Indian Rains; The moment we think of Rains a lot many of our
senses come alive. Why a lot of our senses?
Rains for Indians are
associated with Rain songs from Yash Chopra movies, pot holes, bumpy rides in
autos, flooded train tracks, greenery and pitter – patter on the roof tops
& our ACs. Not to forget is the temptation of garama-garam food that it
brings along. One such temptation occurred to me on Saturday and I fell ill.
Since I don’t want any of my food lovers’ association members to fall ill, I
decided to bring the street food of temptation which leaves us licking fingers
to my blog.
So guys, you must be thinking what is that street food that
we are talking about. A delhiite thinks
of gol gappas, a Mumbaikar might end up think of Vadapav with Red garlic-chilli chutney or may be some of my southern India friends
might like to dig in to Dal Vadas or Parippuvada etc.
But I am trying to put across here is the much sought after “Pakoras”, or what others may call “Bhajiya” or “Bhajji”. These are the
generally the most common things which we make at home when we think of rains. …….mmmm……….the
ohh .. so piping hot Chai and Pakora
combo…
Why Pakoras?? They are so commonly made in any Indian
household that all of us underrate them. But trust me… many of us crave to get
that perfect recipe for crispy crunchy pakoras
like the famous vendor in the not so hygienic galli of our
neighborhood. Ok! Now hoping that all of us are convinced that it’s all falling
in place and the pakoras have already got your mouth watering, here comes the
not so uncommon recipe… but with trick to make them 10 on 10.
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| Image Courtsey: Google Images |
Collect the Ingredients:
1. Gram
Flour or Besan 4 tbsp
2. Turmeric
½ tsp
3. Coriander
Powder 1 tsp
4. Red
chilly Powder ½ tsp
5. Salt as per
your taste
6. Everest
Chunky Chaat Masala (No specific brand here) 1
tsp
7. Assorted
Vegetables: Prefer your choice here, My Choices are Onions, Potatoes, Spinach,
Cauliflower, Brinjals & Mushrooms can be picked up 1 each and few florets
of cauliflower & few buttons of mushrooms
8. Few
Chopped green coriander and a couple of green chilies if you like it spicy.
9. Oil
for deep frying
Preparation:
1. Chop
Onions thin length wise
2. Chop-
·
Potatoes in to perfectly same sized roundels
(keep the thickness same)
·
Spinach half bunch in to thin long julienne
style.
·
Cauliflowers in to bite sized florets
·
Brinjals in to roundels again
·
Mushrooms can be cut in to half and then further
half , so that makes them into quarters
Recipe:
1. Start
heating the Oil for frying in a kadhai
2. In
a bowl, Mix Gram flour, salt, coriander powder, red chilly powder, turmeric.
3. Add
water, just about enough to make a thick batter of slow dropping consistency. I
am not giving measurements here since you got to feel the amount that would be
just about enough to make it the way I am asking you to.
4. Now
whip the batter a little with either your hands or a flat flexible spatula.
5. Let
the batter settle, for say around 5 odd minutes
6. After
this, add some chopped coriander leaves and the green chilies.
7. By
this time your Oil must be heated enough for frying
8. Twist: Now carefully take a few drops or
say about ½ tsp of heated oil in your whipped batter bowl and whip again till
the oil blends.
9. Now
start with hardest vegetable first cauliflower florets. Dip them in your batter
, coating it ( not necessarily completely) , Put them in oil for frying ,
keeping the oil on high flame for a first few minutes and then turning it to lower flame after the
florets turn a little golden.
10. Keep
them on frying until desired golden color and crunch
11. For
Potatoes, mushrooms & Brinjals rings repeat step 9 & 10 again
12. For
Onions & spinach, one has to put them in the batter and mix together well.
And then sprinkle a little bit of dry gram flour, to make the mix a little drier,
this will make the
Onion / spinach pakoras crunchier.
Onion / spinach pakoras crunchier.
13. Serve
them with tomato ketchup or imli chutney.
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