Nadiya Hussain’s Back-of-the-fridge Pakoras
Transform the last of your vegetables into these delicious crunchy Pakoras. Serve hot as something to snack on before dinner.
From the book
Nadiya’s Simple Spices
Simple, flavour-packed recipes for the whole family.
Demystifying the notion that cooking with spices is complicated.
From easy breakfasts and lunches, to side dishes and classic bakes.
Introduction
Delicious vegetables and onion fried in hot oil, pakoras are a go-to when we want a snack. We usually make them at the end of the week when we have lots of veg knocking around to use up.
Ingredients
| 2 | onions, thinly sliced |
| 300g | thinly sliced veg (potatoes, carrots, courgettes, broccoli, cauliflower) |
| 3 | spring onions, thinly sliced |
| 2 | green chillies, sliced |
| ¼ tsp | turmeric |
| 2 tsp | salt |
| large handful of | fresh coriander |
| 300g | chickpea flour |
| 100-125ml | water |
| oil, for frying |
Method
Put your sliced onion in a bowl and separate the onion strands. Add the thinly sliced veg.
Add the spring onion, green chilli, turmeric, salt and coriander, using your hands to mix the whole thing together and to soften the onion. Turmeric is notorious for staining clothes so wash your hands straight away after mixing. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. You will see some moisture being released from the onion mix, which is exactly as it should be.
Sprinkle in the chickpea flour and a little of the water and, using your hands, mix till you have a claggy dough that holds the veg together. Add more water if the mix is a little dry.
Pour some oil in a deep pan and heat to 180°C.
Take clumps of the mix with three fingers and gently drop into the oil. Don’t be tempted to shape into balls. What we want are straggly pakoras that are crisp and uneven. Fry and turn in the oil till crisp.
Drain on a tray lined with kitchen paper. Fry the whole lot, eating as you go.
+ When deep-frying veg, all you must remember is that oil doesn’t like water. To avoid the oil spitting, make sure not to use any veg that has lots of liquid in it, like mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumbers, etc.
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