Vegetable Pakora

An easy and healthy snack that will go well with any Indian meal.

Vegan. Hands-on time: 10 mins. Total time: 10 mins.

Contributed by Moira Adams (March 2003).

This tasty Indian snack is easy to make. It consists simply of fried vegetables in a gram flour batter. You can use almost any vegetables you like: carrots, celery, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli and parsnips are all good choices.

Gram flour is made from chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and is widely used in Indian cooking. Look for it in health food stores and Asian grocers.

You can serve pakora as an accompaniment to a curry, or as an appetizer, or on their own as a satisfying snack.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (4 oz, 110 g) gram flour
• 1 tsp. mixed ground spices (for example, coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, curry powder or garam masala)
• About 1 lb (450 g) of vegetables, cut into very small pieces (for carrots, celery, bell pepper and parsnips, prepare thin slices; for cauliflower and broccoli, cut into small florets)
• Oil for frying

Method

Mix the flour and spices. Slowly add cold water, stirring all the time, until you have a thin batter.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Dip each vegetable piece in the batter, one at a time. Make sure that it is fully coated. Drop it into the hot oil, and cook for a few minutes until crisp.

Remove the vegetable from the skillet and drain on a paper towel. Keep it warm until you are ready to serve.

Note on quantities and temperatures:
Quantities are given in American (cups), imperial (oz, fl oz) and metric (g, ml) units. Do not mix the units - use one or other system throughout the recipe.
See also How much does a cup weigh?
oz = ounces, fl oz = fluid ounces, g = grams, ml = milliliters, tsp = teaspoons, tbsp = tablespoons.
Oven temperatures are given in degrees F (Fahrenheit) and C (Celsius).
For fan-assisted ovens, reduce the temperature by 20F or 10C.