Aubergine Fritters (Pakora)
Baingan Pakora
Aubergine pakoras are one of my favourite of all pakoras, although I love them all. They are easy to make and very tasty. Here I have made them using large aubergines, but you can make them with any variety of aubergines. They taste nicer when made spicy.
You can serve them for breakfast, afternoon tea or as a snack with drinks. They make a tasty sandwich too.
Always make more than you think you will need, they disappear very fast!
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 250-300gm. approximately aubergines (baingan/brinjal/eggplant Baingun) . All types of aubergines are fine, they will just give you different sized pakoras
- For batter
- 200 gm. gram flour/chickpea four/besan (for 4-5 people)
- 1/2 tsp. carom or ajwain seeds
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp. chilli powder (adjust to taste by tasting the batter)
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder. This makes pakoras crisp
- 1/2 tsp. Pakora (Bhajis) Masala Mix or Chaat Masala Mix - A Hot Spice Mix for Spicy Street Foods. You can use any other spice mix that you have.
- Water to make batter
- Oil for deep frying
- Note: you can add chopped green chillies to the batter, if you like your pakoras really hot.
Instructions
- Wash , dry and slice aubergines, not too thick, not too then, about 1 cm. thick. I cut them diagonally, but you can cut them round or lengthways.
- Mix all batter ingredients well with enough water to give it a coating consistency batter and beat thoroughly. Use an electric beater if you have it, it helps to trap the air, which in turn makes pakoras light and crisp. Otherwise beat with your hand or a spatula, until light and fluffy. To test the batter, drop a few droplets in a glass or cup of tap water. The droplets should float to the surface immediately.
- Heat the oil in a wok or karahi to medium hot. It should not be smoking hot. That is too hot. The right temperature is reached when a drop of batter dropped in the oil sizzles and floats to the surface quickly.
- Dip and coat each individual slice of aubergine in the batter in small batches. Drop it gently in oil, taking care not to splash the oil.
- Fry turning frequently, until pakoras are crisp and golden brown on all side. They should not be dark brown.
- Take out with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to absorb some of the oil. You can sprinkle some chat masala just before serving.
- with Coriander, Mint, Mango/Apple Green Chutney (Chatni) and Tomato Ketchup-Suresh Gupta's Spicy . They are best when eaten straight away.
Notes
- Pakoras do not taste half as good and absorb a lot more oil, if prepared in advance. However, if you have to, cook them first to very pale brown only, then re-fry just before serving. To heat in oven, preheat oven to 200˚ C/400 F◦ or gas mark 6. Spread pakoras out on a baking tray in a single layer and heat for 10 minutes.
- Also see A Collection of Indian Spicy Street Food (Chaat) Recipes.