ONION PAKODA / PIAJA PAKUDI / THOOL PAKODA/ DEEP FRIED ONION FRITTERS/ VENGAYA THOOL PAKODA

Pakoda and Chai is a combination which most Indians like. Thats also one of the reason that one will find various varieties of pakodas in the Indian cuisine. Monsoons and winters are apt time for having garam garam pakodas and chai.The very popular and easy to make one is onion pakoras. 

Onion pakoda are onion fritters made with gram flour (besan) and is a popular and yummy Indian street food. It is one snack that is easy to prepare and tastes good too. There are quite a number of variations to make onion fritters in different parts of India. This onion pakoda is a South Indian style onion fritters with rice flour, curry leaves, green chillies and coriander leaves added to it. Thool pakoda varies from normal pakora in the shape. It does not have a ball shape. It is irregular in shape and size. Thool means powder that indicates the texture of these pakoras.

INGREDIENTS:

• Onion - 2 nos.
• Green Chillis - 4 - 5 nos.
• Curry leaves - 1 spring
• Corriander leaves - A handful
• Garlic - 4 - 5 cloves with skin
• Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon 
• Fennel seeds - ½ teaspoon 
• Broken cashew nuts- 10 - 15 pieces
• Rice flour - 2 tablespoons
• Gram floor - 4 tablespoons
• Salt - To taste
• Hot Oil - 1½ tablespoons
• Oil - For frying

INSTRUCTIONS:

Making the batter:

1. Peel, rinse and slice the onions thinly and place in a mixing bowl or vessel. Cut the green chillies into thin slices, chop the coriander leaves and curry leaves, roughly crush the garlic cloves and add to the bowl.
2. Add the cashew nut pieces, fennel seeds, red chilli powder and salt to the sliced onions in the bowl and mix all the ingredients. 
3. Allow the mixture to rest for 5 to 6 minutes, as the onions would leave moisture and become soft. 
4. Now add 2 tablespoons of rice flour and 4 tablespoons of gram floor to the sliced onion mixture. Add 1½ tablespoons of hot oil to this mixture.
5. With your finger tips mix the gram floor, rice floor and oil very well with the onion mixture. If the mixture looks too moist, then add 1 to 2 teaspoons more of the gram flour.

Frying Onion Pakoda:

1. Heat oil for deep frying in a deep pan/vessel or kadai.
2. For crispy pakodas, ensure the oil is hot. You could do a small test by adding a pinch of batter to the oil if it rises smoothly and gradually, then sprinkle the mixture onto the hot oil.
3. Fry the pakodas on a medium heat. Flip the pakodas when one side is light golden and fry the other side till they turn crisp and golden brown.
4. Remove the onion pakodas with a slotted spoon and place on absorbent kitchen paper towels for extra oil to be absorbed.
5. In the same way fry the rest of onion pakodas.
6. Serve hot with fried green chilies, spicy green chutney or tomato ketchup or a cup of hot filter coffe or tea. It tastes great as an accompaniment for sambar rice and curd rice also.

NOTES:

• For thool pakora take hand full of mixture and sprinkle the mixture in to small pieces by pinching the mixture in hot oil.
• For normal pakoras take a small gooseberry sized batter and drop in hot oil and fry till crispy and golden brown colour appears.
• Fry the onion pakodas on a medium flame. If the oil is not hot enough, the pakoda will absorb too much of oil and become soggy. If fried in very hot oil, then they will get browned quickly from the top leaving the onions uncooked from inside.
• There is no need to add water in the pakora batter as the onions leave their juices which will be sufficient.
• Adding hot oil to the batter makes the onion pakoda crisp, lighter & will prevent them from soaking up oil.
• Make sure the final mixture before frying is not very sticky and is dry and loose. When frying drop into the oil in bits and pieces by breaking the mass with your fingers.
• You can add a bit of carom seeds or coriander seeds and finely chopped ginger, mint leaves or chopped palak (spinach), if you want some different flavour.

Have you tried this "Onion Pakoda" recipe ? Please feed us with your comments below.