Pakora recipe (Vegetable pakora)

Veg pakora recipe – Pakora are a delicious Indian crisp fried snack made with gram flour, spices & any main ingredient like onion, paneer or veggies. These vegetable pakora are a variation of the onion pakoda & are super quick to make anytime. These deep fried snack taste delicious & are extremely addictive with a great aroma of gram flour or besan and spices.

Onion pakora are the most popular street food & snack across India. Vegetable pakora that are served in North Indian restaurants are made with other vegetables Potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, Bellpeppers/ capsicum, eggplant/brinjal etc.

The recipe shared here is my own and is very different from the restaurant served pakora platter. These vegetable pakora can be made using mixed vegetables and leafy greens like palak or methi.

I made these on a weekend when I was left with very few veggies from the previous week. I know deep frying veggies isn’t a good idea, but I do it when I have surplus veggies.

These pakoda turn out crunchy & extremely delicious. Surely they will be loved by everyone. These make a good weekend or evening snack and can be made easily even when you have guests home.

Tips to make best pakoras

1.Always use quick cook veggies to make pakoras. Avoid veggies like potato or sweet potato as the cook time is different from the other veggies. They often don’t cook well.

2.The key to making best crisp pakoras is not to add too much water while making the dough. Veggies tend to release moisture when set aside. So add accordingly.

3. Fry the vegetable pakoras on a medium flame until crisp. Too low flame with make the pakoras soak up lot of oil. Too high flame will brown the pakoras without cooking the dough well from inside.

4. Always taste the gram flour before using it as it has a very short shelf life. It tends to turn bitter with in a few months of processing it.

5.You can also add in lot of leafy greens that are finely chopped.

6. Usually carom seeds or ajwain are used to flavor the pakoras. However if you do not have them just skip and add some garam masala powder.

Serving suggestions

We usually enjoy our pakoras with a cup of hot masala chai. However most people love these green chutney or any hot sauce like this schezwan sauce.

You may also like to check these 19 Pakoda recipes, some of them are
Gobi pakoda
Sweet corn pakoda
Onion pakoda
Cabbage pakoda
Mirchi bajji

Pakora recipe

Pakora recipe (Vegetable pakora)

Mixed Vegetable pakora are veggie fritters made in South Indian style. They are addictive, aromatic, crunchy and a delicious snack. Serve thwm with cup of tea or chutney.

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time15 minutes

Total Time25 minutes

Servings4

AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )

Ingredients for pakora recipe

• ½ cup besan or gram flour (add little more if needed)
• ¼ cup rice flour or corn flour (add little more if needed proportionally with besan)
• salt as needed
• ½ tsp carom seeds or ajwain (to suit your taste) (optional)
• 3 green chilies chopped (adjust)
• handful mint or pudina or coriander or dill leaves chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste or crushed
• ¼ to ½ tsp garam masala powder
• oil for deep frying as needed

mixed veggies julienned 2.5 to 3 cups

• 1 medium carrot or ¾ cup julienned
• ¼ cup capsicum
• 1 cup cabbage shredded
• 1 medium onion thinly sliced
• 6 french beans

How to make the recipe

Preparation for pakora recipe

• Wash the veggies and cut to thin 2 inch long strips.
• Add them to a bowl along with ginger garlic, chilies, salt, green chili, garam masala, mint or other herbs.
• Mix well & squeeze them gently to release moisture. Keep aside for 10 mins.
• Add the gram flour along with ajwain.
• Adjust salt if needed. Add few tbsps water if needed to make a dough.
• Mix well to make a stiff dough.

How to make pakora

• Heat oil in a deep pan.
• When the oil is hot, slide a small portion of the dough to check if the oil is hot enough.
• The pakora dough must rise without browning a lot. This is the right temperature.
• Then gently drop small portions of the dough after flattening a bit.
• Keep stirring and fry on a medium heat until lightly golden.
• Finish frying the pakora dough in batches.
• Serve vegetable pakora hot with a cup of tea or green chutney.

NUTRITION

Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 33mg | Potassium: 353mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 76.2% | Vitamin C: 34.3% | Calcium: 3.3% | Iron: 6.8%

Preparation to make vegetable pakora

1. Wash the veggies thoroughly. I have used 1 cup shredded cabbage, 1 medium onion sliced, ¼ cup capsicum, 1 medium carrot, 4 to 5 french beans julienned. Make sure you remove or chop off the bean inside the french beans. They may burst while frying.

You can use other veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, bhindi, potatoes, sweet potatoes, brinjal etc. Make sure all the veggies are almost of uniform size, thin and long. This helps in even frying.

2. You can also add chopped spinach, methi, coriander, dill or pudina/ mint leaves. I used a handful of mint leaves, they add a great aroma. Also add chopped green chilies, crushed ginger garlic or paste, little garam masala and salt.

How to make pakora mix

3. Mix all these and squeeze the veggies a bit to let out moisture from them. The mixture begins to smell very good. Set aside for about 10 mins.

4. Add besan/ chickpea flour, ajwain and rice flour.

5. Mix everything well to make a dough. If needed you can sprinkle few tbsps of water. I did not use any water, moisture from veggies was sufficient to make a dough. Adjust the salt and chilies as needed by tasting the dough.

How to make pakora

6. Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot enough, adjust the flame to medium. Take small portions of this dough, slightly flatten. Drop in hot oil. Keep stirring for even frying.

7. Fry until lightly golden. Transfer to a kitchen or absorbent tissue.

Serve mix veg pakora hot.