This is street food, the Indian way! Sold as snacks on the streets of India and as popular appetisers in Indian restaurants elsewhere, pakora are crispy, bite-size vegetable fritters. They’re loaded with gorgeous Indian spices before being fried until crunchy.
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
Instructions
- 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.
- 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
6. Oil hotness test if you don’t have a thermometer – drop bit of batter in, should start sizzling straight away.
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).
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