbs always stocked,cos I do loads of other Indian vege foods & dishes..so once you have the ingrdient its cheap to replace when run out.
Looks like deliciouse...