Onion Pakoda / Onion Pakora

Ingredients

• 2 cups onions thinly sliced, layers separated
• 1 3/4 cup besan (gram flour, chana dal flour)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon rice flour or semolina or cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (more if needed)
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger finely chopped or grated (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain or vaamu) (skip if you don't have)
• 2 to 3 green chilies chopped (adjust to suit your taste)
• 1 sprig curry leaves chopped or 2 tbsps coriander leaves
• 10 mint leaves (pudina) chopped (optional)
• 3/4 cup cashews (optional, soaked for 15 mins & drained)
• Oil for deep frying

Steps

1. Preparation for Onion Pakora: Slice onions moderately thin and add them to a mixing bowl.
2. Add chilies, ginger, curry leaves, pudina and salt to the same mixing bowl.
3. Nicely squeeze the onions with your fingers few times without mushing them up.
4. Leave it aside for 5 minutes. This helps the onions to release some moisture.
5. Then sprinkle besan, ajwain, cashews and more salt if needed.
6. Mix everything well to coat the onions with the flour. The mixture will be fairly dry at this moment.
7. Add water 2 tbsps each time and mix the flour to make a moist mass of dough.
8. The dough must be tight yet very moist and not soggy like batter else they absorb lot of oil while frying.
9. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a kadai
10. How to Make Onion Pakoda (continued): Be careful as it is too hot. Pour this to the dough.
11. Immediately the oil will sizzle. Mix the dough with a spoon and not hand as the oil is too hot.
12. Heat oil in the same kadai or fry pan for deep frying the pakoda.
13. Check if the oil is hot enough in the kadai by sliding a tiny piece of dough first.
14. It has to rise and not sink in the oil. Next it should not brown too quickly. This is the right temperature.
15. When the oil is hot enough, regulate the flame to medium high.
16. Take a small amount of dough and make small pakoda with your fingers and slide them gently in the hot oil.
17. Do not add too many pakodas in the pan. They should have some space in the pan to swim around & fry well.
18. While frying stir & if needed flip the onion pakodas occasionally for even frying.
19. Fry them till they turn crisp & golden. Then transfer them with a ladle to an absorbent tissue placed in a plate or to a colander.
20. Continue to make more onion pakoda in batches with the rest of the dough.
21. Serve onion pakoda hot with a cup of tea or coffee. You can also serve them with Coriander Chutney, Mint Chutney or Green chutney.
22. Or sprinkle some chaat masala or any ground seasoning of your choice.