Vegetable Pakoras

Do you ever get the cravings for something hot, spicy and crunchy but can't figure out what exactly you want?

Well this was me for most of my second pregnancy and the only thing that did the trick were these vegetable pakoras.

They are unbelievably addictive and once you adjust the batter to your liking, you can pakora your heart out.

The best vegetable pakoras are made with the thinnest sliced vegetables and you can speed this process up by using a food processor.

I'm usually not bothered to use the food processor as I have to wash the whole thing when I can just use a knife but in this case it makes sense as there are lots of different vegetables to chop through.

Some veggies like the fine green beans I leave in whole as they fry nicely in the batter but others are worth chopping as thinly as possible like the onions because no one likes a chunk of uncooked onion.

So this is one of those flexi-recipes where you can adapt according to what you have in the fridge and what spices appeal to you.

Really, you could make these just with onions and potatoes but the more vegetables you have the more interesting the texture and flavour of the overall pakora.

I've used gram flour which is made of chickpeas here and added some cornflour for extra crunch and baking powder for a little puffiness.

If you can, let the batter rest in the fridge for at least half an hour.

I add little spoons of the vegetable batter to the hot oil rather than big lumps which don't cook in the middle.

It's also important to get the oil quite hot which you can test with a tiny piece of batter to see if it sizzles and floats to the surface.

You are looking for the consistency of a loose cake batter that can coat all the vegetables.

As always, try one and adjust the seasoning or consistency with some extra water if necessary.

📖 Recipe

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Vegetable pakoras

Easy vegan pakoras with onions, potatoes, cauliflower and eggplants

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Indian, Vegan

Keyword Pakoras

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Servings 4

Author Zaatar and Zaytoun

Ingredients

• 2 cups gram chickpea flour (Approx. 250g)
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 400 ml water
• 1 teaspoon each of salt, cumin, 7 spice and chilli powder
• ¼ teaspoon of sumac
• Small Squeeze lemon juice Approx 1 tsp
• Handful of coriander (cilantro)
• 1 onion very thinly sliced
• 3 spring onions finely chopped
• 1 green birds eye chilli finely chopped
• 2 potatoes very thinly sliced into matchsticks
• 1 cup cauliflower florets thinly chopped
• ¼ of an eggplant very thinly sliced into matchsticks
• A handful of extra fine green beans chopped in half
• ½ cup frozen sweetcorn

Instructions

1. Prepare the vegetables either using a food processor or slicing very thinly as per instructions

2. Whisk the gram flour, baking powder, cornflour with the water. Add the salt, sumac and spices along with the lemon juice and stir well
3. Add the sliced vegetables and mix until everything is coated well with the batter. You are looking for the consistency of a loose cake batter so adjust with flour or water as necessary
4. If possible, rest for half an hour in the fridge
5. Heat up your vegetable oil for frying and test with a tiny piece of batter until it sizzles and floats to the surface
6. Spoon small amounts into the oil turning once they have browned from the sides

7. Taste the first pakora and adjust salt/seasoning as necessary

8. Serve immediately with some optional tamarind sauce

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