RECIPE FOR CRISPY BHINDI PAKODA
Delicious crispy fritters made from okra
Ingredients
- 15 - 20 nos Lady's Finger / bhindi, ; cut to thin circle
- 1/2 Cup Gram Flour Besan
- 1/2 Cup Rice flour
- 2 Green Chilli, ; finely chopped
- handful Coriander leaves, ;finely chopped
- handful Curry Leaves, ; finely chopped
- 1/2 tbsp Coriander Seeds/ Dhania, ; slightly crushed
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder /Haldi
- Salt
Instructions
- Wash and wipe bhindi. Remove the stalks,cut it thin roundells.
- Take a mixing bowl. Add bhindi,green chilli,coriander leaves,curry leaves and salt to it.Nicely squeeze it / mix it with hand, so that bhindi leaves out water. Keep it aside for 10 mins.
- Next add rice flour, gram flour, chilli powder, turmeric and crushed coriander seeds to the bhindi mix . Mix well.Add hot hot oil to it. Combine well .
- Moisture from bhindi is sufficient to bind the dough together.So extra water is not required. But if you feel the dough is too dry, sprinkle just a few drops of water. Less the water, more crispier pakoda is the outcome.
- Heat oil in a kadai / frypan. When its hot , take small pieces of pakoda dough and drop into hot oil in batches.Stir and turn in between.Keep the flame to medium while dropping pakodas to oil and later reduce to low-medium.
- Deep fry tell they are golden in color and becomes crispy. Drain it on kitchen tissue .Thats it,crispy crunchy all time favorite Bhindi pakodas are ready to serve. Enjoy it as such / with green chutney / tomato ketchup.
Notes
- The bhindis have to be sliced thinly and not thickly.If the slices are thick, then while frying the besan gets cooked but the bhindi slices remain half cooked.
- Add very less or no water to the pakoda dough. This will make pakoda very crispy and also the taste gets enhanced.
- Mixing hot oil gives a crispier pakoras and also prevents sogginess.
- The temperature of the oil has to be correct while frying. The oil should not be too hot or cold. If it is hot, then the outside of the pakoras will get fried but the inside will be under cooked. If it is not hot, then the onion pakoras will absorb more oil .
- To check the readiness of the oil, drop a small ball of dough (say around the size of the lemon seed). If the dough ball raises above the oil in a couple of seconds, the oil is hot enough to drop in the pakodas.
- Don't overcrowd pakodas while dropping in hot oil .This will make them soft as well absorb more oil.