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Vegetable Pakora with Chickpea Flour Batter

Yogurt fermented pakora pancakes, shallow fried and delicious!
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This traditional recipe for vegetable pakora has a soaked chickpea and yogurt batter. It is lightly flavored with tamarind, coriander, and turmeric for a deliciously crispy gluten-free snack.  It can be made with a mix of different vegetables, so feel free to use whatever is in season.

Ingredients

Units Scale

Batter

  • 3 cups chickpea flour
  • 1 Tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 Tbsp tamarind paste (optional)
  • 2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 2 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups yogurt

Filling

  • 5 cups of chopped and grated vegetables (see notes for suggestions)

Instructions

  1. Mix all of the batter ingredients together until it is smooth. Leave the batter to soak for at least 20 minutes for the chickpea flour to fully hydrate. 
  2. While the batter rests, prepare the vegetable filling by grating and chopping all of the vegetables. The trick is to not have anything larger than a sweet pea or it won’t fully cook.
  3. Mix the vegetables into the batter, making sure that they are fully coated.
  4. Pakoras are traditionally deep-fried, however, see the notes below for other options. To deep fry the pakoras, heat 2 inches of deep fry oil to 375 F. Scoop 1/2 cup of battered vegetables and place it in the deep fry oil and fry until the vegetables are cooked and the batter is brown (about 5 min).
  5. Depending on the size of the pot, you may be able to fry multiple pakoras at once. Just be sure not to do more than 3 at once or it will lower the temperature of the oil and prevent proper frying.

Notes

  1. Deep frying always involves a surprising amount of oil. Alternatively, shallow fry pakora “pancakes” flipping halfway through to cook each side for 5 minutes.
  2. Feel free to use a mix of seasonal vegetables. My favorite combination is grated potato, onions, and peas. Here are a few other options:
    • grated yams or carrots
    • cauliflower chopped into tiny bite-sized pieces
    • zucchini cut into long thin strips
    • washed spinach, chard, or kale
    • shelled peas, diced green beans
    • fresh paneer cheese sliced into cubes
    • make onion rings by battering large slices of onion

Find it online: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/homemade-vegetable-pakoras/