Pokada/ Pakora For The Rainy Day

Yesterday, when I was driving my daughter back from school it was raining and cold. I had made plans for dinner and all that changed in minutes. My daughter asked me if I can make her pakoda's for snack. In my heart I wanted the same and as soon as I got home I hunted down the recipe that I had collected from a tea shop owner in Coimbatore and set out to prepare the pakoda's. Later, I taught her how to make paper boats and we found a small puddle in our back yard to float them on. Here is a pakoda recipe for rainy days.

Gadgets:

Deep Frying Pan
Spatula
Colander
Paper Towel
Measuring Cup and Spool
Bowl
Cutting Board
Knife

Ingredients:

Besan/ Channa  Flour - 2 1/4 cups
Rice Flour - 3/4 cup
Asafoetida Powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp for mixing in the pakoda
Onion - 1 Medium julienne
Ginger - 1 inch shredded
Garlic - 1 Clove shredded
Mint Leaves - 1 tbsp minced
Cilantro - 3 tbsp minced
Curry Leaves - 6 or 7
Oil - 2 cups for deep frying
Water - Enough to make a sticky dough

Preparation:

1. Heat the frying pan on medium high with oil for frying.

2. In a bowl add ginger garlic, onion, mint, curry and cilantro leaves and  salt mix well set aside for       15 minutes the onions will ooze liquid.

3. Mix the besan and rice flour in a bowl. Add asafoetida, chili, turmeric powder and mix well set aside.

4. Add the dry mix a little at a time and make a wet sticky dough.Sprinkle water a little at the time if the liquid from onion is not enough to form the dough.

5. Add oil to the mix, blend it into the flour. This helps the pakoda get crunchy.

6. Drop a bit of the dough in oil and check to see if the oil is ready for frying. If it raises up quickly then you can start making pakoda's.

7. Take a tsp amount of the dough and spread out and flatten in the center before dropping into the oil. This helps in cooking evenly and would avoid having uncooked flour in the middle.

8. Fry until they get crispy and golden brown. Remove and drain the excess oil in a paper towel and serve hot with some masala chai and chutney or ketchup.