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Vegetable Pakoras

Vegetable Pakoras

Vegetable Pakora

Pakoras are an all-time favorite snack in India. They are perfect for a rainy day, and delicious paired with a cup of hot spicy Indian chai. Pakoras are made with a variety of vegetables dipped in a spicy besan (gram flour) batter and deep-fried. This recipe uses potatoes, cauliflower and zucchini.
4 from 2 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Indian
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 small potato, sliced thin
  • 8 cauliflower sliced
  • 1/2 zucchini, sliced thin
  • 1 cup besan gram flour
  • 3 tbsp rice flour optional
  • 1 tbsp coriander coarsely ground dhania
  • 1 tso cunin seeds jeera
  • 2 green chilies chopped
  • 2 tbsp cilantro chopped hara dhania
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup water, use as needed

Instructions
 

  • Mix all the dry ingredients together: besan, rice flour, coriander powder, cumin seeds, and salt. Tip: rice flour adds to the crispness.
  • Add the water slowly to make a smooth batter (batter should be consistency of pancake batter or dosa batter).
  • Add the green chilies and cilantro. Mix well.
  • Heat at least one inch of oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. To test, put one drop of batter in the oil. The batter should form a small ball on the surface of the pan, but not change color right away.
  • Dip the vegetable slices into the batter one at a time, making sure each slice is completely covered by the batter. Then drop the slices slowly into oil in the frying pan.
  • Fry the pakoras in small batches, three to four minutes per batch. Fry the pakoras, turning occasionally, until both sides are golden brown. Repeat this process for the remaining batches.

Notes

Tips:  If oil is too hot the pakoras will not be crisp; if the oil is not hot enough, the pakoras will be very greasy, make sure when you are putting the pakora in oil, oil should sizzle and pakora slowly float. 
Variations:  You can use almost any vegetable when making these pakoras, such as eggplant,  cabbage, bell pepper, and different kinds of chilies! Feel free to experiment!
Serving Suggestions:  The vegetable pakoras are best dipped in a cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney, or sprinkled with chat masala.
Pakoras taste best when they are served hot.
You can make the pakoras one day in advance. Do not refrigerate. When ready to eat, place on a cookie sheet and heat in a 300°F oven.
Leftover pakoras make good sandwiches.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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77 thoughts on “Vegetable Pakoras

  1. The recipe is great. I have found that you can bake these pakoras in the oven at ~220° Celsius for about 25-30 minutes. They won’t exactly be the same as the deep-fried version but they are still good (changes: I added one tablespoon oil to the batter and used a bit less water to make the batter, which is better if creamy not liquidy if you bake the pakoras).

  2. Manjulaji, your recipes are simple and easy to follow and your videos are amazing.
    Keep up the good work.
    You are really touching so many lives of people worldwide in this manner.
    More power to you, all the best and God bless.

    George

  3. First of all, Manjula I love your videos and your recipes. I am learning to be adventurous in the kitchen with Indian spices now that I have a knowledge base from you! I have a quick question: I love that vegetable pakoras are gluten free because my husband is allergic to wheat. We try to avoid frying food if we can. Would these turn out if I baked them in the oven instead of frying them on a stove top? If so, how long and how hot should I bake them?

  4. I followed your instructions on YouTube and made Jalebi the other day and it turned out really good! But about this Pakora recipe, I notice that the quantity of gram flour and rice flour is different from your video. Which one should I follow then… Thanks in advance! 🙂

  5. Just made these and these are excellent. Especially love the coarse ground coriander seeds. Reminded me of the pakoras my mom used to make for me as a kid. Thank you Manjulaji!

  6. Mrs Manjula, lovely recipes and very educational with your videos!
    I myself has a blog – in danish – and I have linked to your site with this recipe, so that my readers can se how its done. Hope thats ok with you?
    My recipe is a bit different than yours, but next time I make Pakoras, I will try yours.
    Sincerely,
    La Cucina Nada/http://lacucinanada.com

  7. Manjula thank you very much for this recipe, now I know what REAL pakora is. 🙂

    I’m vegetarian from Russia and also have a web-site on the same topic. You have a very nice site.
    Good luck!

  8. Hello Manjula ~ Would it be OK to leave out the rice flour, maybe substitute all purpose flour in this? Also I have coarse besan, I saw two kinds at the store, coarse and fine ground. Is coarse OK? hanks for all your recipes! 🙂

  9. Used Bob’s Red Mill Chickpea flour from the natural food section of the grocery store, they came out awesome! Better than at a restaurant! Especially the cauliflower, mmm.

  10. Thank you for this easy recipe. I tried it and it taste delicious. I made a variation. I couldn’t find the gram flour, so I substituted with all purpose flour, corn starch and added a teaspoon of turmeric for color. They came out great. 🙂

  11. Thank you for this great recipe!! There are alot of Vegetable Pakora recipes out there and I found that yours is the best tasting and so simple to prepare. Thanks again.
    I feel that I am about to become a big fan of your site. ~Sarah~

  12. Hi manjula ji,
    I’m really a great fan of your cooking. Thanks for sharing all your recepies.
    I have one question regarding pakors. For how long I should keep them in oven at 300 C to reheat them.or If i keep them at around 150 C for long (3-4 hrs), will they be crispy? I’m hosting a party so wanna know it. Thanks a lot

  13. Enjoyed making your vegetable pekoras and hari chutney….found it so very tasty. Thank you for such wonderful viedeos.
    Would like to know if I have to roast the cumin and coriander seeds when making the vegetable pekoras. Thank. you

  14. It is really wonderful to learn the recipes from you Manjula anuty. If i want to cook something special i will call my mother and ask but now i just refer to your recipies,
    Thank u very much.

    Best wishes

  15. Manjula Ma`am,

    thanks for the recipe. I made Spinach pakoras with chopped spinach. coated them with lil besan batter in order to keep them crispy but it turned out that the pakora remained undone from inside. They were crunchy on the crust though.

    Any suggestions?

  16. Hi
    We are New to US and we are Pure Veg ( Jain )
    I found Your site sometime back while browsing and It’s really a great Help.
    My Kid Loved the Asparagus with Ginger ……

    Sangita

  17. hey majula aunty
    i like your way to cook the food. i found every recipe delicious which i have tried. i waiting for more and different recipe. especially the Punjabi or paneer sabzi.
    love you

  18. Dear Madam
    Today tried Rasmalai. It turned out very tasty. Thankyou so much for u r nice detailed narration for preparing rasmalai.
    I have a doubt madam. I made with one ltr milk and 15 Nos patties i made. Half of them got stickked with each other. I would like to know how to make without sticking eachother. Taste wise it is so sweet so nice. melting in the mouth.Can you guide me how to keep them without sticking eachother.

    Thanks a lot
    chd

  19. Hi Manjulaji,

    I found your website recently and its very good.The way you teach in a step -by-step process at your own simple kitchen is so good .It reminds me of how my grandmother and my mother used to teach their recipes to me .
    Your recipes are really good aunty.
    Wish u goodluck and keep posting more recipes .

    Cheers
    Gayathri
    Melbourne

  20. Hi,
    I recently became fascinated with vegan diet, but could not follow the popular recipes given by many websites as those are not available in my place.
    But yours is different as you use ordinary stuff (sometimes not, but then it is replaceable hee hee) and very easy to follow as you make it sound very simple.
    Recently i tried your spinach raita but used cheera instead, it was really excellent, the first time something of mine turned out good.
    Anyway Now I am gonna try out vegan dishes
    Thanku Manjulaji

  21. Hello, I have just found your website. I am trying to avoid wheat and have been really pleased to find lovely recipes using besan (I have a big bag of this in my cupboard). Very best wishes, Jan

  22. Thank you, thank you! Everything always turns out so delicious! I love your recipes. A friend of mine uses banana peppers, too, and stuffs them before putting them in the batter… “with a paring knife make a small vertical slit. Make a paste combining 1 teaspoon of mango powder, 1 teaspoon of crushed coriander seeds, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of water. Stuff 1 teaspoon of paste into banana peppers.” Then put in batter.

  23. thank you so much manjula aunty …..
    you are great , love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

    i love all your recipe and will pray to god to give you all the happiness as because of you i am able to serve good food to my family.

    you are blessing to all girls like me who are scared of cooking ….
    with your simple recipe you create interest in cooking .
    whole of my life i will never ever forget you …

    my mother in law is also jain and she also cooks same things you cook but never taught me ….but with your help i can please every one…..

    god bless you
    love you
    regsrds
    villea

  24. Aunty,
    Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate all of these wonderful recipes! Now that I live away from home, I feel like I can still enjoy all of the delicious tastes of home!

  25. Hi Manjula Aunty.
    I love your website and eagerly visit your website every now and then to check what new recipe you have posted from last time i visited.
    You are doing a wonderful job..Thank you..
    This is yet another recipe i tried from your site and it came out very well.
    Thanks
    Kundhavai

  26. We love your website, and can’t wait to try your recipes. We found your site after enjoying the buffet at our favorite Indian vegetarian restaurant. (I guess we just can’t get enough Indian food!) . . . These pakoras look amazing. Your perfect slices made me wonder if you sliced them by hand or if you use a mandolin. If you use a mandolin, what brand do you use? It is so difficult to find a good one. Thank you!

  27. Yummmm..I made this only with paneer…it was sooo good! I loved the taste of the freshly grounded coarse coriander seeds…makes a huge difference. Having it now with tea..Thanks!

  28. Hello Manjula-ji,

    We loved these pakoras..adding coarse dhaniya definitely made a lot of difference to the taste. My husband is getting to eat all yummy stuff…Thanks to you !

  29. I have made the Vegetable Pakoras and everyone so enjoyed them..I served them with several different flavoured dips. This was a good thing for everyone. I enjoy your video recipes so much. Thank you

  30. Hi Manjula ji,
    I am hamsa from UK
    I will check ur website daily and i ahve been seeing the same recipies many times as it seems every time different and very very motivating to learn cooking many varies of dishes …

    U r doing a great job …. all ur recipies r amazing u know what my husband doesnot like onions and garlic and ur recipies is hand book for me ….. thanks a lot …. love

    great work

  31. Hi Manjula aunty ,

    You have made cooking a much easier and interesting task than i had ever imagined. A thing like rasgulla’s seems so simple and easy to make . I will definately try the same and post the reviews that i will receive from my family . I love u for having thought of this way to teach us .

    thanks
    Deepti

  32. Hi!!
    I’m an Spanish girl and I love Indian cuinise!!!!so thanks to teach me all these delicious vegetarian dishes and give me the opportunity to learn more about your country.

    You are great!!!!!

    besos ( kisses)

  33. hai manjula gi!
    i tried ur veg. pokoras it is very nice…my son really like it….thanks a lot….i want to know how to prepare vegetable roll…can u plzzzzz do it for me…

  34. Manjula,
    I have just come across your tutorials and I am so happy to learn more vegetarian cooking You make it so simple and easy.
    thanks
    Merlyn

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