Its monsoon, you are looking out of your office window and the first thing that comes in your mind is a cup of hot tea and a plate of hot steaming pakoras with your favorite chutney. Pakoras are surely one of the pan-Indian dishes one may have ever seen. Known by a wide variety of names like tele bhajias, begunis or vengayam pakoras in different states, pakoras or fritters are not just a snack but are emotions wrapped in spiced besan.
Pakoras are a simple dish packed with complex flavours. At one moment they have the capacity to transport you a relishing tea time dream and at the other it may act as an important side-dish in many cultural cuisines. Almost any vegetable, fish, meat, greens, can be turned into pakoras with and can be flavoured with a wide variety of spices. Even countries like Japan have invented ‘Japanese tempura’ by drawing inspiration from us.
A cabbage pakora may sound a little unconventional at first but are surely one of the tastiest snack you might have ever tasted. Giving a healthy twist to the cabbage fritters we are going to replace your daily besan with a lentil paste which will be give an extra crisp to the snack.
Ingredients
- 120 gms Dosa rice
- 120 gms Tuwar Daal / Arhar Daal
- 20 Dry Red Chillies
- 5 gms Tamarind
- 150 gms chopped onions
- 150 gms chopped cabbage
- 30 gms grated coconut
- Salt to taste
Steps
- In a bowl, put the dosa rice and the lentils, wash them properly and soak them for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- In a mixer jar, add 20 dry red chillies and grind them to form a powder.
- Now add two spoons of rice and daal and grind it again. Repeat the process till all the soaked rice and daal are converted to a thick orange paste.
- Soak tamarind in water.
- Add the tamarind and the water in the paste and grind it again. Make sure that the paste is not runny and is a little thick.
- Transfer the paste in a separate clean bowl; add chopped onions and cabbage to the paste.
- Add 30 gms of grated coconut for a distinguished taste. Finally add salt to taste.
- Mix the ingredients properly using your hands making sure the vegetables are quoted properly with the paste.
- In a wok, add vegetable oil or refined oil for deep frying. When the oil is heated, dab water in your hands from a small bowl and make round pattis of the mixture.
- Carefully deep fry the patties in hot oil. Fry till the pattis become golden brown.
From our ancient kitchens to being stuffed between vada pav and burgers and being placed on fancy menus, pakoras have surely come a long way. So, when you are looking for a new variation of pakoras, you know what to try ! Happy Monsoon!