Super tasty – as a snack and in dahi curries. In Mumbai, pakoras can be bought freshly fried from street vendors. Mumbai is too far? No problem, here’s the recipe.
I’ve always been a little shy about making deep-fried dishes since I don’t have a deep fryer. But if you’re making snacks in smaller quantities, there’s absolutely no reason for it and it works fine in the saucepan. These pakoras with onions turn out great in the saucepan and you don’t need too much oil either.
If you are frying at home, make sure you aerate well 🙂 . You can fill the oil into a bottle and use it several times. Let it run through a coffee filter after frying to filter out any residue. And if you want to dispose of it: please never dump it down the drain! Always throw it away, it’s best to use an old but tight bag for disposal or any old plastic can.
The side dishes to pakoras
On the street, pakora is often served with garlic chutney (you can find the recipe here on my overview of chutneys) and fried chilies. Tastes great and by frying the chilies lose some of their heat. Nevertheless, nothing for the faint-hearted. I like them, but definitely prefer using somewhat milder chilies, which you can buy here in Mumbai fortunately. They are larger and brighter. The size makes up a bit for the lower heat when used for cooking. So you can use both varieties well when cooking. They just don’t have as much of that biting spiciness, though, which is why I like them better. Unfortunately, they are almost impossible to get outside of India. If you know any stores that sell them, please leave a comment.
Be sure to score the chilies lengthwise before frying or they will crack. With the oil, it’s a huge mess. Happened to me once, I didn’t know that before. If you score them well, this can’t happen again. After frying just add coarse crushed salt and bite into them 😍.
Kadhi with Onion Pakora as a chowder in a big bowl. Around the bowl are smaller bowls with Mango Pickle, Beetroot, Potato Vegetable and a plate of Rice – Kadhi served with Onion Pakora in a large bowl. Around the bowl are smaller bowls with mango pickle, beetroot, potato vegetable and a plate of rice
Pakoras are often served together with dahi curry (yogurt curry) or kadhi. This makes a yogurt curry a bit more substantial and tastes great together! However, don’t add the pakoras until right before serving so they stay nice and crispy. Here you’ll find a great recipe for a Gujarati Kadhi.
You want to learn more about the amazing Indian cuisine? Click here. And now for the recipe for pakora 🙂
Onion pakora – deep fried onions from India
Ingredients
- 4 onions cut into fine slices
- salt
- 1 cup gram flour sifted
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ cup coriander leaves chopped
- 3 green chilies chopped finely
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp coriander powder
- oil for frying, about 1-2 inches high in a saucepan
Instructions
- Cut the onions into really thin slices. See the video above.
- Add 1-2 tsp of salt to the onions, massage it in a bit and let the onions sit like this for 10 minutes. This will remove water from them, making them crispier when fried.
- Now sift the chickpea flour and gradually add a little water. About ⅓ of the amount of chickpea flour should fit. The dough should be nice and thick.
- Now stir the rest of the ingredients into the batter and add the onions.
- Heat the oil on the stove and add another 1-2 Tbsp of hot oil to the batter and mix everything well.
- Take small amounts of onions in the batter and add them to your pot little by little. Depending on the size, you can fry several pakoras at a time. I always prepared 2 at a time.
- The frying time is quite short. Maybe 2 minutes per side, flip them over once or twice. They should just about turn dark brown. When they are dark brown, get them out. Otherwise they will burn.
- My pakoras turned out a little large. I think if you take a well heaped Tbsp per pakora, it's better. Then they become even crispier. But mine were very tasty and the feedback from my sister-in-law and parents-in-law was very positive!
Please rate my recipe before you leave 🙂:
Source of recipe for Onion Pakora: http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005/12/o-is-for-onion-bhajji.html?m=1
Cooked with lots of love ♥ on From zero to curry.
