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Mixed Vegetable Pakora
Serves 4 Prep 15 min Cook 25 min Total 40 min Type Side Origin Indian

Mixed Vegetable Pakora

The rainy-day Indian snack: handfuls of onion, potato, cauliflower and spinach coated in a thick spiced gram-flour batter and deep-fried in lumpy clusters.

Serves 4 Prep 15 minutes Cook 25 minutes Units Rate

Overview

A thick batter of gram (chickpea) flour, rice flour, ajwain, turmeric, chilli powder and salt mixes with cold water to a thick coating consistency. Sliced onion, cubed potato, cauliflower florets and chopped spinach toss through the batter until thickly coated. Small ragged clusters drop into hot oil (170°C) and fry for 3-4 minutes per side until deep gold and crisp.

Ingredients

Batter

  • 200 g gram flour (besan / chickpea flour)
  • 50 g rice flour (for extra crisp)
  • 1 teaspoon ajwain (carom) seeds
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 small pinch baking soda
  • 250 ml cold water (approximately)

Vegetables

  • 1 onion (large, halved, sliced thin)
  • 1 potato (medium, peeled, small dice)
  • 200 g cauliflower (cut into small florets, 2 cm)
  • 100 g spinach leaves (washed, roughly torn)
  • 2 green chillies (finely chopped, optional)
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger (julienned)
  • 3 tablespoons fresh coriander (chopped)

To fry

  • 1 litre vegetable oil

To serve

Method

Stage 1 - Batter

  1. Whisk gram flour, rice flour, ajwain, turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, salt and baking soda in a wide bowl.
  2. Pour in cold water gradually, whisking, to a thick batter (the consistency of double cream that just pours).
  3. Rest 5 minutes.

Stage 2 - Combine

  1. Add all the prepared vegetables, green chillies, ginger and coriander to the batter.
  2. Mix well with a spoon; everything should be thickly coated.
  3. If the mix is too wet (vegetables release water), add a tablespoon more gram flour.

Stage 3 - Fry

  1. Heat the oil to 170°C in a deep wide pan.
  2. Drop loose clusters (about a tablespoon each) into the hot oil using two spoons.
  3. Fry in batches of 6-8, 3-4 minutes per side, until deep gold and crisp.
  4. Lift onto a rack lined with kitchen paper.

Stage 4 - Serve

  1. Eat immediately with mint chutney, tamarind chutney and lemon wedges.

Notes

  • Cold water batter: Cold water keeps the gluten development minimal, gives crisp pakora. Warm water gives soft, bready ones.
  • Don't crowd the oil: Six to eight at a time. Crowding drops the temperature and the pakoras go greasy.
  • Vegetable choice: Almost anything works - onion alone is the most famous (kanda pakora); add or substitute aubergine, sweetcorn, chillies, paneer. The recipe is the technique, not the ingredient list.

Storage

  • Eat fresh. Cooked pakora keep 24 hours refrigerated; re-crisp at 200°C 4 minutes.
  • The uncoated batter alone keeps 2 days refrigerated.

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