Palak pakoda | Spinach pakora | How to make palak pakora

Palak pakoda recipe – A quick snack recipe made of spinach, basic spices and gram flour. Pakoda or pakora are deep fried tea time snack from Indian cuisine. Gram flour and carom seeds are the main ingredients used to make these crisp fried snacks. These crispy palak pakoda just happened on a weekend when I had some spinach left over and had to finish it up. These are good to serve hot with a cup of Indian masala chai.

To make palak pakoda crunchy and to add some texture I have used sliced onions and cashews. You can replace onions with cabbage or can even use mixed veggies. These are good to serve hot or warm. However these can be made ahead and crisped up in a preheated oven at 220 c for 5 to 6 mins.

For more Pakoda recipes, you may like to check
Onion pakoda
Bread pakora
Corn pakoda
Vegetable pakora

Palak pakoda or palak pakora recipe

Palak pakoda recipe | Spinach pakora | How to make palak pakora

Spinach pakora or palak pakoda are Indian style spinach fritters. These are crunchy and can be had as a starter or snack.

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time10 minutes

Total Time20 minutes

Servings3

AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )

• 2 ½ cups spinach or palak chopped
• 1 cup onions sliced
• 2 to 3 green chilies chopped
• ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
• Handful mint or pudina & coriander leaves
• Salt as needed
• 1 tsp carom seeds or ajwain
• ¼ cup besan or gram flour (2 tbsps more if needed)
• 2 tbsp rice flour (1 tbsp more if needed)
• ½ tsp red chili powder (optional)
• ½ tsp coriander powder (optional) or 2 pinches of garam masala
• Oil for deep frying

How to make the recipe

Preparation for spinach pakora

• Wash and rinse palak very well in enough water. Drain completely. Chop and measure.
• Add sliced onions, salt, coriander, mint leaves and green chilies. Next also add ginger garlic paste, red chili powder and coriander powder.
• Mix everything well and rest for 10 minutes.
• When the mixture releases moisture, add besan and rice flour.
• Mix well and check the salt.
• If using cashews add them now. Mix.

making palak pakoda

• Heat a kadai with oil. When the oil is just hot enough, drop the mixture in small quantities.
• Keep stirring and fry until golden.
• Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
• Serve palak pakoda hot or warm.

NUTRITION

Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 523mg | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2480IU | Vitamin C: 14.6mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 1.4mg

You may like to check this collection of palak recipes. Some of them are
Palak paratha
Palak paneer
Dal palak
Palak rice

Preparation for palak pakoda recipe

1. Wash and drain palak completely. Chop roughly about 1 inch in size. Do not chop finely. Add it to a bowl.

2. Add sliced onions and sprinkle salt.

3. Add some chopped mint, coriander and green chili.

4. Add ajwain. The other 3 ingredients ginger garlic, red chili powder and garam masala are optional.

5. Mix everything well gently and set aside for 10 mins.

6. Mix gently. You will find palak & onions have released some moisture.

Make the pakoda mixture

7. Add besan and rice flour.

8. Mix it. The mixture must be stiff and not soggy. If needed add more flour in the same proportions.

9. We prefer cashews in this palak pakoda. About 6 to 10 cashew nuts would be enough.

How to make palak pakoda

10. Heat oil in a kadai. When it is hot enough, put on the flame to medium. Drop the mixture little by little into the hot oil. Do not allow the oil to turn very hot.

11. Fry on a medium heat until golden. Keep stirring while frying. Drain on to a kitchen tissue.

Serve palak pakoda hot or warm with tea.