Curry Recipes Online
Curry Photos & Videos => Pictures of Your Curries => Topic started by: Kashmiri Bob on July 30, 2013, 08:39 AM
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Chicken tikka pakora
Batter:
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/03c5f228c181aa6ba67368f2b7eed061.jpg)
Pre-cooked chicken tikka dunked in batter and deep fried. Cooling down on paper towel:
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/1047fce97c4bd7057422743aa3e2644e.jpg)
Nice and crispy. Best eaten straight away:
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/40fd61f78e9c9bf2ea354c90e4d3c199.jpg)
King prawn pakora
Need a bit more spicing. Prawns first marinaded in G/G paste, lemon juice and salt. Then a little mustard oil and Mr. Naga pickle. Batter altered to include chopped fresh chilli and cracked black pepper. Very tasty:
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/a550622a0bae10a20647f6a34d590beb.jpg)
Fish pakora
Cod. Shah Jeera (black cumin) batter. Served with a simple home-made mint dip (yoghurt, mint sauce, fresh garlic paste, fresh coriander, salt and single cream). Garnished with fresh coriander, chopped fresh chilli and chives:
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/f01db578e6070de18e7407f325b18771.jpg)
Rob :)
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Looks great Rob (The Tikka King)
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Hi Rob
More like the Pakora king
These look really professional, a step up from a TA.
If your experimenting, add a good pinch of rubbed Ajwain to your batter.
Your King Prawn Pakora would be great tossed in a sticky Manchurian sauce.
You've got me reaching for the Besan
cheers Chewy
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What's the recipe for the batter please Bob?
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The chicken tikka pakora batter is pretty much the same as one of my my local TAs. Very popular, but they don't seem to travel well.
I just make a small amount of the batter.
Start with 100 ml of water in a measuring jug. Add about a 1/2 tsp each of mix powder, kashmiri chilli powder, and chaat masala. A pinch of methi, and just under a 1/2 tsp of ajowan (carom seeds). Whisk in 1 egg, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of orange food colouring. Then blend in self-raising flour (about 3 tbsp or so) to give a runny soup consistency, with bubbles. Adjust salt etc. to taste. I felt the prawns/fish needed more in the way of spicing, so just played around with those, G/G paste etc.
I think Chewy posted recently that it's better to add the "liquid" to the flour (rather than the other way around like what I did). I didn't have any problems, but can see myself getting into a pickle if making a larger quantity. Most recipes I've seen call for besan flour. I checked with my TA any they definitely use "naan flour". Posh chicken nuggets.
Good tip for rubbing the ajowan Chewy. Will try that. I just bunged it in. Had planned to add a bit more next time for more flavour, but breaking some of the seeds may do the job. Never heard of sticky Manchurian sauce before. Sounds very nice.
Rob :)
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Never heard of sticky Manchurian sauce before. Sounds very nice.
As in this (http://www.ivillage.com/grilled-chicken-fingers-manchurian-sauce/3-r-189259) recipe ?
** Phil.
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Never heard of sticky Manchurian sauce before. Sounds very nice.
As in this (http://www.ivillage.com/grilled-chicken-fingers-manchurian-sauce/3-r-189259) recipe ?
** Phil.
Ah yes. No. Just done a search. Seems to along the lines of chicken 65 but not as hot/peppery. I guess this is also the stuff some restaurants use for shashlik and mixed grill type starters. Mighty fine. Not used at my local TAs, but the tandoori chef told me he has in the past used Heera chilli garlic sauce for the purpose. Goncalo has just made a recipe for it. Would indeed be fantastic with king prawns.
I'll get some free-range king prawns so you can make it as well Phil. ;)
Rob :)
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I'll get some free-range king prawns so you can make it as well Phil. ;)
You can't pull the wool over my eyes, Rob; unless they have the little lion stamped on their shells, I shall know straight away that they aren't free-range :)
** Phil.
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You can't pull the wool over my eyes, Rob; unless they have the little lion stamped on their shells, I shall know straight away that they aren't free-range :)
** Phil.
Ha ha! Like it.
Just remembered I've got some chicken 65 in the freezer. That's tonight's nose-bag sorted!
Rob :)
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Thought I'd have a go at making something along the lines of the Adil's Green chillies bhaji starter.
Chilli garlic pakora
Selected some nice plump fresh bullet chillies.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/7682741d99bfa3553dd8246859839867.jpg)
A simple batter again. No chilli powder this time. So, fresh G/G paste, crushed carom (great tip from Chewy), 1 1/2 tsp of sugar, cracked black pepper, roasted fennel seeds, and 6 very finely sliced cloves of garlic. The batter needs to be slightly thicker for the shiny chillies in order to coat them properly, compared to, for example, tikka pakora. The thin garlic slices stick to one another and wrap around the chillies nicely when mixed up in the batter.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/b1a0535eb243a199ebe85e632b923f8a.jpg)
Only take a few mins to deep fry.
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/57f48c6d12ac7bdc325a1335f1bab824.jpg)
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/8c4c774265c647ac95508008a13081ca.jpg)
I liked these! Great little starter. The smell of the chillies cooking is also delicious. You can tell from this when they are nearly just right. They also start hissing at you. I think next time I'll try finely diced garlic, or perhaps julienne, to add garlic crunch. Cracked roasted coriander seeds instead of fennel.
Rob :)
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They ... look ... GREAT. I am not one for praising every picture that appears (when you've seen 50 curries, you've seen them all), but your pakoras look a real work of art to me. It's not often that a picture appears on here that makes me feel genuinely hungry, but yours did. I hope they tasted as good as they look.
** Phil.
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Superb as always Bob.
Question: I use a different batter recipe, which gives excellent results, but the batter doesn't come out crispy. It's so long since I had pakora from a BIR/TA that I can't remember if it was crispy or soft. I thought maybe it was the frying temperature or something? Any advice but be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Garp
P.S. What method would you use to pre-cook chicken before pakora-ing?
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They did taste great Phil. Dead easy to make as well. Done similarly for chicken tikka pakora at my local TA. A little batter made up fresh as need. Not a lot to go wrong providing the batter is the right consistency. I think the staple spicing hereabouts for BIR pakoras is mainly just mix powder, a little chaat masala, and sometimes carom. The rest is just experimenting/playing around with other spices and seasoning.. Have some left and will re-heat them in the oven later. They'll still be OK. Think I'll drizzle a few with Ashoka pakora dip and see how that goes.
Not sure garp. They should be crispy from a TA, but can go soggy quickly, especially in plastic TA containers. I blitz the batter a bit and that adds bubbles, which I suppose could help with the crispness. Fryer on full tilt; I think 190 degrees C. Chewy may be able to advise more as he used to work in a chippy. Only made chicken tikka pakora so far. Easy peasy.
Rob :)
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Looks mighty fine Rob. I'm going to have a go at it with chicken sometime later.
I've bought some ajwain seeds a few weeks ago but never got around to use them. Now reading your recipe, reminds me that this may be the "herbal" flavour that I noticed in the pakoras from my local that I wasn't able to pin point before.
How is naan flour different to the regular one?
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I've bought some ajwain seeds a few weeks ago but never got around to use them. Now reading your recipe, reminds me that this may be the "herbal" flavour that I noticed in the pakoras from my local that I wasn't able to pin point before.
I would be 98,5% certain that it is. A great flavour when encounted occasionally, you would not want it to permeate every dish.
** Phil.
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Looks mighty fine Rob. I'm going to have a go at it with chicken sometime later.
I've bought some ajwain seeds a few weeks ago but never got around to use them. Now reading your recipe, reminds me that this may be the "herbal" flavour that I noticed in the pakoras from my local that I wasn't able to pin point before.
How is naan flour different to the regular one?
Could indeed be the ajwain seeds gongalo. See Chewy's tip earlier for rubbing them. Go easy though. A very pungent spice. You can of course taste the batter to check before you dunk your chicken. There's also ajwain in the Lasan Amritsari fish pakora recipe. The naan flour is just self-raising flour. My local use it because it's cheap, and gives decent results. I think besan (chickpea) flour is the norm, but when I tried it the batter (and pakoras) came out stodgy for some reason. Probably made it too thick; the batter needs to be pretty runny. Almost (but not quite) dripping off your finger tips, if that makes sense.
Rob :)
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chillitastic Rob!
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The Pakora King strikes again, look lush Rob. ;)
You could try stuffing them next time, Murghi Mirch. Mmmmm
Ajwain and Besan are a perfect flavour match ;)
cheers Chewy
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190 too hot for cooking them, i would say 170 then up it for the crisp once they r cooked
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Made some chicken pakora today. I wanted to try Rob's batter as it looks so good.
Made a batch with Rob's and a batch with my usual gram flour batter. No pictures I'm afraid, but pictures don't tell the whole story anyway.
As soon as I popped Rob's into the fryer, they floated up to the surface - pockets of air form (I'm assuming it's because of the self raising flour). After a few minutes (have too hold them down under the oil to get the top side cooked evenly) they came out lovely and crisp.
My usual ones sink for a bit longer before they lighten up and begin to rise to the surface of the oil, but also came out nice and crisp after the same (or slightly longer time).
I had to leave them both while I did some haggis pakora and it was interesting what I found when I returned to them.
Rob's previously crispy batter had went a wee bit mushy in places - kind of like a chippy fish, while the besan batter, although softened, had kept it's texture more. Not having a go because before serving, popped both back into the fryer for a couple of minutes and both were fine.
So the moral of the story is..................feck knows :)
Enjoyed a couple of hours messing around (emphasis on the 'mess') this afternoon.
If I had to give any advice - and if it was worth taking - I'd say 'use a gram flour batter for meat and a self raising flour one for fish.
That mint/yogurt dip is nice by the way but don't add much salt :)
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Good stuff garp. Agree the self-raising does seem to give a chippy-type floater batter. I've got no idea either. Not too bad though. The leftover chilli efforts from last night totally collapsed in the fridge, but after a quick spray with sunflower oil they came up (almost) like new in the oven. Served them up earlier with Ashoka pink pakora sauce. Very tasty. Meant to lean some chives over them for added effect, but totally forgot. All good fun!
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/603b76499eebb526f69043fe638147a7.jpg)
Will try gram flour next time. Top starter.
Rob :)
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You're right Rob - all good fun. There is no egg in my normal batter and maybe I will try beating one in next time - not sure what that will achieve but it can't do much harm.
Perhaps you should start a curry photography thread with hints and tips.
You are the undisputed King of the Kamera.
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Garp try using rice flour when making pakoras, say 1 tsp for every 200g of flour.
I have done quite a lot of recipes for pakoras and this is the one i use all the time by adding different ingredients to give a slightly different flavour according to what i would like pakora'd
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,3525.0.html (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,3525.0.html)
I made this the other day. Chicken Pakora and Paneer Pakora
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/b4510f81593c3dd30c8fdf92fb29fa7c.JPG) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#b4510f81593c3dd30c8fdf92fb29fa7c.JPG)
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Thanks UF.
To be honest, I'm kind of settled and happy with my basic batter recipe now: just need to fiddle with the spices for no reason other than to fiddle.
But I will keep in mind the rice flour tip for future reference.
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No worries Garp.