Vegetable Pakoras 1

 

Ingredients

For the vegetables:

• 1 red pepper, chopped into chunks
• 1 courgette, chopped into batons
• 1 red onion, chopped into wedges
• 200g cauliflower, in florets
• For the dip:
• 50g fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
• 150g 0% fat natural yogurt

For the batter:

• 100g gram flour
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• half tsp bicarbonate soda
• 100ml water
• 400ml rapeseed oil

Method

Step 1

Prepare all the vegetables. (When preparing the onion, peel and carefully trim only the ends, as leaving the root intact holds the wedges together.)

Step 2

In a dish, stir together all of the ingredients for the dip together and place in the fridge.

Step 3

Mix together the gram flour, all the spices, chilli and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, and then mix in the water. The batter should be the consistency of thick cream.

Step 4

Heat the oil in a saucepan to 180°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, then test the oil with a small blob of batter. (If the oil is hot enough, the batter should start frying straight away and float to the top.)

Step 5

Add the vegetables to the batter and mix them around so they’re all coated. Pick them out with a spoon and carefully drop into the hot oil – a few at a time. Cook the pakoras for 3–4 minutes.

Step 6

When golden brown, remove the pakoras with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to drain. Repeat until all of the pakoras are cooked. Serve with the dip.

Recipe tips

Due to the fact that the pakoras are fried, they are meant as an occasional treat.

 To make sure that the pakoras are not too fatty, the oil needs to be hot enough – in this case, 180ºC. This way, the cooking time will be less and the vegetables won’t be in the oil for very long. Using a cook’s thermometer is a good way of making sure the oil is at the right temperature.