Vegetable Pakora
North India's monsoon snack: mixed seasonal vegetables dipped in a spiced gram-flour batter and deep-fried into irregular crispy clusters.
Overview
Gram (chickpea) flour combines with rice flour for extra crispness, with ajwain, chilli, turmeric and a pinch of baking soda for the airy texture. Cold water makes a thick coating batter (not pancake-thin). Mixed vegetables are tossed in the batter and dropped into hot oil in clusters; each one stays loose, with crisp tendrils of onion and the soft give of potato inside. Two batches: the second fry gives the deep-fried lacquered crunch.*
Ingredients
Vegetables (use any mix totalling about 500 g)
- 1 onion (medium, thinly sliced)
- 1 potato (medium, peeled, cut into 4 mm thick batons)
- 150 g cauliflower (broken into small florets)
- 1 small handful spinach (roughly chopped)
- 1 green chilli (small, finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon ginger (finely grated)
- 1 small handful coriander leaves (chopped)
Batter
- 150 g gram flour (besan)
- 30 g rice flour
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ajwain seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds (lightly crushed)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon amchur (dried mango powder; optional)
- 160-180 ml cold water (approximately)
To fry
- 1 litre vegetable oil (or sunflower oil)
Method
Stage 1 - Batter
- Whisk the gram flour, rice flour, chilli powder, turmeric, ajwain, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, bicarbonate of soda, salt and amchur in a large bowl.
- Add the water gradually, whisking, to a thick coating batter - it should drop off a spoon in a slow, heavy ribbon, not run.
- Rest 5 minutes (the gram flour hydrates).
Stage 2 - Mix vegetables
- Add the onion, potato, cauliflower, spinach, green chilli, ginger and coriander leaves to the batter.
- Mix gently; the batter should coat the vegetables in a thin, sticky layer (add a tablespoon more flour if too loose, water if too stiff).
Stage 3 - First fry
- Heat the oil to 160°C in a deep heavy pan.
- Drop in clusters of vegetable-batter using two spoons, gathering a heaped tablespoon per pakora.
- Fry 5-6 at a time, 3-4 minutes, turning, until pale gold and just cooked through.
- Lift onto kitchen paper. Rest 5 minutes (or up to 1 hour).
Stage 4 - Second fry
- Raise the oil to 185°C.
- Return the pakora to the oil 4 at a time.
- Fry 1-2 minutes until deep gold and the surface is hard-crisp.
- Lift onto kitchen paper; salt lightly while hot.
Notes
- Two-stage frying: The first fry cooks the vegetables; the second fry, at higher heat, crisps and lacquers. This is what gives Indian pakora their signature crunch, separate from a one-fry fritter.
- Rice flour: Adds the extra crispness that gram flour alone can't deliver. Cornflour is a tolerable substitute.
- Cold water: Batter mixed with cold water (and not over-whisked) gives an open, light texture. Warm water leads to a dense, doughy coating.
- Don't overcrowd: The oil temperature drops too far. Six small clusters maximum per batch.
Variations
Onion pakora (kanda bhajia): Use only onion (300 g sliced) and skip the other vegetables. The Mumbai street version. Paneer pakora: 250 g paneer cubed 2 cm; coat in the batter; one-stage fry at 175°C for 3 minutes. Serve with chaat masala sprinkled on top. Palak pakora: Whole spinach leaves dipped in batter, fried flat. Eaten as a starter.
Serving
Serve with: mint-coriander chutney, tamarind chutney, tomato ketchup (the casual choice), or a wedge of lemon. Temperature: hot, just-fried. Drink: masala chai or salty lassi.
Storage
- Eat within 30 minutes; the texture softens fast.
- Reheat at 200°C oven for 6-8 minutes to restore crispness; never microwave.
- Batter doesn't keep; mix fresh.
More like this
Aloo Tikki
Floury potatoes boil in their skins, then mash dry. A spice paste of green chilli, ginger and roasted cumin folds in with chopped coriander, mint and amchur for sourness. Cornflour and gram flour bind without making the tikki gummy. Patties form, chill to firm up, then shallow-fry in shallow oil on a flat pan for 4-5 minutes per side until deep gold and crisp with a soft interior. The chilled rest is what stops them falling apart.
Samosa
A stiff oil-rich plain-flour dough (maida) rolls thin and crisps in the fryer with the characteristic blistered surface. The filling is dry: boiled potato, peas, ginger, green chilli, cumin, coriander seed, garam masala and amchur (dried mango powder) for sourness. The pastry is rolled into ovals, halved into semicircles, formed into cones, stuffed, sealed and fried in two stages: low-temperature first to set the pastry without browning, then a hot finish to blister and crisp.
Mixed Vegetable Pakora
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.
Palak Paneer
Spinach is blanched for one minute then plunged into iced water (a step that locks the colour bright green). The drained spinach is blended with green chilli into a smooth puree. A masala of onion, ginger, garlic and tomato is built and the puree stirred in. Cubes of paneer, lightly pan-fried, are added at the end so they sit on top of the gravy rather than dissolving into it. Finished with cream and kasuri methi.