Vegetable Pakora Recipe Pakistani Style
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These vegetable pakoras are crispy, flavorful fritters that make the perfect snack. Pair them with your favorite cup of tea or coffee for a delicious treat.
Vegetable Pakoras
Vegetable pakora means a vegetable fritter. It is a very popular snack from the Indian subcontinent. It’s a vegan finger food often served as an afternoon snack with tea or coffee.
These pakoras are made with vegetables and are similar to Indonesian Bala Bala/Bakwan Sayur. Essentially, they’re both a mix of vegetables deep-fried in a seasoned, spiced batter.
So, I can’t say that these delicious savory snacks are healthy because they’re deep-fried.
However, like anything, I think it’s okay to have vegetable pakoras occasionally, in moderation. And when you do, make sure you make the best, so it’s worth it.
Pakoras, which are anything coated in a spicy batter and deep-fried to a crunch, come in a wide variety depending on their main ingredients. There are onion bhaji, vegetable pakora, potato pakora, chicken pakora, and mushroom pakora, among others.
These tasty fried snacks are often served for iftar (breaking the fast) in Ramadan and on special occasions such as weddings, family gatherings, and parties.
What Do You Need to Make Pakora
As the name suggests, this recipe centers on mixed veggies. You can choose and use any vegetables you like. Potato, carrot, onion, green beans (French beans), courgette (zucchini), cabbage, or runner beans are just some of the options. You can always experiment to your liking.
I use potatoes, carrots, onions, and green beans (French beans) in this recipe. These are quite basic veggies that I feel most of us eat quite often.
To bind the pakora, you will need chickpea flour (gram flour) and a tablespoon or two of rice flour or cornflour (corn starch). The latter is optional, but I recommend using it, as it gives the pakoras body and makes them crispier.
For the spices and seasoning, you need ground cumin, coriander, turmeric powder, whole cumin seeds, chili powder (or chopped fresh chilies), and carom seeds (Ajwain). Again, the latter is optional. If you don’t have it, you can replace it with Garam Masala or just double the amount of ground/powdered spices.
How to Make Veggie Pakora
Firstly, you get all the vegetables ready by washing and rinsing them. Then finely julienne the potato and carrot into sticks. Or, you can grate them.
Diagonally cut the green beans into very fine slices. And finely slice the onion.
Squeeze the vegetables out to remove the moisture that they release. Put them all in a mixing bowl.
Secondly, sprinkle the rice flour or cornflour over the veggies. Shake the bowl and try to stir the veggies quickly.
Then, add the spices and salt and stir quickly. Followed by the gram flour. Stir the vegetables until they are all coated with the flour, and pour the water little by little while you keep mixing. You may not need to use all the water suggested in this recipe. What you want is for the flour to coat the vegetables quite thickly without making them sticky. Make sure the batter is not runny.
Thirdly, heat the oil in a deep-frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Try testing the oil by frying a tiny drop of the batter. It should fry at a steady pace and not too quickly. Then, carefully slide the vegetable mixture into the oil a spoon at a time, ensuring enough space between each one. Fry the fritters over medium heat, turning once, until golden.
Top Tips to Make Crunchy and Tasty Vegetable Pakora
- Vegetables release quite a bit of moisture, so squeeze them out, and you can even pat them dry with a kitchen towel. The less liquid our batter is, the better.
- Try to cut the vegetables into similar thicknesses so they cook evenly at the same time. Some vegetables, such as potatoes and carrots, take longer to cook, so you may want to grate them instead.
- Chickpea flour/ gram flour turns bitter after being opened for a while. So make sure you use fresh chickpea flour to ensure a refined taste.
- I highly recommend carom seeds, which differentiate the pakoras from other fritters. But if they’re not easy to get, you can substitute them with Garam Masala.
- One key to crispy pakoras is the frying temperature. You want to ensure the oil is hot enough to cook all the veggies inside the batter, but not so hot that it cooks the outside quickly while leaving the inside raw. If the oil is not hot enough, the batter will absorb more, leaving your pakoras greasy.
Ways to Enjoy
These crunchy, savory treats are delish to eat as they are. But traditionally, they’re enjoyed with a dipping sauce such as mint yogurt sauce, tomato chili chutney, or shop-bought chili sauce.
You can also create a vegan meal with these pakoras. Take a couple or more pakoras and arrange them on a tortilla wrap. Drizzle with your favourite sauce and wrap the pakoras.
Another idea is to serve the pakoras on burger buns. You can add cheese slices, lettuce, and a drizzle of your favourite sauce.
Honestly, this vegetable pakora is so versatile. You can turn it into whatever delicious food item you want.
Storing Matter
Technically, you can keep your vegetable fritters in a food container in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days. Just pop the pakoras in the oven for about 5 minutes to make them crispy again before serving.
But obviously, these delicious vegetable fritters are best eaten fresh right away after frying.
More Vegan Snack Recipe Ideas
Thank you for reading this vegetable pakora recipe. I hope you’re now planning to try it. When you do, I would love you to share your thoughts about the recipe in the comments below (leave a reply box). I’ll appreciate it.
Before you go, don’t forget to check out my other snack recipes that you may love.
- Pakistani Dahi Baray – lentil dumplings in spiced yogurt sauce.
- Khaman Dhokla – savory chickpea steamed cake.
- Halwa Puri – semolina pudding with fried flatbread.
Last but not least, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Pinterest. To sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen.
Take care and all the best.
Vegetable Pakora
Equipment
- Spoon
- Slotted spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpea flour/ Gram flour.
- 1 small onion.
- 1 medium carrot.
- 1 large potato.
- 4-5 green beans.
- 1 handful of cilantro/ coriander leaves.
- 3 Bird’s eye chillies or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes or red chilli powder.
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin.
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander.
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder.
- ¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds.
- ¼ teaspoon carom seeds/ Ajwain seeds see the note.
- 1 ½ tablespoons rice flour optional.
- ¾ teaspoon salt or according to taste.
- ⅓ cup water.
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Peel and cut the carrot in thin julienne sticks. You can also grate the carrot if you prefer. Then place it in a mixing bowl.
- Trim and finely slice the green beans and add them to the carrot. Set aside.
- Peel and thinly slice the onion and put it in carrot mix.
- Chop the coriander leaves and add them to the vegetable mix.
- Peel and grate the potato. Using a kitchen towel, pat the potato to absorb as much as water that comes out of the potato. Then put it in the vegetable mix.
- Sprinkle the rice flour (if using) over the vegetables. Stir well.
- Chop the chillies if using, then add them to the vegetable mix. You can also use 1 tsp dried chilli flakes or red chilli powder if you prefer.
- Then add all the spices, i.e. ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric powder, whole cumin seeds, carom seeds (if using) and salt into the vegetable. Stir well.
- Add the gram flour in, mix well and pour the water in and stir the vegetable mix.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan. Make sure it’s hot enough, but not too hot. Test it by throwing a little bit of the gram flour mixture in the pan. It should come to the surface at a slow and steady pace. If it comes up fast, it means the oil is too hot, and you would want to turn the heat down.
- Carefully drop a tablespoon of vegetable mixture in the hot oil. You can also use your hand to pick the veggies and place them in the pan. The latter method gives you a bit more control in how much vegetable mixture you want. It also makes the shape of the pakoras thinner and not too bulky. So they fry better.
- Turn the veggie fritters when they look golden. It takes approximately 7-10 minutes to fry these vegetable pakoras.
Notes
- Carom seeds give the pakoras a nice fragrance. But you don’t have to use them if you don’t have them or prefer not to.
- Rice flour adds body to the vegetable fritters. If it’s not available for you, you can substitute it with cornflour (corn starch), plain flour/ all-purpose flour, or chapatti atta.
Nutrition
Devy founded So Yummy Recipes and Drizzling Flavor to share her love of food after exploring various cultures and cuisines for more than two decades. Her mission is to help others easily recreate traditional and non-traditional food with readily available ingredients. Her works have been featured in Reader’s Digest, Al Jazeera, MSN, Yahoo, Bon Appétit, and more.
