Onion pakora

India's beloved onion bhaji: rings and shreds of onion coated in spiced chickpea flour batter and fried until shatteringly crisp and golden: monsoon food, chai companion, and one of the great street snacks of the subcontinent

Origin: India

From the journey of Onion.

The pakora (also called bhaji in Maharashtra and bhajia in East Africa) is one of the oldest and most universal preparations in Indian cooking: a fritter of vegetables, herbs, or proteins dipped in a besan (chickpea flour) batter spiced with cumin, chilli, coriander, and ajwain (carom seeds) and deep-fried until crisp. The onion pakora is the most beloved of all: thinly sliced or roughly shredded onions, sometimes with a few leaves of coriander or a green chilli, bound together by the besan batter into a rough, irregular fritter that is crisp on the outside and soft, sweet, and yielding within. The pakora is inseparable from the Indian monsoon: the season's first rains are the cue to make pakoras and chai: the combination of the crisp, hot fritter and the sweet spiced tea on a grey, rain-washed afternoon is one of the most specific and beloved sensory experiences in Indian culture. It is street food, festival food, and home food simultaneously.

Ingredients

Vegetable

  • 3 large onions, halved and thinly sliced into half-moons

Batter

  • 150 g besan (chickpea flour)
  • 2 tbsp rice flour (for crispness)

Spices

  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 0.5 tsp ajwain (carom seeds), or substitute dried thyme
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 0.5 tsp ground coriander

Heat

  • 0.5 tsp red chilli powder (or 1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped)

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp salt

Aromatics

  • 1 handful fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

Liquid

  • ml cold water (enough to make a thick batter)

Frying

  • neutral oil for deep frying

Method

  1. Toss the sliced onions with 0.5 tsp salt in a bowl and leave for 10 minutes. The onions will release liquid; use this, and do not discard it. It helps the batter adhere.
  2. Add the besan, rice flour, cumin seeds, ajwain, chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander, fresh coriander, and remaining salt to the salted onions. Mix to combine.
  3. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time, mixing as you go, until the mixture comes together as a thick, sticky batter. The onions should be thoroughly coated but the batter should not be runny.
  4. Heat oil to 175°C (345°F) in a deep pan. Using two spoons or wet hands, drop rough, irregular clumps of the batter mixture into the oil. Fry in batches for 3–4 minutes until deeply golden and crisp.
  5. Drain on a wire rack. Serve immediately with green chutney (coriander-mint-green chilli), tamarind chutney, and chai.

Notes

Ajwain (carom seeds) is the spice that gives pakoras their most distinctive aroma: a pungent, slightly medicinal, deeply savoury note midway between thyme and oregano. It is considered in Ayurveda to aid digestion and reduce the heaviness of fried food. It is available at all Indian grocery stores and is worth seeking out; dried thyme is a very loose substitute. The pakora tradition extends across the entire subcontinent and into the Indian diaspora in East Africa (bhajia, eaten with coconut chutney), the UK (the 'onion bhaji' of the British Indian restaurant), and the Caribbean. In all these forms, the onion pakora carries the same essential character: the alchemy of the pungent raw onion transformed by heat and spice into something sweet, crisp, and deeply satisfying.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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