Pakora

This recipe was given to me by my cousin Nashma. It is a Pakistani appetizer and it's delicious. I remember eating it at her house whenever I would visit, and since I hadn't eaten it in years, I decided to try and make them myself.

You will need a special flour for the batter called "Besan Flour" or "chickpea flour," which you can find at an Indian store. Lucky for me, there are several Indian stores in the Salt Lake area so it was not hard to find.

While at the Indian store, the owner recommended I buy "Pakora Masala" (spices for Pakora). Now, my cousin did not really include that on her recipe, but I decided to add it anyway (they are delicious either way). I used very little, probably about a teaspoon of it, and skipped the cumin and dry cilantro since I was adding this (plus this mix of spices already has cumin).

This is what the the small box of ground spices looks like. It is a blend of spices that includes: Coriander, salt, chilli, dry mango, cumin, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom seeds, etc. Remember, it's not really necessary to have all these spices, cumin and dry cilantro are fine to use on the recipe.

Ingredients:

Besan Flour
Green onions-chopped
Seeded jalapeno (s)-chopped
Tomato-diced
Fresh cilantro-chopped
Salt to taste (you don't need to much)
Dry cilantro
Cumin
1 egg
Finely diced potatoes
Water

Mix all the veggies and then start adding the flour a little at a time, mix well. Add water as needed, a little bit at a time because you do not want your dough/veggie mix to be runny. You want to make sure that the dough/veggie mix will not fall apart, so if it's starts holding together then you are ready to fry the pakora.

Drop teaspoon fulls of dough into hot oil, and cook both sides. I cooked one first just to see if it needed more salt or not. If the oil is at the right temperature, it really won't take long for them to start getting a golden/brown color. Place cooked pakoras over some paper towels to remove any excess oil. Serve warm (I think they taste best warm) with yogurt sauce.


Sauce Ingredients:
Plain yogurt
Fresh cilantro
Salt
Jalapenos

Place all ingredients in blender and mix well. Keep refrigerated.