FRESH HERBS ALOO PAKORA

Its raining .... raining..... raining again since last night and we are quite used to enjoying monsoon at this time of the year for a couple of years now. I simply love watching the downpour early morning and can spend hours doing so..... there comes our Cristine's inevitable call .... ma'am its 7:15am already.... when will you prepare their lunch box?.... All possibilities of a "wedding with monsoon" within had to be kept aside and I had to say good bye to the favourite corner of my couch .... I have to because the old demon senior always looks for a reason not to carry a lunch box to the office.... he does because I insist. This island has no dearth of food outlets offering the healthiest choice of food at a cleanliest ambience at a reasonable rate where the government decides what amount of salt is to be used in a dish. Though my senior is a demon, packing his lunch box is perhaps from the feeling that ok I too have some contribution at home. There is off course some kind of guilt inside that I have a grown up teen at home, no elderly people to look after, I do not earn a penny.... yet there is a full time help always at service.... who supplies cups of coffee when we savour some FRESH HERBS ALOO PAKORA on a rain drenched evening. 

Then you see there is a reason for such indulgence.... I could never train my men well and household work seems to be nightmarish to them.... the question is can they be trained? That it is impossible to train them and the source of been so.... will be agreed upon by my father-in-law too... not in public though... haha.... There are three people in this family who if they say.... Sun rises in the west and sets in the north-east... no one on earth can correct it. I always have an open offer for all.... if anyone can train the trio... I give a considerable amount to them from my savings. Come on lah... I am never a victim.... they are nice people who do not set rules for you either. 

The senior deserves a roast chicken and pulao in the lunch box prepared early morning... you know why readers? Few winters back when I came down from the confession box uttering the truth.... and nothing but truth... he offered me a glass of port wine instead of breaking the cut glass on my head saying.... "Pushpa yeh tumney kya bola... dur ho jao meri nazroon se." If you are inquisitive enough to know what I said, I cannot comply.... few things in life are personal .... neither am I a Bollywood queen that my life story will sell like hot cake. What best I can do for you is treating you with some crisp, hot fries / fritters / pakora as good as this FRESH HERBS ALOO PAKORA done with the most common Indian herbs and the universal aloo / potato.

Hi S, you boast of your island this much.... yet you hardly share a local dish on your blog. To that I would say its not a child's play given I am lethargic / allergic to research and miser enough to buy seven sauces and ten herbs for a dish .... better we enjoy that outside because there are right people for doing it rather than me. I have a plan to share the Bengali style noodles that our mothers used to do in the early 80's if only my Oriental friends guarantee that they will not shoot me at point blank range at the sight of it. I may not ever blog on "mushroom diye dal".... if anyone does it I do not have a problem either. I do have a wonderful recipe of a winter special heirloom Bengali dal recipe to be shared soon. 

For the majority, pakora / fry / fritter is welcome at any season unless you are an extreme case of health freakiness. In that case I am not that much of your friend, I have stopped talking to Ipsita ever since she said S whenever you have cravings for carbs.... eat corns... Gosh! I mean I failed to even react! .... I am that shameless diabetic who eats salad adding some ripe mango pieces to it .... Ipsita survives on salads and soups, knows about 50 kinds of it and sends me every week... giving me tremendous complex wearing body hugging clothes at the same time. Girls .... if you are  keen about wearing some happening dresses.... do some bench press, leg curls, push ups or whatever. 

Let me work peacefully perfecting these FRESH HERBS PAKORA and treat you  and the family with some along with my favourite cup of coffee. Once I please my tummy, I can go out looking for some dresses with a guarantee of 80% coverage of all the extras on my arms, tummy.... Of late I realised all solutions lies in going for a surgery of my tongue. If you are ready with your "hata-khunti"..... we can proceed with FRESH HERBS ALOO PAKORA done with fresh Indian herbs like mint-coriander-curry leaves, potatoes and few spices.

INGREDIENTS :

Coriander Leaves : 1coffee mug [roughly chopped]
Mint Leaves : A Handful
Curry Leaves : A Handful
Potato : 1big
Green Chillies : 2-3chopped
Rice flour : 4tbsp
Gram flour : 21/2tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/2tsp
Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp

Dry Mango Powder : 1 tsp

Cumin Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder : 1 tsp
Sugar : 1tsp [optional]
Salt : As Required
Oil : 50ml [strain and store the extra for later use]


METHOD :

Take all the three chopped herbs in a strainer and wash throughly. Wait until all the water drains away.

Wash the potato, prick all over. Take on a plate and microwave at high for 21/2 to 3 minutes. Let cool.

Transfer the chopped herbs and green chillies to a big bowl. Peel the boiled potato and add to the fresh herbs. Mix the content well.

Add the lemon juice, all the spices, salt, sugar and add to the herbs and potato mixture. Fold in the entire content very well.

Prepare tennis ball sizes taking out small portions and then flatten with your palm. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.

Take out the tray from the refrigerator. Heat oil in a wok and fry the fresh herbs aloo pakoras in batches constantly switching between medium to low heat.

Once done, transfer the pakoras on to tissue papers to get rid of any excess oil.

Serve the crisp, hot FRESH HERBS ALOO PAKORA on a tray with chilli tomato sauce, spiced yogurt and off course to have some steaming hot coffee or tea with it.