Topic: Pakora(s)

[Peripatetic Phil]

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.

[Garp]

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?

[Kashmiri Bob]

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 

[goncalo]

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?

[Peripatetic Phil]

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.

[Kashmiri Bob]

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     

[Stephen Lindsay]

chillitastic Rob!

[chewytikka]

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

[gazman1976]

190 too hot for cooking them, i would say 170 then up it for the crisp once they r cooked

[Garp]

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