ONION PAKODA

     Onion Pakoda, one of my favourite fried snack ever, a famous Indian Street Food.  Deep Fried Crispy and Crunchy snack prepared with a wonderful combination of Onions and Gram Flour.  It has different names such as Pakora, Pakodi, Fakkura, Bhajiya, Bhajji or Ponako. A call for a snack or a rainy evening instantly reminds me of Hot deep-fried snacks, but my all time favourite in the long list of snacks is always Onion Pakoda.
     My Dad used to buy Onion Pakodas from a Street Vendor.  It happened only for an instance or two. The reason is my Mother who menace street food, gives elaborate lectures about cleanliness, hygiene etc., & etc., and we end up even not to think about eating outside. If at all an occasion arises when we eat at a restaurant while we travel or during weddings, she is so particular not to allow us to eat Coconut Chutneys served along with Dosa or Idli. She even goes to the extent of saying that they would have added Tap Water to it. As a mother, I can very well understand her worries and concern, but she was too sceptical to things those days. Eating food apart from home cooked was never a thought at home until me and my brother grew up and we had our own preferences.  Even to date, I see my Dad buy Pakodas from Sweet shops, recently he had bought Mundhiri Pakoda from Nellai Lala Sweets(suggested by my SIL Nithya) for me, when I was home.  It was the first time I tasted it and I really fell for it.
     When I started cooking during my College days, Onion Pakoda was one of the most frequented snacks at home.  I & my brother would venture on deep fried snacks like Masal Bonda, Samosa, Vadai, Aloo Tikki etc.,  I perfected the recipe with quite a lot of variations since the beginning.  This particular recipe which I finally stuck to was from my husband's friend, Govindraj's Mother.  She always prepares these Onion Pakoda when we visit her and I felt the texture was quite satisfying.  Her recipe calls for adding a bit of All-purpose Flour and Rice Flour along with Gram Flour and the trick to get crispy Onion Pakodas is mixing the Onions with Butter/hot Oil and Salt.
     Serve these Garma Garam(hot) Onion Pakodas along with a Hot cup of Coffee/Tea.


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Cuisine - Indian
Recipe Type - Snacks
Spice Level  - Low
Difficulty - Easy
Serves - 3-4
Author - SM

Preparation Time - 5-10 Minutes.
Cooking Time - 15-20 Minutes.

HOW TO COOK ONION PAKODA

ONION PAKODA

INGREDIENTS :

Gram Flour - 1/2 Cup
Rice Flour - 2-3 Tbspn
All Purpose Flour - 2-3 Tbspn
Onions - 4 Nos.
Green Chillies - 2-3 Nos.
Curry Leaves - a Sprig
Ginger - a small Piece
Fennel Seeds - 1/2 Tspn
Coriander Leaves - Few
Butter - 1 Tspn
Salt - To Taste

For Deep Frying :

Vegetable Oil

METHOD :

• Peel, Clean and Slice Onions into thin slices.
• Separate the Onion Slices.
• Add finely chopped Green Chillies, Ginger, Curry Leaves, Coriander Leaves and Fennel Seeds.
• Add Butter and Salt along with the above ingredients and mix well, until each strand of Onion is well coated with Butter.
• Now add Gram Flour, Rice Flour and All-purpose Flour to the above and mix well.
• Sprinkle a little bit of water and mix the ingredients with your hand.
• Meanwhile heat Oil in a Deep Pan.
• Once the Oil fumes, lower the flame.
• Now gently add small chunks of Onion-Flour Mix into the hot oil.
• Deep fry the Onion Pakodas until it turns into golden brown in colour.
• While deep frying the Onion Pakodas, flip it once or twice in the hot oil.
• Fry until it is evenly cooked on all sides.
• Remove the Onion Pakodas from the Oil with a slotted Spoon.
• Line the Onion Pakoda on a Paper Towel, to remove any excess Oil from the Pakodas.
• Serve Onion Pakodas hot with any Chutney, Sauce/Ketchup or Dip of your choice.
• Goes well with a cup of Hot Coffee/Tea.

NOTES :

• Cut Onions into thin slices and separate the strands.
• Can avoid adding Green Chillies, instead add 1/2 Tspn of Red Chilli Powder.
• When the fresh ingredients are mixed along with Butter and Salt, it tends to ooze out some water.
• So I usually do not add any water while mixing the ingredients with Flour.
• Add Water, only if necessary.
• If you are not adding Butter and Salt to the ingredients, mix all the ingredients sprinkling a little bit of water and finally pour about 1-2 Tbpsn of HOT OIL to the Onion- Flour mix.
• These two methods, help you to yield crispy and crunchy Onion Pakodas.