Pakora
Pakora is the fried fritter you make when you want something savoury and want it soon — besan whisked with water and spices, vegetables folded through, straight into the oil. Ours uses Pillsbury Besan 100% Chana Dal Flour, part of the Pillsbury range we distribute across the Maldives. It has a full, nutty flavour and carries just as well into chilla and other Indian flatbreads and sweets. Serving size: 2
Ingredients List
- 1/3 cup potato strips (sliced very thinly)
- 1/3 cup onion (sliced very thinly)
- 1 finely chopped green chilli
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves
- 5 tbsp Pillsbury Besan 100% Chana Dal Flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp coriander powder
- ¼ tsp cumin powder
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 cups of oil
Step-by-Step Method
- 1
Into a medium sized bowl, add in 1/3 cup potato strips (sliced very thinly), 1/3 cup onion (sliced very thinly), 1 finely chopped green chilli, 1 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves, 5 tbsp Pillsbury Besan 100% Chana Dal Flour, 3/4 tsp salt, ½ tsp chilli powder, ½ tsp garam masala, ¼ tsp turmeric powder, ¼ tsp coriander powder, and ¼ tsp cumin powder.
- 2
Mix everything well together using your hand, until the flour and seasonings are evenly mixed in. The mixture will be coarse and damp at this point.
- 3
Now, add in 3 tbsp water and mix again with your hand, until it is evenly combined. Once mixed, the mixture will be a thick batter.
- 4
In a large pot, heat up 2 cups of oil on high heat for around 4-5 minutes. To check if the oil is heated enough, you can add a small piece of the batter and if rapid bubbles form around it, the oil is heated.
- 5
Then with a spoon, scoop up around ½ tbsp of the pakora batter and add to the oil (it doesn’t have to be fully round and even). Repeat until you end up with around 5-6 pieces of batter in the oil. We fried the pakoras in 2 batches, so that the oil is not overcrowded.
- 6
Fry the pakoras for around 3-4 minutes or until they are a dark golden-brown colour. Repeat this process with the second batch of batter. This batch will take less time to fry (for us this took around 3 minutes).
- 7
Once fried, add the pakoras to an oil draining basket to drain excess oil. They are best when still warm and crunchy.