We never need much of an excuse to make these! They are a perfect tea-time snack or a great pre-dinner appetiser along with a gin and tonic. See the notes below for ensuring they are gluten-free and/or vegan should that be your preference.

Vegetable Pakoras

Category: Savoury Dishes & Snacks

Recipe: 173

Ingredients for the batter:

• 115g (4oz) gram flour or split-pea flour
• 150ml (¼ pt) Water
• ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder
• ¾ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Garam Masala

Ingredients for the minced vegetable pakoras:

• 115g (4oz) Onions
• 2 Green Chillies or ½ Green Pepper (aka Bell Pepper or Capsicum)
• ½ tsp Coriander Seeds, crushed —optional
• A pinch of Baking Powder*
• 2 tsp Fresh Coriander Leaves, chopped
• 15 g (½oz) Ginger
• A pinch of Carom Seeds (Ajwain)
• 1 tsp Dried Pomegranate Seeds (Anardana)
• 1 tbsp Melted Ghee, or your preferred oil**

For frying:

• Enough ghee or oil** for your deep frying pan to fry the pakoras 

Step 1: make the batter

Sieve gram flour into a bowl and make a depression in its centre. Pour in half of the water after heating it a little bit and continue stirring the flour until it becomes a thick batter. Beat hard for 15 minutes and gradually add the remaining warm water. Leave to swell for half an hour. Add salt, red chilli powder and garam masala and beat for a further 5 minutes.

Step 2: add the vegetables

Peel and chop the onions, ginger and green chillies or green pepper finely. Mix these into the batter. Add carom seeds, crushed coriander seeds, dried pomegranate seeds, green coriander leaves, melted ghee or oil and the baking powder.

Step 3: fry the pakoras

Heat the ghee or oil in a deep frying pan to smoking point. Stir the mixture and drop a dessertspoonful at a time into the oil. A number may be cooked at a time. Fry on medium heat and turn frequently till golden brown in colour. If the pakoras are taken out of the pan when they are only three-quarters fried, cooled, and fried a second time they become crisper than those fried only once. This double frying is however only possible if the pakoras are removed from the pan before they are golden brown and are finally browned when they are fried the second time. Mrs Balbir Singh always recommended single frying though, because the double-fried ones absorb more fat and can easily become tougher and darker in colour if left in the oil for a shade too long.

Step 4: serve

Mint chutney or a tomato ketchup/sauce are the usual accompaniments of pakoras. You could substitute the mint chutney with a mint & yoghurt dip or even a tangy tamarind sauce. 

Alternative: 

Use 15g (¼oz) each of spinach, fenugreek leaves, finely-shredded cabbage, finely-cut cauliflower or diced parboiled potatoes along with 2 to 3 green chillies in place of the minced onions, ginger and the chillies/bell peppers in the above preparation of pakoras.