Onion Pakoras (Fritters)
Last week, I stared at a five-pound bag of Chickpea flour sitting in my baking cabinet. It cried to be opened. I immediately closed the cabinet, walked away, and within seconds, I ran back into our kitchen, opened the cabinet door, and grabbed the bag of flour off its shelf. I refused to ignore its cry. The first thing that came to my mind was Onion Pakoras with a two-second Ketchup Chutney.
Pakoras are something I grew up on. I love how how imperfect and rustic they are once out of the hot oil. And I love that they bring brightness to a dreary day. I also adore the sweet and spicy ketchup chutney served with them.
Often, on rainy days, I seek comfort food. I crave savory and sweet. And I adore quick and simple. Although I’ve held back on this onion pakora recipe for a week, when these were made, I was absolutely sure that it was Spring. With the small duvet of snow that blanketed the New Jersey area yesterday morning, I am now unsure of what season it is, but I am praying that the snow and rain are not a teaser to something worse. Imagine: snow in May. That’d be interesting. Wouldn’t it?
Regardless of what season Mother Nature may have placed us [back] in, these Pakoras call for your attention on any day- sunny or dreary.
When the idea of making pakoras came to mind, my mother and I agreed that making them was quite necessary. You may not consider this to be dinner, but with there being only two people in our house that day, dinner it was.
Onion Pakoras & Ketchup Chutney Recipe
Makes 20-24
Serves 4 – 6 (or 2 very hungry adults)It’s amazing how we inherit recipes through family. My mother inherited this recipe through marriage. When she married my father, she learned how to cook Indian food and she’s very good at it. She can make a mean pakora and her chicken curry is out of this world. My mother learned this recipe from my aunt S. who is a phenomenal Indian home cook.
I prefer serving this ketchup chutney to serve with the pakoras, buy my grandmother loves eating pakoras with sriracha sauce, which is also lovely. I prefer the Shan brand of chaat masala, which can easily be found at an Indian/Pakistani grocery. If you can’t find chaat masala, a mixture of ketchup and sriracha sauce tastes just as great.
Ingredients:
Ketchup Chutney:
½ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon water
½ tablespoon chaat masala
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon saltPakoras:
2 cups (250g / 8.8 oz) Besan (also known as: Chickpea Flour or Gram Flour)
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 green chilii pepper, sliced
½ cup Cilantro leaves, chopped
1 yellow onion, sliced into 1/8-inch half moons (should look like this)1 cup luke-warm water
Sunflower oil (or any neutral oil like vegetable, safflower, canola, etc.), for deep frying
Preparation:
Make the Chutney: Mix all of the chutney ingredients together in a bowl.
Make the Pakoras:
Fill an 8-inch cast-iron skillet half-way up with oil. Heat the oil to 360-375ºF.In a large bowl, mix together the besan, red chili flakes, salt, baking powder, sliced chilli pepper, cilantro, and sliced onion.
Slowly add in the water, while mixing with a wooden spoon or your hands. Vigorously mix for a couple of seconds. The batter should be thick, almost like heavy (double) cream and there should be air bubbles throughout.
Once the oil is heated, carefully place in heaping tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. Try not to overcrowd the oil because it will result in greasy pakoras. Fry until the pakoras are a pecan-brown. Drain on a cooling rack placed over a cookie sheet.
Repeat with the remainder of the batter.
Serve right away, and enjoy.
Font Size: a A | 
Print Recipe
| 48 Comments
48 COMMENTS
March 24th, 2011
Thanks for sharing this recipe!! I have a bag too sitting here…and seems calling to be made into pakoras!
March 24th, 2011
I just got home, hungry, and this is the first thing I see when I sit down at the computer.
Dang. Now I’m REALLY hungry.
Might have to be my dinner too…
March 24th, 2011
I am completely in love with your food tastes. Every single recipe that you post speaks to me and your photos make my mouth water…oh lord! Thanks for the fantastic posts and your rockin’ palette. You can have me over for dinner any time. – Miss Slice
March 24th, 2011
These look so wonderful, and if I’m not mistaken, gluten-free too :). The weather is the same here – doing that dance between spring and winter, today complete with freezing rain and brilliant white snow on the ground. The odd snow in May isn’t unheard of, though it does make things interesting!
Also, you’re really coming into your own with the photos Kam. That last one? Absolutely love.
March 24th, 2011
Okay, a question (because I really might make these for dinner): when you say red chili flakes, is that the same as crushed red pepper, or something else?
Thanks!
kamran replied:
March 24th, 2011
yep! will edit that into the recipe… :)
March 24th, 2011
Lovely Pakoras..reminded me of my Mom making those on weekends :)
Thanks for sharing..
Cheers,
Reshmi
March 24th, 2011
I’m salivating now!!!
March 24th, 2011
This looks so delicious!! I love pakoras and the sauce sounds good – though I love the raisin sauce you sometimes get with pakoras. Yum!!
March 24th, 2011
oh God, since Règis and I moved to Asia we have become very acquainted with Indian food (meaning we often go to get our fix at one of the many Indian restaurants in town), the sad thing is I´ve always wanted to give a try and cook this type of food at home but I thought it was too much trouble.
However, I think these onion pakoras can be a nice start.
I only have one question: if I can´t find gram flour; can I substitute it for other type of flour or is it crucial for flavor and texture?.
kamran replied:
March 24th, 2011
Hi Heidi, I wouldn’t really substitute as it really would compromise on taste and texture … If you can find dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans), you can make your own chickpea flour (if you’re willing to do a bit more work).
To make chickpea flour, you’d need about 3 cups of dried chickpeas and a coffee grinder, a food processor, or a blender. In small batches, simply grind the chickpeas until pulverized and smooth. Run through a sieve to remove any of the large particles and process again, and use as needed.
I hope that helps. :)
March 25th, 2011
Oh, pakoras…I love them…I usually put more spices in mine, but yours seems great and you know better than me how to make them…I love to eat them with yogurt too, but I have to try your super quick ketchup chutney!!
March 25th, 2011
You grew up on these? That is awesome. I suppose onion pakoras are not really six-thirty-in-the-morning food, but if I had a bag of chickpea flour in my kitchen right now, I might just make them so.
March 25th, 2011
yum, yum..now all i need is a cup of hot,strong mint & ginger tea to drink with the pakoras. Thank you for the recipe : )
March 25th, 2011
I too have neglected the chickpea flour in my cabinet. I was going to do something with it months ago, and got freaked out and backed away. Thanks for inspiring me to give it a try.
March 25th, 2011
I have never heard of pakoras, they look very good and I think they would have been good with the chicken curry soup I made last night.
-Brenda
March 25th, 2011
These look so good, but finding the ingredients and making them seems difficult. Maybe I can find a good local Indian restaurant that serves them :)
kamran replied:
March 25th, 2011
Hi d.liff – All of the Ingredients are readily available at supermarket/grocery store except for the Chaat Masala, but I did mention that you can easily serve this with sriracha. And as mentioned in an above comment, if you are unable to find chickpea flour (which is usually found in the health foods isle of the grocery store… I use Bob’s Red Mill), you can make your own. As for the preparation, it’s less difficult than even making bread! All you have to do is chop and mix, which I am sure, many people would agree is quite easy.
March 25th, 2011
looks fabulous we enjoy onion pakoras
March 25th, 2011
thanks for answering my question Kamran, I think I will have to make my owm chickpea flour. How fun!.
March 26th, 2011
I adore your non fussy way of writing and presenting the recipe. No fan fare, nothing-just the recipe and the related clean pictures. It feels genuine and I feel like giving it a try. Onion Pakoras or Bhajiyas, as it is known in some parts of India are a rainy day favourite or quick fix snack ( not that quick fix too). I make them lots of times and use potatoes, Big Green chillies, aubergines, raw banana apart from onions. But whatever you use, this tastes so appetising with a hot cup of tea. I ran through your recipe to see if I was doing it right along or not. Guess, I am not far behind :). But the ketchup chutney is an interesting add.
March 28th, 2011
Hi Kamran…this is my first visit to your blog and loved this onion pakora nostalgia…we love them too but the chutney is mostly green coriander tangy one :)
March 31st, 2011
Thanks for showing me something very new to me!
April 4th, 2011
Love chickpeas, never used chickpea flour. Now I have a great reason to. mmm
April 11th, 2011
Kamran, your pakora are gorgeous. My favourite vendor at my farmers’ market sells pakora that is out of this world but dare I say, your’s look even better and just a touch more rustic. I’ve always had them with a sweet mango chutney and I’m curious about the ketchup chutney. It’s one my daughter will definitely appreciate!
April 16th, 2011
Those look amazing! Sign me up right now!
April 20th, 2011
Sounds mouthwatering, can’t wait to try this one out, thanks!
April 26th, 2011
[...] can’t wait to try making his Onion Pakoras! I’m interested in cross-referencing his method with Sanjeev’s. Indian food is completely [...]
April 26th, 2011
hi kamran- i visited your blog a while ago- when the design was different- congrats on the new design and on “turning two”. youre so talented- and i mean that in the most non-patronising way possible. x shayma
June 10th, 2011
[...] if you’re feeling rather adventurous and want to try a recipe; here’s a straightforward and yummy looking recipe to start. Posted June 9th, 2011 in Food. Tagged: appetizers. [...]
July 28th, 2011
[...] – Indian Food Recipes – Andhra Cuisine – Sailu's Kitchen Rak's Kitchen: ONION PAKODA Onion Pakoras (Fritters) | the sophisticated gourmet In Erika's Kitchen: Fried onion pakora recipe [...]
July 28th, 2011
[...] Wish I could share some pictures! But I haven’t made these in ages. So I direct you to Kamran’s beautiful website with his pakora recipe and pictures. [...]
August 8th, 2011
I love the pictures and the way you describe food. Came across your blog randomly and now I am hunting back through the archives and okay, I think I want to add you to my list of loves at my blog http://presentedbyp.blogspot.com/ … hope you don’t mind.
kamran replied:
August 8th, 2011
Thanks so much for your kind words and the add onto your list of loves, panu! :)
November 28th, 2011
Craving pakora right now and yours look so good. Might have to run to the store tomorrow morning so I can make these for dinner. I love adding chopped potatoes or cauliflower to my batter. My dad is a huge fan of eggplant slices dipped in the batter and fried. I love that there are so many options.
March 9th, 2012
can i substitute tandoori masala for chaat masala ??
Kamran replied:
March 10th, 2012
Lucky- I wouldn’t, as Chaat Masala and Tandoori Masala are two very different spice blends!
April 15th, 2012
Love the pakora recipe also done some paneer pakoras and made a dip that was learned in glasgow.250g yoghurt,100g tomato sauce, 15g mint sauce,5g kashmiri chili powder mix all together and place in fridge for half hour add a sqeeze of lemon juice and mix just before seving.
April 16th, 2012
Awesome – I love Punjabi food and these are great.
June 19th, 2012
Just tried this recipe(first time i have ever made these) and they taste yummy, in fact on par with my mum’s pakoras, so thank you very much.
July 18th, 2012
Goes perfect with my dinner planned for my family tonight! Going to make them with spinach too, because my bous love them with more green veggies and dipping them in tamarind chutney! :-) Thank you for sharing your recipe!
July 18th, 2012
Just amazing! Served them to my guests on my birthday last weekend and they were a HIT!! Everyone loved them and they came out perfect at the first try. Thank you so very much. Will be frying some more this weekend too.
August 23rd, 2012
[...] Adapted from here. [...]
November 27th, 2012
[...] (recette adaptées de celle-ci) pour une dizaine de petits pakoras. Doublez les quantités pour 4 [...]
November 27th, 2012
So, I’ve been making these delicious Pakoras ever since I saw this post, and they are much appreciated !!!
Now that I’ve started my own little blog adventure, I had to share it as well. Most of the text is in French, but I do give a brief English version at the end.
Thanks for the deliciousness!
http://tortore.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/dhal-et-pakora/
November 29th, 2012
i am really hungry now i am to cook this pakoras
thanks for this website
December 7th, 2012
[...] paneer cheese…only 2 ingredients…and there are dozens of identical recipes on the net.Onion pakora – I ♥ these!!! Kamran made me rethink my ‘no fried foods’ restriction, and I am [...]
April 21st, 2013
Hi Kamran
Glad that I surfed for a pakora recipe. I am supposed to be a good cook too (sorry for the immodesty) but your recipe sounds mmmmmm sooooo delicious. Gonna try it TODAY.
The reason for looking for a pakora recipe was bcos I ate some delicious fresh potato pakoras from a diner at an Indian supermaket. They were sooo good. I am trying to figure out how they were a perfect golden brown and the potatoes cooked through? I am guessing that the potato strips were seeped in boiling salted water before adding to the batter. What do you think?
Would love to hear from you. Thank you. Olive