Shabzi Pakora Food

PAKORA RECIPE | VEGETABLE PAKORA

Steps:

• Wash the veggies and cut to thin 2 inch long strips. Check the pictures in the post.
• Add them to a bowl along with ginger garlic, green chilies (or chilli flakes), salt, garam masala, mint or other herbs. Mix well & squeeze them gently to release moisture. Keep aside for 10 mins.
• Add the gram flour, rice flour (or corn starch) along with ajwain (optional). Mix well to a slightly sticky dough. If the dough is too dry, sprinkle a few tablespoons of water and mix. It must be of a sticky dough consistency and not batter consistency.
• Taste test and add more salt, garam masala or green chilies.
• Heat oil in a deep pan on a medium heat. Test by dropping a small portion of dough, it must sizzle and come up but not brown. This is the right temperature.
• Take small portions of dough and flatten with your fingers to 1½ inch size portions and gently slide to the hot oil. You won't shape it or drop it in lumps.
• Regulate the flame to medium. Do not disturb for a minute or 2 until they firm up a bit. Then stir them and fry until golden, crisp and aromatic.
• Remove the vegetable pakoras to a cooling rack or steel colander. To make the next batch, ensure the oil is hot enough but not smoking hot. Fry in batches until you finish all of the prepared dough.
• Serve vegetable pakora hot with a cup of masala tea or green chutney.
• To keep them crispy for longer, place them on a wired rack in a low oven setting. You can also reheat them in air fryer.

SHABZI PAKORA

Steps:

• First prepare all the vegetables: you are aiming for everything to be in long thin strips of roughly equal size (around 1½in). Place all the vegetables, fresh cilantro and chile in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle over the salt, turmeric and chili powder. Mix together until they are well combined; hands are best for this to make sure that all the vegetables are covered. Use disposable gloves if you are worried about turmeric stains.
• Sprinkle over the ground rice and mix together well. Now sprinkle over the gram flour a handful at a time, until it coats all the vegetables.
• Mix the vegetables and flours together, and squidge everything together really well. This will draw the moisture out of the vegetables which will combine with the flours to form a light batter. Sometimes you may also need to add a little splash of water for the batter to come together, but you may not need any, and the less you use the better. The vegetables should give off enough of their own moisture to render the extra water unnecessary. The vegetables should just about hold together when you press them into a ball, but they don't need to be very sticky. This will give a lighter and crispier texture when the pakora are cooked.
• To fry the pakora, pre-heat plain vegetable oil to 180ºC/350°F. A deep-fat fryer is the best option if you have one, if not you can use a saucepan or wok, but never fill the pan more than half full and never leave hot oil unattended. To test the temperature drop a tiny amount (a teaspoon) of the batter into the hot oil; it should float up to the surface and turn golden-brown within a minute.
• With either your hands or two spoons, pick up small amounts of the batter and gently press them together so that each holds a loose nugget-shape of around 2in in diameter. Drop the first batch of pakora batter balls carefully into the hot oil and allow to cook gently for 7-8 minutes. Turn once during cooking.
• When the pakora are a deep bronzed-brown, use a slotted spoon to lift them carefully out of the hot oil and drain on kitchen paper. If the pakora remain doughy in the middle, reduce the heat of the oil and cook them more slowly, or make the pakora slightly smaller in the next batch.
• Serve as soon as possible for the best results. However if you need to fry them in advance, let them cool down in the open air and then reheat them in a hot oven (200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6) for 5 minutes before eating.

PAKORA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/100C fan/ gas 1/2. Make a paste by blitzing the chilli, ginger and tomato together, then set aside.
• Mix the gram flour with the spices. Add all the prepared vegetables and toss in the mix. Slowly add 150ml water until the batter coats the vegetables - they should be well coated, but not swimming in it.
• Add the tomato mixture and get your hands in there, mixing well until everything is incorporated. Add a little lemon juice and seasoning.
• Heat the oil to 180C. Take a handful of the mix and squeeze it into a loose little ball, to ensure the vegetables stick to each other when lowered in the oil. Use a spoon to carefully drop the ball into the oil.
• Fry for about 4 mins until golden and crispy, then taste to test for seasoning and consistency. You may also need to add a little water or gram our to the mixture at this point if your tester ball didn't hold together. Repeat, frying the remaining mixture in batches.
• Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in the oven as you go. Serve immediately with chutney.