Onion Pakoda with A Twist : Kanda Bhaji or Peyanji

Pakora: a must thing on a rainy day for all the Indians; no matter where you are or what you are doing…. And for a person who is madly in love with fritters, like me, monsoon is the most awaited season. I still remember when I was a kid I used to hate monsoons. Due to water logged streets I had to push away my roaming habit, which used to make me frustrated. Then my mom introduced me to the world of ‘Fritters’ to make a bonding between two of us. (me and monsoon of-course) To relish my childhood memory (what a brilliant excuse!!!) now a days I can keep my mouth full with any kind of fritters all day long… be it veggies or lentils. The only thing keeps me away is the oil (at least it makes me think twice). One of my biggest fears is a kadhai full with oil. But thanks to my mom who recently suggested me the aebleskiver pan. She found this in a supermarket around her place and immediately called me up. And without wasting any precious time I rushed to the nearest super market and made myself a proud owner of an aebleskiver pan.

Let me tell you the most enjoyable part of this pan. It sucks only 2 tbsp of oil for those all 11 holes. Isn’t it just W-O-W? Yeah I know it is 😉 ( just patted my back). Second thing is all your fritters will be shaped evenly which looks just W-O-W (for the second time :P) and then again it doesn’t spill oil so no burning No Pain Only Gain… lol. If you don’t have it or you can’t find it anywhere around you, weep. That’s the only thing you can do about it.

But one thing you can do certainly by deep frying them (and make a promise to yourself that you will shed all extra kilos tomorrow). Now bring back the sunshine of your mood by giving a small treat to yourself; A plate full of pakodas with a large masala chae. So, here you go for the ‘twisted onion pakoda’. Still unable to spot the twist??? 1st twist you already got; 2 tbsp oil for whole 11 fritters. And the 2nd one you will find in the recipe. Go ahead and start the treasure (twist) hunt 😛

Ingredients:

In a shallow bowl add besan, all-purpose flour, baking powder, semolina and mix well.

Add all the dry ingredients along with ginger, garlic and salt. Keep mixing in a light hand.

Add water little by little to make a very smooth paste.

The batter shouldn’t be either runny or dry. The consistency should be enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Now add onions, chillies, coconut, coriander leaves and mix well.

Add oil in the pan on high flame. Here I used aebleskiver pan so I added oil drop by drop. If you gonna deep fry it, use plenty of oil for that.

Turn down the flame to medium. Add the mixture in the pan with the help of a spoon. Maintain the medium flame. Don’t get tempted to increase the flame. It’ll spoil the pakodas by burning them.

Turn the pakodas once. Within a few mins your pakodas will reach the climax. Add few drops of oil, if needed. You need to do that for the 1st batch only.

Voila… here you go with crispy crunchy onion pakodas with a twist of coconut and coriander leaves. And O yes, of-course you dare not to forget, the whole 22 pakodas with less than 5 tbsp oil (yeah all of them).

Enjoy these hot pakodas with mashala chae (tea) and the beautiful rain outside.