Topic: Veggie Pakoras

[Curry King]

Pakoras

Ingredients:
6 mushrooms, Cauliflower florets and 2 Onions
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 oz (225g) gram flour
? tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tsp baking powder
? tsp asafoetida
1 tsp salt
? tsp of each of the following fennel seeds and cumin seeds, (Ground up coarsely)
2oz (50g) Coriander

Method:
Sieve the gram flour into a bowl and then add all the veggies diced up nice and small (? inch max.)
mix in all the remaining ingredients and stir the whole lot until evenly coated.
Now GENTLY add water until the mixture is just too stiff to drip off a spoon. Remember to get the whole lot blended evenly before adding more water. If you do over do it with the water just add a bit more gram flour.
Heat oil in a wok.
Using 2 teaspoons scoop blobs of the mixture into the hot oil. Initially it sticks to the bottom so try and get 9 or 10 blobs in then give the wok a gentle shake and the pakoras will float to the surface. Continue cooking for about 5 mins. Don't rush them or the outside will be cooked and the inside still too doughy. This can also happen if the blobs are to big or the fat is too hot. Have a play and you'll soon get the right combination.
Ideally you should cook these just before eating as they don't keep too well and certainly not over night. 

Dipping Sauce:
250 ml natural yoghurt
salt to taste
1 level teaspoon chilli powder
1 level teaspoon mint sauce
7 tablespoons tomato ketchup

[blade1212]

Thanks CK - I like the idea of asafoetida in the pakoras. Never tried that before - it might add that elusive taste I'm after.

Can you tell me the source of this recipe ?

[Curry King]

I can't remember the exact source to be honest a few have been posted on here in various threads I think I got most of it from Curry Queen I know she posted the dip.  I made these at the weekend and thought blimey thats a lot when i finished but the whole lot were scoffed in minutes  ;D

[sp]

Excellent recipe, I've never made Pakoras before (tbh i'm new to all this cooking curry lark - an old hand at eating it ) but that recipe is spot on - almost exactly like both my local indian restaurants

Not sure about the yoghurt sauce but that's probably because they don't seem to make it that way here, one of the restaurants (the "Al' Bhar" in Elgin) uses the tomato sauce/mint sauce/chilli powder/lemon juice one without yoghurt but I can't work out what the other uses (the "Qismat" in Elgin), its like a thin red sauce with bits of onion or tomato in it im not sure

Are there any other variations on pakora dipping sauce besides these two?

[sp]

I got some of the mystery sauce last night from Qismat...  here's my best attempt at duplicating it (its basically spiced onions, thanks to the poster of the original recipe):

1x large onion
1x teaspoon of salt
1x tablespoon of hot chilli powder (adjust to suit taste - i like 'em spicy)
1x tablespoon of mint sauce
6x tablespoons of tomato sauce
Red food colouring
dash of lemon juice

Peel and very finely chop/dice the onion, place in a bowl, add the salt, chilli powder, mint sauce, tomato sauce and lemon juice

Mix well (a hand blender is good for chopping the onions up even finer), add food colouring to give it that glow in the dark vivid bright red colour ;D

Dilute mixture with water to suit

[merrybaker]

That sounds good, Curry King.  But could you give a ballpark figure of the amount of cauliflower you used?  Thanks.

-Mary

[Curry King]

It's hard to say I just chopped and added enough until it looked "right" probably about half a regular sized cauliflower.

[merrybaker]

That's close enough.  Thanks!

-Mary

[Fat Les (Banned for removing own posts!)]

Hi Curry King,

Thank's for sharing your recipe Curry King 

I'll try it out sometime and let you know how I got on.

[Panpot]

Hi Curry King,

I cant wait to cook the Pakora tonight but can you advise on the amount of oil in the pan and the type you use too and how hot is the oil

Thanks for yet more inspiration

Panpot