North Indian Vegetarian delicacy…
Today, by noon I was so sure about what to make for dinner. My mind was full of this kadhi pakora. One of my Indian co-workers shared this dish with me for lunch, it tasted so delicious and I made up my mind to try this for dinner. Though I was aware of this dish and the recipe, I hadn’t tried it before. The best part is that this dish doesn’t call for any complicated ingredients. If you have besan or gram flour and yogurt, this dish can be made in no time.
Basically, veggie fritters are dunked in a spiced yogurt-gram flour gravy. Yogurt imparts a slight sourness to this dish which is what makes this dish tasty and unique. While making fritters, you could add different kinds of veggies or just with onions; I made mixed veggie pakoras. This is definitely a very delicious vegetarian dish that can be served with chapati or rice.
Preparation Pictures
Pakora batter
Frying pakoras
Veggie Pakoras or fritters
Yogurt-besan
- Onion, chopped small- 1
- Mixed veggies, chopped small- 1 cup (carrot, beans, corn, peas)
- Potato, boiled or microwaved- 1, large
- Gram flour or besan- ¾ cup
- Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Chili powder- 1 tsp
- Ground cumin- ½ tsp
- Baking powder- ¼ tsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Water- a few tbsps
- Oil- for deep frying
- Yogurt, thick- 1½ cups
- Gram flour or besan- 3 tbsp
- Water- 2 cups
- Turmeric powder- ½ tsp
- Chili powder- ¼ tsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Oil- 2 tbsp
- Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Whole dried red chilies- 2
- Curry leaves- 1 sprig
- Onion, chopped small- 1
- Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Salt- ¼ tsp
- In a bowl, combine all the above-mentioned ingredients except oil for making pakora, add a few tablespoons of water so that the flour binds well with the veggies. Do not add excess water.
- Make small rounds and deep fry in oil till golden in color. Transfer to a kitchen paper towel, keep them aside.
- In a bowl, whisk yogurt and gram flour together without any lumps.
- Add turmeric powder, chili powder, salt and water to the yogurt mixture, combine well to a smooth gravy.
- Place a deep pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil, let turn hot.
- Add cumin seeds, dried red chilies, curry leaves, saute for a couple of seconds.
- Add onion and ¼ tsp salt, saute till onions turn translucent.
- Add ginger-garlic paste, saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add the prepared yogurt mixture, keep stirring & cook over low heat.
- It's important that we keep stirring the mixture, else the gram flour will thicken at the bottom.
- When the gravy starts to thicken, add the fried pakoras.
- Gently, pour the gravy over the pakoras and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and keep it covered for some time.
- The gravy will thicken as it sits.
- Enjoy with rice or chapati.
