Vegetable Pakoras

Submitted by PalatablePastime

"Crispy fried potatoes, spinach, and onion rings that taste great dipped in tamarind and coriander chutneys for a great appetizer that is hard to resist. You can purchase the chutneys at any Indian or Pakistani grocer, or choose another dipping sauce for your pakoras!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 cup gram flour (besan or garbanzo bean)
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 2 green chilies, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vegetable oil or 1 1/2 teaspoons melted ghee
• vegetable oil (for deep frying)
• 2 medium onions, sliced into thin rings
• 8 -10 small spinach leaves, washed and patted dry
• 2 medium potatoes, parboiled and thinly sliced
• tamarind chutney (for dipping) (optional)
• coriander chutney (for dipping) (optional)
• hot onion relish (for dipping) (optional)

directions

1. Mix together the gram flour, salt, cayenne in a bowl; add the water stirring to make a thick batter.
2. Stir until thick and smooth, adding just a touch more water if you need it; allow the batter to sit for about 1/2 hour before using it.
3. Before dipping the vegetables, stir the chopped chilies, the cilantro, and the ghee into the batter, mixing well.
4. Heat oil and coat vegetable pieces thickly with batter.
5. Carefully drop coated vegetables into hot oil and cook until crisp and golden; remove from oil and drain on paper toweling.
6. Serve warm with chutneys such as tamarind and coriander chutney and hot onion relish.

Reviews

[Charishma_Ramchandani]

I made these this evening for a get-together with some family friends' and these "hit the spot"! I substituted the cayenne pepper with red chilli powder and the cilantro with corriander leaves. I used oil instead of ghee in the batter as well as for frying. I finely chopped my onions and spinach leaves. Upto step 3, I followed this recipe as it is. After that, I mixed in the chopped onions, spinach leaves and the boiled and thinly sliced potatoes into the batter. I vigorously mixed it all well together. I also added in 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder and 1/4 tsp. freshly powdered cumin. I mixed it all extremely well together. After this, I heated a tbsp. of oil in a frying pan until it was hot and then dropped in a tbsp. of the batter into the hot oil. Likewise, I repeated until the batter was completely used up. I must mention that at a time, in a single frying pan, I could make a maximum of 4 pakoras. In total, this batter made 17 pakoras for me. I served these with tomato ketchup and they were well enjoyed by my guests and gone in seconds. More than anything, my dad gives you a double thumbs-up and an A+ for this recipe, because, it reminded him of his childhood days when his mom (my granny) would whip this up quickly together and make these for my dad, his sis and his bro! She would use half the quantity of potatoes and double the quantity of gramflour. She called these as "Chila". I'm really(from the depth of my heart) thankful to you for sharing this recipe. Recipes that bring back old memories are very special to the heart of the chef who makes them and the one who eats them and floats back into good ol' times:) Thanks so much SO SO MUCH for sharing this really hard-to-resist appetiser(before I click submit on my review, allow me to confess that I ate 2 of these pakoras when they were just out of the pan and dried on my kitchen napkins!) These were too good and I recommend this recipe to one and all.

 

[spatchcock]

Yet another winner, Sue L. Thanks so much for this recipe! I didn't use chopped chilies in the batter because I realized I didn't have them and did NOT want to run to the store. These were perfect--I especially enjoyed the onions. I did use much more cayenne than was called for (personal preference.) Anyway, THANKS!!

 

[sammymahmood]

These came out very tasty. I want to make sure Charishma knows that cilantro is the American word for coriander leaves. Also cayenne pepper and chili powder is the same thing as far as I know.