PAKORA / TELEBHAJA / FRIES N FRITTERS

Pakora or Fries n Fritters or Telebhaja; who doesn't love? Most of us do and there is nothing wrong in indulging ourselves into what we love to eat once in a while, though not always. May be this is a frustrated diabetic who loves food to the hilt is speaking, but life need not be calculative at all times. Definitely we should eat right, but we need not deprive ourselves entirely from what we love. My tagline is.... Eat in Moderation. If you are craving for something you know may not be beneficial for your health, have it once or twice a month. I do it that way.... eat ice cream to pakora, everything I love in moderation.

Pakora or fritters are called telebhaja among us. We love to have it as an evening tea time snacks or as an accompaniment with steamed rice and dal [lentil curry]. We prepare pakora / telebhaja / fries and fritters with a number of vegetables. The basic batter consist of gram flour, rice flour, salt, turmeric powder, little red chilli powder with a dash of sugar. To it we can make some additions for a particular pakora, like nigella seeds for some or chopped green chillies for the others. I have compiled here three kinds of pakora among a number of we usually have at home. One is with sliced onions, one with chopped malabar spinach leaves and the other with thinly sliced egg plants. Let us prepare some of our much loved pakora / fries n fritters / telebhaja together.

I have made separate blogposts for each of the batter fries!

THE ONION FRITTERS @ BENGALI PYAZI

THE MALABAR SPINACH FRITTERS PUI PATAR BORA

THE EGGPLANT FRITTERS @ BEGUNI

INGREDIENTS : [for the batter]

Gram flour : 1big cup
Rice Flour : 1 small cup
Red Chilli Powder : 1tsp
Green Chilli : 2-3[chopped]
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 1tsp
Nigella Seeds [kalonji / kalo jeera] : 1/2tsp

INGREDIENTS : [for the pakoras]

Egg Plant : 1big sized
Malabar Spinach : 1 bunch [leaves only]
Onion : 2 big [sliced]
Salt : As Required
Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp
Oil : As required to deep fry

METHOD :

Let us prepare the basic batter first. Take the gram flour and rice flour in a bowl. Add the salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, sugar, nigella seeds to it. Add water little by little to the flour mix until it becomes a paste like consistency. It will look as below.

LET US PREPARE THE ONION FRITTERS / PYAZI AT FIRST!

Peel, wash and slice the onions.

For the onion fritters, we will add some nigella seeds and chopped green chillies to the batter.

Add the onion slices to the batter. Mix well.

Heat the oil in a wok. Take some battered sliced onion mix, shape into flat or round pakora and drop in to the oil. Deep fry on both the sides in batches.

They should be brown but not burnt. We need to adjust the heat accordingly.

Take out and place on tissue paper to get rid of the excess oil.

Serve it hot with chutney accompanied by tea.

LET US NOW PREPARE THE MALABAR SPINACH FRITTERS / PUI PATAR BORA!

Take out the leaves, roughly chop them and wash.

Add little salt to them and keep aside for 3-5 minutes. Add to the batter and mix well.

Heat the oil in a wok. Shape the mix into pakoras and deep fry on both sides. Take out and place on tissue papers.

Serve hot with sauce / chutney accompanied by tea.

NOW COMES THE EGGPLANT FRITTERS / BEGUNI!

Wash and cut half the egg plant. Cut further into thin slices. Add little salt and turmeric and keep aside.

Dip the egg plant slices in to the batter and coat well with it. This batter need not have chopped green chillies.

Heat enough oil in a wok. Deep fry each side pretty well. Take out and place on a tissue paper.

Serve hot with chutney and tea.