As soon as the drizzling rain drops fall, the craving for hot pakodas and ginger tea starts rising in every Indian house. The real fun of monsoon season comes only when the pakodas become absolutely crunchy and crispy. Often while making pakodas at home, they either become too soft or absorb too much oil. To get rid of this problem and bring market-like taste at home, renowned masterchef Pankaj Bhadauria has shared some very easy and magical cooking tips. By adopting these tricks, anyone can achieve halwai-like crispness in minutes.
Add rice flour or cornstarch to the batter
To keep the pakoras crisp for a long time, it is important to have the right balance of gram flour. According to MasterChef Pankaj Bhadauria, pakodas made only with gram flour become soft quickly after cooling. Therefore, while preparing the pakoda batter, add a little rice flour or cornstarch to the gram flour. Mixing 2 to 3 spoons of rice flour in about 1 cup of gram flour makes the outer layer of pakodas very crispy and their crunch remains even after a long time of frying.
Use of magic of hot oil i.e. Moyan
The biggest secret to making pakoras soft from inside and crispy from outside is the 'moyan' of hot oil. When you have prepared a thick batter of gram flour, add one tablespoon of boiling hot oil in it and beat it well. This little recipe makes the batter light and airy. Due to this, the pakodas do not absorb excess oil while frying and become puffy and extremely crunchy like halwai.
Batter consistency and correct beating technique
The taste and texture of pakodas depends entirely on how the batter is mixed. The batter should neither be too thin nor too thick. If the batter is too thin, it will not stick to the vegetables and will scatter in the oil; If it is too thick, the pakoras will remain raw and heavy from inside. Always add water little by little and beat the batter well in one direction for 4 to 5 minutes. Beating well introduces air into the batter, which makes the pakodas lighter.
Desi tadka of celery, asafoetida and dry spices
Correct selection of spices is important to improve both taste and digestion. To make the pakoras easily digestible during the rainy season, add a little celery and a pinch of asafoetida to the batter by rubbing it with your palm. Apart from this, adding coarsely ground whole coriander seeds gives a classic halwa-like flavor in every bite. Finely chopped green chillies, ginger and fresh coriander leaves enhance the taste of pakora manifold.
Correct oil temperature and double frying technique
The temperature of the oil plays the most important role while frying pakodas. If the oil is less hot, the pakodas will absorb a lot of oil and become sticky. However, if the oil is too hot, the pakoras will burn from outside and remain raw from inside. First heat the oil on medium-high flame and then fry the pakodas on medium flame only. If you want super crispy pakodas like the ones in bazaar, 'double fry' them. First fry the pakodas lightly, take them out and fry them in hot oil just 2 minutes before serving, until they become crispy again.
Serve with green chutney and ginger tea
Drain the prepared crispy pakodas on tissue paper or a mesh strainer to drain off excess oil. Sprinkle some chaat masala on top. Serve these hot crispy pakodas with spicy mint-coriander green chutney, sweet tamarind chutney and a cup of hot ginger-cardamom tea. With these easy tips of Pankaj Bhadauria, your monsoon taste will be doubled.