My family was very into taking a smol vacation every year - and in 1998, that meant a trip to Murree/ Bhurban. Every year, without fail, we'd head up to the mountains in June/July because summer vacation.
The point of that useless little tidbit was: we'd get pakoray along the way, somewhere very close to Murree. I remember we'd stop at this shady road in the middle of nowhere where all you could see was 2 pakora stands and that's it. There was so much fog everywhere, you could only see your hand in front of your face and vague outlines of the mountains - and places you could possibly fall off from and die.
Anyway, those pakoray made my soul happy. Super hot, super spicy and SO, SO CRISPY they were amazing. Huddled around the car with those insanely good pakoray, garam chai, shivering in the cold is still one of my favorite memories.
I can't recreate those exactly, but these come very close to achieving that level of extra crisp.
Ingredients
Veggies
Potatoes 3 (medium, julienne cut)
Onions 2-3 (medium, julienne cut)
Green chillies 3 (finely chopped)
Batter
Chickpea flour (besan) 1½ cup
Salt ½ tsp
Red Chili 1 tsp
Cumin Powder ½ tsp
Coriander Powder ½ tsp
Chat Masala (optional) a pinch
Method
Google julienne cut if you haven't practiced/ seen it done before. This is very very important to getting that crispy crunch, otherwise your pakoras are going to be soggy and fat. Nobody likes that. Make sure your veggies are cut super thin, okay? Okay. Now, set them aside. You won't need them for a while.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and spices. Please adjust the quantity according to your taste; I never measure these so I'm doing a lot of guesswork here. Once mixed, start adding water little by little - be very careful, you don't want to make it runny or thin. The batter should be thick and gluggy because once you add the veggies, it'll get very thin very quick. So if you add only enough water to turn it into batter - but batter that's difficult to mix - you're good to go. Don't add veggies immediately!
In a karahi or a deep pan, whichever you prefer for deep frying, add oil/ghee for deep frying and leave the flame on medium to high. Drop a tiny piece of batter in and if it starts cooking, your oil is hot enough. I may sound condescending here, but please understand the level of stupidity I've had to witness in the kitchen thanks to friends and family unable to cook (checking oil temperature by dipping a finger in and then screaming. I mean...).
ONLY add the veggies if you want to fry and serve your pakoras immediately otherwise they won't be crisp if the batter is too runny - I can't stress this enough. Mix the potatoes and onion in the batter and start dropping it in your pan. Make sure the flame isn't too low or too high, otherwise they'll turn soft. Or burn. Neither of which is good.
Wow, this post just got super complicated.
Okay, once you're done frying, just take them out after draining them properly and serve with podinay ki chutney or green chilli chutney - both are awesome.
The point of that useless little tidbit was: we'd get pakoray along the way, somewhere very close to Murree. I remember we'd stop at this shady road in the middle of nowhere where all you could see was 2 pakora stands and that's it. There was so much fog everywhere, you could only see your hand in front of your face and vague outlines of the mountains - and places you could possibly fall off from and die.
Anyway, those pakoray made my soul happy. Super hot, super spicy and SO, SO CRISPY they were amazing. Huddled around the car with those insanely good pakoray, garam chai, shivering in the cold is still one of my favorite memories.
I can't recreate those exactly, but these come very close to achieving that level of extra crisp.
Ingredients
Veggies
Potatoes 3 (medium, julienne cut)
Onions 2-3 (medium, julienne cut)
Green chillies 3 (finely chopped)
Batter
Chickpea flour (besan) 1½ cup
Salt ½ tsp
Red Chili 1 tsp
Cumin Powder ½ tsp
Coriander Powder ½ tsp
Chat Masala (optional) a pinch
Method
Google julienne cut if you haven't practiced/ seen it done before. This is very very important to getting that crispy crunch, otherwise your pakoras are going to be soggy and fat. Nobody likes that. Make sure your veggies are cut super thin, okay? Okay. Now, set them aside. You won't need them for a while.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and spices. Please adjust the quantity according to your taste; I never measure these so I'm doing a lot of guesswork here. Once mixed, start adding water little by little - be very careful, you don't want to make it runny or thin. The batter should be thick and gluggy because once you add the veggies, it'll get very thin very quick. So if you add only enough water to turn it into batter - but batter that's difficult to mix - you're good to go. Don't add veggies immediately!
In a karahi or a deep pan, whichever you prefer for deep frying, add oil/ghee for deep frying and leave the flame on medium to high. Drop a tiny piece of batter in and if it starts cooking, your oil is hot enough. I may sound condescending here, but please understand the level of stupidity I've had to witness in the kitchen thanks to friends and family unable to cook (checking oil temperature by dipping a finger in and then screaming. I mean...).
ONLY add the veggies if you want to fry and serve your pakoras immediately otherwise they won't be crisp if the batter is too runny - I can't stress this enough. Mix the potatoes and onion in the batter and start dropping it in your pan. Make sure the flame isn't too low or too high, otherwise they'll turn soft. Or burn. Neither of which is good.
Wow, this post just got super complicated.
Okay, once you're done frying, just take them out after draining them properly and serve with podinay ki chutney or green chilli chutney - both are awesome.
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