Vegetable Pakora

I'm not big on fried things but these battered and fried veggies are SOOOOO good! They go wonderfully with chutneys (two are listed in separate posts below). We actually liked these pakora so much that we have made them on two separate nights...that means a lot. Sacrificing something new so that we can have these again!

Just a note: The chickpea flour is much easier to find that expected. Look for Besan or Garbanzo bean flour in your grocery store near the specialty flours. Most places carry this because it's gluten free. If we can find it at the grocery store in my SMALL town anyone should be able to find it ;) Unless you are masochistic, I would STRONGLY discourage making your own flour by grinding dried chickpeas!

You will need:

• 1 C chickpea flour
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3/4 C water
• 1 quart oil for deep frying
• 1/2 head cauliflower florets
• 2 onions, sliced into ~1/4 inch square pieces

Experiment with other vegetables. We've also done broccoli, zucchini, and yams.

Steps:

1) Sift the chickpea flour into a medium bowl. Mix in the coriander, salt, turmeric, chili powder,garam masala, and garlic.

2) Make a well in the center of the flower. Gradually pour the water into the well and mix to form a thick, smooth batter.

3) Over medium high head in a large, heavy saucepan, heat the oil to 375 degrees F (190 deg C).

4) Coat the vegetables in the batter* and fry them in small batches until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels before serving.

*We've found that dicing all of the vegetable into small pieces and mixing them together into the batter and forming them into balls about 1 - 1.5 inch diameter works out the best; this isn't really the cleanest or easiest batter to work with but it's VERY delicious.