A couple of weeks ago, I was standing at the counter at Harkola, waiting to pay, when a young Indian man walked in.
He held out a small takeaway container to Ray behind the counter and said, quite shyly, “these are for you and the other lady”. When I asked what they were, he said, “pakoras…please try one!” His face was beaming – he was clearly very proud of what he’d made.
It would have been rude to refuse (although I usually do, as I’ve been scarred by hidden banana offerings in the past), so I picked one up and took a bite. It was delicious – quite spicy, still warm from frying, and very flavoursome. Then this lovely young man said to Ray..”I’ll be back tomorrow to get my container”.
I was oddly touched by this – he was frugal enough to come back for a plastic takeaway box that most of us would have discarded, yet he hadn’t hesitated for a second in offering his food to a random bystander. As I pulled out of the carpark, I saw him walking down the street – he was still smiling as I drove past.
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On my way home, I rang the Spice Girl, my darling friend and go-to authority for all things Indian. After getting a few tips from her, I googled pakoras and came up with this fabulous YouTube clip by Hari Ghotra…
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My first attempt used besan (chickpea) flour, potatoes and half a large zucchini…
The batter was a little too sloppy with the zucchini…
They looked pretty, but the flavour wasn’t quite right…
. . . . .
So I rang the Spice Girl back for more advice.
In the end, this is the recipe I ended up with:
- one large onion, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin)
- three potatoes, peeled
- 100g besan flour (chickpea flour, also known as gram flour)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (or more to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 generous teaspoon chilli powder (or more to taste)
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- water
- oil for deepfrying
1. Preheat the oil to 180C (I used a large, old wok). As the oil is heating – grate the potatoes into a large wide bowl. Add the onion, then the salt and spices. Sift in the besan flour. Mix the whole lot together with one clean hand – you want to try and coat every bit of potato and onion in the dry flour and spices.
2. Add a tiny bit of water and keep mixing. You want to add just enough to hold the batter together – if it gets too sloppy, it’s hard to fry. Don’t leave the batter to sit, or the onions will release their juice. It’s best to deepfry it straight away.
3. Form a little batter into a patty and gently lower it into the oil. Allow it to fry until quite brown, then lift it out with a slotted metal spoon. Let it cool then taste it for seasoning – adjust the rest of your batter as required (I added a little more salt and chilli to mine).
4. Once you’re happy with the flavour, form more patties and carefully lower them into the oil, a few at a time. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Turn the patties if needed to ensure even browning.
The Spice Girl told me that the traditional way of making these is to fry them twice – once to a light golden brown…
…and then a second time until dark brown and crisp. This allowed the hostess to prepare the pakoras before guests arrived, and then to re-fry them briefly before serving…
I accompanied them with a raita made by mixing our homemade Greek yoghurt with diced cucumber. Big Boy tried to eat them all on his own…
Thank you for the inspiration, generous young man. And for all your advice, Spice Girl. I’ll be making these regularly from now on!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
How lovely of the young man to give you fresh pakoras! It’s a shame that, due to an element of fear/individuality in our culture, most people would say no to an offer like that. I bet he was blessed to have you accept his gift too! Your lovely pakoras look delicious too Celia! So crispy and golden, full of goodness. I’ll have to try making some for myself! x
What a kind thing! These look amazing.
Do you not care for bananas? Hugs, Maz.
Bananas are the work of the devil. That’s why they look like horns. ;-)
They look lovely, I’m feeling the need to give these a try as soon as Sydney cools down a little.
What a generous deed! A very kind young man. Those look delicious. I will have to try making some. Could I use a different flour instead of the one you used?
What a lovely story, Celia – and well done you for working on them till getting them right! I love pakoras. Unfortunately, they don’t love me quite so much and give me indigestion.
I’ve known and loved these all my life, being brought up in the UK where onion or potato bhaji (the southern Indian name for the same thing with a few spicing differences) were a staple side dish of the Friday night curry feast. It HAS to be besan; anything else changes the flavour and texture too much. That delectable crunch and the tender sweet softness of the onion inside…. Mmmmm. My mouth’s watering!
I love how you’re so inquisitive about food. Anything deep fried is good – but twice fried is even better. We went to the Cricket Team annual dinner on Saturday at the Captains House – Rich is the only non-Indian player. As soon as the samosas and pakoras came out we pounced.
That’s a really lovely story, what a kind young man. I love the sharing of food, brings people together. I’d love to make these but deep frying still scares me! :)
love pakoras and have even had prawn pakaros before now. the onion bhajis that katechiconi refers to are slightly different in taste and texture but both are delicious. as for Mary, these spicy delights come from a very hot country and we have had them here in Spain during the hot summer and they do go hand in hand. So glad you ‘found’ them through your mystery friend. :-)
I miss Indian take-aways.. will have to try.. c
What a lovely gesture. I love Indian food and mainly use a book by Meera Sodha which I love. It has her mum’s recipes which have been adapted for ease of use in the UK. I haven’t made bhajis as I don’t like deep frying at home (it scares me!) but we do have fabulous take away restaurants near my home so I can have them 😃
Sweet story about a wonderful encounter . Glad you had this moment in time.
Bananas – the smell of banana cake makes me ill. Banana milk shakes, banana smoothie….make me shudder. The only way I eat them is when they are bright green!
That is a great story, thank you for being generous and accepting his offer.
I can’t wait to try them! Oh and did you write something about banana? Are you allergic? ME TOO! It’s the only thing I can’t eat! So if someone offers me something I ALWAYS ask “does it have banana in it” even if I know it doesn’t because I have been burr too many times too! Have a great weekend! Liz xxx
Yum. I live on pakhoras especially when the garden is full of brocolli- my favourite pakhora of all. A little rice flour adds more crunch.
Love a good pakora but they are often soughy and stodgy wihich is why home made is best! My mum introduced us to them way back in the 1970’s when she was working her way through Charmaine Solomon’s Asian Cookbook. As you’d imagine, chick pea flour was hard to get hold of but she wasn’t put on. To this day we say ‘puk-oras’ rather than ‘pa-kora’ which is how we now know they are pronounced. Perfect for all of those excess zucchinis or trombis.
Ha ha – I didn’t realise that we both hated bananas! We love pakoras and this is pretty much how I make mine too – delicious! And how lovely that the young man wanted to share and how happy you made him by accepting :) Sometimes these little gestures (both giving and receiving) can mean so very much so all involved.
I made a similar dish a few months ago.I love deep fried foods.I will make the same recipe as you did.
Ah I always love ordering these but haven’t thought of trying them at home. Thanks for making them less intimidating to make!
What a wonderful story! Now I can benefit from your experience as well. I’ve had some chickpea flour for some time now and haven’t used any yet. Now I know what I must make.
Oh no Celia! Not a banana lover? That’s like someone saying ‘ I don’t like chocolate!! Haha. Do you think I can substitute the potatoes for Sweet Potato? I think also giving the zucchini a good squeeze would eliminate a lot of liquid .. :)
Love pakora! Standard fare here for any group function. I especially love caulk in them and I use a stubby of beer on the batter. Beautiful. Lucky man having you in the queue :)
Hello Celia! Long time no comment although I’m always lurking in the background. Another fan of pakoras here, I use cauliflower, spinach and onion with a tamarind dipping sauce. I’ll have to try the potato and twice frying,
I “went Indian” for supper last night and ordered samosas as an appetizer. Had I read this post beforehand, I surely would have tried the pakoras. I will next time, that’s for sure. That say’s a lot, Celia, because I absolutely love samosas. :)
I’m like Amanda… pakoras do not like me… what a lovely story, by the way!
What a wonderful blog! I stumbled across it today, and it’s going to take me ages to read through it! I wish we lived closer so we could chat as so much of what you do in your home is what I have trying to do in mine all my life. I’d love to compare notes but will just have to settle with reading all about you! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m looking forward to making my way through all of your posts!
Can’t wait to make these. There’s a very good Indian restaurant not too far from my house where they serve these as part of their afternoon buffet. And there’s an Indian market, also not too far away, where I can buy the chickpea flour.