This Ramadan I am trying different variations of pakora. “PAKORA” the most wanted and the most popular snack of Iftar in Pakistan. If you got pakoras right, you pleased the crowd…. my this variation turned out great, it is something in between onion bhaji and normal pakora but very crispy due to the rice flour added in it and very spicy due to the amazing blend of spices added to it.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized red onions (sliced)
• 3 cups baby spinach leaves (sliced)
• Oil for deep frying

SPICES & BATTER

• Water as required
• 1 ½ cup besan
• 4 tbspns heap full rice flour
• 1 tbspns crushed anar dana (pomegranate seeds)
• 1 tbspns crushed red chilli
• ½ tspn red chilli powder
• 1 tbspn cracked coriander seeds
• 1 tspn coarsely ground roasted cumin seeds
• 1 tbspn (mint coriander & green chilli) paste
• A good pinch of dried fenugreek leaves
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Wash and cut the onions and baby spinach leaves and put them in a deep mixing bowl.
• Now add all the spices and mix with hands, massaging all the veggies.
• Keep aside for 10 minutes. This is when onion will leave some water.
• Now add besan & rice flour and mix. Rice flour will absorb the onion water which will make the pakoras crispy. Gradually add more water and mix with your hands. The right consistency of the batter will be not too thick that you have to spoon the batter in oil nor too runny that it leaves the vegetables aside. It should coat all the vegetables and look like a good mixture.
• Heat oil to 180 degrees Celsius. Try a tiny bit of batter, if it sinks and does not splatter the oil is too cold and if it starts splattering and turning brown the oil is too hot which will leave the inside of the pakoras uncooked. The heat should be good enough that it splatters and don’t change the colour.
• Now use your hands to drop little dumplings in hot oil and

1. Fry in small batches. It keeps the heat constant which makes even coloured, crispy pakora and absorbs less oil.
2. With hands, you can actually coat the veggies in batter before putting in oil to fry.

• Take out the pakoras onto a wired rack and fry the other batch until the batter is finished. Then transfer them onto your serving platter and serve hot with mint chutney or tamarind chutney.