Zucchini pakora
A recipe for vegetable pakora, this time prepared from zucchini, red onion, spices and herbs. Pakora are crispy mini fritters originating from Indian cuisine. These fritters are made from vegetables, most often onions, potatoes or zucchini, but other vegetables such as eggplant, cabbage, peppers and many others can also be used to prepare them. The vegetables are seasoned with a whole lot of spices such as turmeric, chili, cumin and an equally large amount of herbs. Pakora batter also contains flour and it is a mixture of two flours: chickpea and rice. The protein-rich chickpea flour makes the batter thicker, while the rice flour gives the fried pakora crunchiness and minimizes oil soaking. Both flours are gluten-free.
Once fried, these mini fritters are crunchy and super flavourful. They are usually served with chutney, i.e. fruit or vegetable jam. I recommend trying the following chutneys as an accompaniment to homemade pakora:
The recipes for the above chutneys are available on the MeCooks blog. Pakora is served as a snack and can be eaten, for example, during lunch. I encourage you to try the below recipe for zucchini pakora and enjoy your meal.
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Ingredients for zucchini pakora.
- 450 g zucchini
- 1 big clove of garlic
- 1,5 tablespoon of chopped mint
- 100 g red onion
- 60 g rice flour
- 120 ml lukewarm water
- 1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger
- 120 g chickpea flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 flat teaspoon of chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon of chopped jalapeno
- 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika powder
- oil for frying
How to make zucchini pakora.
Wash the zucchini, dry with a paper towel and cut it into sticks about 4 centimetres long and about 0.5 centimetres wide. After peeling, cut the red onion into feathers, and press the garlic through a garlic press. Coarsely chop the fresh herbs, and cut the jalapeno pepper quite finely.
Put the cut zucchini, onion, chopped herbs, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, chickpea flour, rice flour and all the spices in a bowl. Then pour lukewarm water and mix everything with your hand, slightly crushing the vegetables while mixing. After about a minute of mixing, the zucchini will release a large amount of water and the batter will have a liquid consistency.
Pour a large amount of oil into a pan with a thick bottom, heat it up and when hot, put the pakora batter in. Grab a small amount of batter with your hand and put it directly into the hot oil. Fry over a medium heat tending to high for about 4-5 minutes. During frying, the pakora should be turned over to the other side. Transfer the fried pakora with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Serve the zucchini pakora with your favourite chutney.
Good to know when making zucchini pakora.
If you don’t like too spicy dishes, you can omit the addition of jalapeno peppers. Personally, however, I think that this pepper is not that hot, but you have to be careful not to add too many seeds, because they give it spiciness.
Depending on what kind of zucchini I have available, I make pakora with green, yellow or a mixture of both types of zucchini.
Older zucchini specimens have quite large seeds and you should not add those seeds to the pakora. In the case of such zucchini, hollow out the center and cut only the hard part of this vegetable.
Do you like dishes with zucchini? If so, try our recipe for Zucchini in panko and pecorino.
