Aloo pakora also known as aloo bajji or batata bhajia or potato fritters. It has crispy layer on outside and potato slice inside is just so soft and melt in your mouth kind.
Addition of rice flour gives nice crispy texture to the outside layer. So if possible, please do not substitute it with besan. And addition of a teaspoon of hot oil will also help the pakora to become crispy. This is my mom’s tip for making good aloo pakora.
Ingredients
- Potatoes – 2 small
- Besan (chickpea flour) – ? cups
- Rice flour – 3 tablespoons
- Carom seeds (Ajwain) – ¼ teaspoon
- Red chili powder – 1 teaspoon
- Turmeric powder – a pinch
- Salt – to taste
- Water – little less than ½ cup
- Oil – 1 teaspoon + more for frying pakora
Recipe
- Take besan, rice flour, salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, ajwain in a bowl.
- Mix well till incorporated.
- Add half of the water and make smooth paste.
- Then add remaining water and make thick batter. Batter should not be too thick or too thin. It should be coating consistency. By adding little water at a time, it will not form any lumps and batter will be smooth.
- Now heat the oil in pan on medium heat for deep frying.
- While oil is getting hot lets prepare potatoes. Wash and peel the potatoes and slice it into thin slices. we are not preparing potatoes ahead of time because potatoes get discolored means brownish in color. If want to prepare ahead of time then slice potatoes and keep them in cold water.
- Now take a teaspoon of oil from that pan and add it to the batter. Mix it well.
- Now let’s check the oil. Oil should be medium hot. If you drop a tiny drop of batter into oil and it comes on the top immediately after 1-2 seconds then oil is ready to deep fry. if it comes on top very immediately then oil is too hot. If it does not come on top or takes longer time then oil is not enough hot.
- Take one potato slice, dip into the batter. Make sure that potato slice will be coated with the batter from all sides.
- Now gently drop it into hot oil. Be careful here.
- Fry 5-6 pakoras at a time. Do not over crowd them.
- Fry them till they are golden brown from both the sides. Do turn them for even browning from both sides.
- Once fried remove them using slotted spoon.
- And remove them on paper towel lined plate. Sprinkle some chaat masala or red chili powder on top. It is optional.
- Serve right away with chutney or ketchup. And repeat the same process to fry remaining.
