The Indian vegetable pakora disaster that was still edible
Inspired by trying to turn fried food into a healthy option (I failed)
Remember when I said sometimes my free style cooking turns into a disaster? Well, that’s what this post is about. An edible disaster. If you don’t remember, you can jog your memory here.
What is a pakora?
A pakora is essentially a fritter that is typically made up of mixed vegetables like onions, potatoes, spinach, etc. battered with gram flour (known as besan in hindi) and deep fried until it reaches golden perfection and an immensely satisfying crunch. It doesn’t stop there. The pakoras are often sprinkled with chaat masala, a blend of tangy spices, that is an added flavor punch. They are served with a green chutney, made of cilantro ginger garlic lemon juice etc., providing a bright herbaceous dipping sauce. This combination is finger licking good.
In north India, and in my immigrant parent’s home, pakoras are often craved when it rains. I have a very vivid and cherished memory from my childhood. My priority was always to play with friends in my neighborhood, rain or shine. I would come home from school, eat a snack, and finish my homework as fast as I could so I could get out of the house again and play in our cul-de-sac with my neighbor friends. One day it started to rain but my friends and I continued to play, engrossed in our games. I could hear my mom calling from the distance to come inside and I pretended not to hear her. She came closer and yelled “Come inside, it’s raining a lot. I made pakoras.” My attention could not be shifted away from my games fast enough. Without looking at my friends I yelled byee!, zoomed into the house, and went directly to the dining table. My mom served piping hot pakoras with chutney to me and my brother. We licked our fingers, smacked our lips, smiled from ear to ear, and then laid down for a nap. I think this union of rain and pakoras are basically an embodiment of Pavlov’s dogs for north Indians and certainly for me.
Pakoras can also be made with paneer, an Indian farmer’s cheese, or chicken (way better than chicken nuggets!) or fish (e.g. tilapia, salmon), or large green chiles (literally the entire chili as one pakora which can be quite spicy, I usually cannot handle this one). Personally, I find the vegetable versions to be the most satisfying because:
I love vegetables (also exemplified here, here, and here)
Combination of vegetables add diverse flavor and texture (imagine soft potatoes vs crunchy spinach vs fried and steamed onion all in one bite)
Adding other vegetables, likely cauliflower or eggplant, makes the same pakora a game changer (completely different flavors and textures!).
Fried Pakora
On one rainy day, I was nostalgically thinking back to my childhood and craving vegetable pakoras. I found fresh cauliflower, potato, onion as well as frozen spinach - that works! I chopped these and combined them with gram flour (besan) along with spices like dhaniya powder (coriander), garam masala (blend of spices), amchur (mango powder), salt, and mixed with water. Once it reached a sturdy but not very thick consistency, the mixture was ready for frying. I added spoonfuls of the mixture at a time to hot oil and fried the pakoras until they were golden brown and crispy. I did not have any chaat masala to sprinkle on top or the ingredients for green chutney so these had to be eaten with just ketchup (sad but ok). The pakoras were super delicious with the perfect crunch when you first bite them followed by a multi-textured mouthfeel and tingling of spices. Craving 100% satisfied!
Baked Pakora
While fried pakoras are amazing, they are also, well, fried. As we all know, eating too much fried food is not great for health. Why not bake them? The genius in me decided that I was going to make pakora mixture the same exact way as the fried versions and instead bake it in the oven (insert eye roll at my naivety). I don’t really know why I was expecting a close-enough outcome, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I should’ve known and expected from my years of experience in the kitchen that this wouldn’t come close. I suppose sometimes we all get selective amnesia and forge ahead anyway, which is what I did. I mixed thinly chopped potatoes, onions, spinach with gram flour (besan) and spices and then laid out spoonfuls of this mixture on a greased parchment paper lined baking sheet. I sprayed more oil on top and baked these at 450C for probably ~30 mins (I checked periodically and flipped them half way). The baked pakoras had minimal crunch and the textural differences were a bit lost as all the vegetables felt steamed. The spice profile was fine. While these tasted fine, they were not pakoras. Craving NOT satisfied!
Comparison: There is no comparison (cue laughter tear emoji). The left photo below is a delicious fried pakora. The right one is spicy steamed vegetables glued with besan.
Yes, yes, I know I could google till the cows come home to discover how other people might be able to make crunchy pakoras without frying them. There’s all kinds of tricks like adding different type of flour that might be more responsive to crunchy-ness when baked (maybe rice flour) or using an air fryer to get that crunch (I’ve tried a version of this, failed). However, remember, I am a bit stubborn about recipes, I hate following them. I can’t help it, I have to find my own way when it coms to cooking. I’ll get there.
Kadhi Pakora
So, how do you save these baked ‘pakoras’ as a subtle disappoint lingers on your taste buds? Well, soup always comes to the rescue. One of my favorite Indian soups is called Punjabi Kadhi that is made from whisking together tangy yogurt and gram flour (besan) and boiling this along with tempered spices until it reaches a velvety texture. (I followed these basics). A popular version is called Kadhi Pakora where fried pakoras swim in this soup and contribute to the perfect bite of kadhi-pakora-rice. I saved my baked pakoras this way later in the day for dinner. Indeed, the kadhi was quite forgiving to the non-crunchy pakoras.
Dish Debrief (Baked Pakora):
Is this my winner or disaster? edible disaster
How would I rate this dish out of 10? 3 out of 10
What would I change next time? Fry them next time (lol) but continue experimenting until a baked or air fried version yields more crunchy results
Would I make this again? Nope, not the way this one was made
Baking them sounds good for making the the soup lower in fat.