Arbi Leaves Pakoda & Tips to make the best Pakoras

It is Chai Pakora day and we had a little tea party at home this evening. Sharing the Arbi Leaves Pakoda & Tips to make best Pakoras ever.  You don’t want to miss this post at all!

I love Pakoras! Actually, at this point, I would like to honestly accept I love deep fried food. And I stay off it only because I do know it is not good for health. I know I can see many people rolling their eyes but then I gotta be honest, there is a nothing quite like freshly fried poori is there? Today was Chai Pakora day and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to fry some Arbi Leaves Pakoda.

Chai Pakora Day is a part of the brilliant Indian Food Observance Day initiative by Rushina. (Read about Dal Diwas and Masala Day) And I consider it my moral duty to promote these days, no no I am not looking for an excuse to eat pakoras.

As you can probably see from the photo, I ended up making much more than just Arbi Leaves Pakoda. Honestly, this wasn’t my doing. I swear, someone wanted aloo pakoras, someone else wanted bread. And what is the poor cook to do, make them all after all. Weather in Bangalore (and I guess to an extent the entire country) isn’t helping much either. Monsoon and pakoras go hand in hand after all.

While I was sharing many pictures and ideas of pakoras in my Instagram stories today, I had many messages asking me to share the recipes. While the recipe of pakoras is fairly basic in my opinion, there are a few tips that help make the perfect ones. So I am sharing some of my favorite tips with you today.

Tips to make the best Pakoras

1. Sift your besan before making the batter, this helps in getting rid of all lumps and results in a smoother batter.
2. While mixing the batter, first add all the spices and mix well. For me, ajwain or carom seeds is a must. Not only does it give a beautiful flavor but also aids in digestion. Once you have added the spices, add a little water and whisk well to make a very smooth thick paste. Let it rest for 10 minutes before adding more water.
3. While making the batter, use chilled water instead of room temperature. Helps in making pakoras a little more crispy. Sometimes, I add plain soda instead of water too if I need more aeration or I am looking for a lighter texture.
4. Add a spoon of whole wheat flour to the besan for that little crunch or a spoon of rice flour for the extra crispness.
5. Add a spoon of hot oil to the batter before you coat your vegetables in it. This will also help pakoras absorb less oil while frying.
6. Personally, I think best pakoras are made in mustard oil, the sharp flavor it adds to the pakoras is un-matchable.
7. Double fry your pakoras for the extra crispness. This is a trick I learnt from my jiju, he is known in our family to make the best pakoras ever. At one point, we used to tell him he should start a chai-pakora chain and become uber famous. Anyways, so he taught me the trick to best pakoras is to first slow fry them in medium heat. And then just before serving, flash fry on high heat. The result is beautifully crispy from outside and yet melt in the mouth and fully cooked from the inside.
8. Batter consistency, last but not the least your batter needs to be the right consistency. For a pakoras which need coating, we need a thick but flowing batter. And for pakoras in which we mix all the ingredients in the batter, I prefer to use very less water, just enough to coat the ingredients.

Now that we have our tips ready, it is time for the recipe – Arbi Leaves Pakoda.

Arbi Leaves Pakoda

I started making Arbi Leaves Pakoda a few months ago actually. I have the leaves growing in abundance in my house. And one day while eating Patra I thought the pakoras with the same combo should taste good as well. A little google told me, I am not the first one to make them and they do exist pretty commonly. I also use these pakoras as koftas and add them to a basic onion-tomato gravy to make a fantastic main course dish out of it.

And the best part is that the child who isn’t a big patra fan, seems to love the leaves in this version. Leaving you with an easy-peasy recipe and hope that you will enjoy it. Do share with me what are your favorite pakoras on this #ChaiPakoraDay!

If you make this, share a picture with me on twitter, instagram or Facebook? I would love to hear what you have to say bout it!

Arbi Leaves Pakoda & Tips to make best Pakoras ever

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Course brunch, Snack

Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup besan
• 1 tsp rice flour
• 1 cup arbi leaves chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tsp ajwain carom seeds
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• Salt to taste
• mustard oil to deep fry
• 1 green chilli finely chopped

Instructions

 

• Sift besan and rice flour together once. Add all the dry spices and mix well.
• Add chopped green chilli, arbi leaves, onions and mix with besan.
• Add a little by little batter to just coat the vegetables and have a thick batter.
• Add one tsp hot oil and then deep fry the pakoras till golden brown and crisp.
• Serve hot with chutneys and adrak chai.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!