[others]
I'm not sure whether these should be called pakoras or bhajias but they're good and simple to make. They're a good late evening snack for a change from ordering pizza. I've only listed onions here but you can try almost any mixture of vegetables.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes.
Cooking time: 10 minutes.
Unique Equipment: None.
Shopping List
- Onions, 2 large.
- Green chillies, 2 fresh.
- Coriander, fresh, large handful.
- Gram flour(besan), 2 cups.
- Chilli powder, 1 tsp.
- Turmeric, 1 tsp.
- Baking powder, 1 tsp.
- Salt, 1 tbsp.
- Fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp.
- Cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp.
- Onion seeds, 1/2 tsp.
- Water, preferably soda water, cold.
- Vegetable oil.
Meez
- Gram flour(besan).
- Chilli powder.
- Turmeric.
- Baking powder.
- Salt.
- Fennel seeds, coursely grind.
- Cumin seeds, coursely grind.
- Onion seeds, coursely grind.
- Onions, finely slice.
- Green chillies, slice.
- Coriander, chop.
- Water.
- Vegetable oil.
In The Kitchen
Sift the gram flour, chilli powder, turmeric, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Add the seeds, onion, green chillies, and coriander and toss it well. Using the end of a wooden spoon, or a chop-stick, gradually mix in enough cold water to produce a thick batter that surrounds all the ingredients. Lumps are not a bad thing.
Heat enough oil in a dutch oven or large work for deep-frying. It goes without saying to be very, very careful here since a wok of hot oil can do some life-long damage. If you like them, keep the kids and pets out of the kitchen. I prefer to use my wok for this but generally opt for the more stable dutch oven. Heat the oil, use a thermometer if you're smart enough to own one, I'm not.
Once the oil's hot, drop in the batter in spoonfuls. Try varying sizes of spoonfuls, I usually fall somewhere between a large walnut and a tennis ball. Fry them until they're golden brown, you'll have to turn them at least once since they float. Drain them well and serve em up.
Posted May 15, 2003