Pakora

Pakora is an Indian fried fritter that is typically made by mixing besan or chickpea flour with water, spices, and vegetables of your choice. These are quick and simple to whip up when you want a yummy savoury snack.

For our recipe, we have used the Pillsbury Besan 100% Chana Dal Flour, provided to us by one of our partners, Sosun Fihaara. This is a flavourful chickpea flour that can be used in dishes like Pakoras, Indian flatbreads like Chilla, and other Indian desserts. 

Serving size: 2

Ingredients:

• 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
• 1 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

Instructions:

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, 1 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.