One bunch of spring onions, 100g of gram flour and a spoon of oil make this Hairy Bikers pakora recipe, with warm water to bind. So Great Curries gets 12 out of it, at about 80 calories each and 25 minutes from chopping board to plate.
“Who would have thought a spring onion could taste so delicious?”, the headnote asks, and the batter is why. Because a spoonful of oil goes into the flour before the water, which fries up lighter than the plain paste most pakoras are dipped in.
The oil needs to be at 180C, and the book gives a test for it that works without a thermometer. Because a small ball of batter should float the moment it lands, and if it sinks, the pakoras will drink oil instead of rising.
Hairy Bikers Pakora Recipe
Description
Sliced spring onions are tossed through gram flour, salt, turmeric and hot chilli powder until every piece is dusted. Then sunflower oil is worked in by hand before warm water goes in slowly, so the batter ends up thick and smooth rather than runny. And dessertspoons of it are fried four at a time until well risen and golden, then drained and eaten warm with chutney.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Slice the onions: trim 1 bunch of spring onions and cut them into slices about 5mm thick. Then tip them into a large mixing bowl.
- Dry mix: add 100g gram flour, 1 tsp fine salt, ½ tsp hot chilli powder and 1 tsp ground turmeric. Then toss everything together lightly so the onions are coated.
- Add the oil: pour in 1 tbsp sunflower oil and mix it through with your hand. Then keep working it in until no dry patches of flour are left.
- Add the water: slowly pour in 100ml warm water, stirring constantly. Then stop when the batter is smooth and thick.
- Heat the oil: pour sunflower oil about 3.5cm deep into a wide, sturdy saucepan and heat it to 180C. Then, if you have no thermometer, drop in a small ball of batter, which should float at once.
- Drop the batter: take a dessertspoon of batter and ease it into the oil with a second spoon. Then add three more so that 4 pakoras are frying at the same time.
- Fry: cook them for 2½ to 3 minutes, turning occasionally with a slotted spoon or tongs. Then lift them out when they are well risen and golden brown all over.
- Drain and repeat: drain on kitchen paper while the oil climbs back to 180C. Then fry the remaining batter in the same way, and serve warm with chutneys and relishes.
FAQs
What is the difference between a pakora and a bhaji?
The batter, mostly, since both are gram flour fritters and both come from the same book. Because their onion bhajis are bound with a beaten egg at 170C, while a pakora batter is flour, oil and water at 180C. And the book calls a pakora “a kind of fritter” that can take vegetables, fish or meat, which a bhaji does not.
And the same gram flour binds their courgette fritters in Mums Know Best, with garam masala and crumbled cheese in the batter. And their prawn spring rolls in Perfect Pies are the other party fryer, tested with a bread cube at 180°C instead of a thermometer.
What are the Hairy Bikers lamb chop pakoras?
“Your luxury pakora, which comes complete with its own handle”, in their words, and it is a different dish. Because 12 to 14 cutlets are rubbed with toasted cumin and coriander, then dipped in a batter made on milk infused with cinnamon and cardamom. And they fry at 170C for two to three minutes, which BBC Food later paired with a fattoush salad.
Which pakoras are in the Mums Know Best book?
Two, and both are vegetable pakoras built on potato. Because Harjinder’s pakoras use 450g of gram flour with baking powder, lovage seeds and boiled potatoes, fried gently for seven to eight minutes. And Yasmeen’s spinach, carrot and potato pakoras make 16 large ones, “some of the best we’ve ever tasted and that’s the truth”.
Do they have a prawn or mushroom pakora?
Prawn, yes, and it sits right before this one in Great Curries. Because the king prawn pakoras use a yoghurt batter with mustard seeds and lime zest, making 20 to 25 at 180C. But the garlic mushroom pakoras with coriander chutney are from their Go Local book, which I do not own, so I cannot give quantities.
Can I fry pakoras ahead, and what do they go with?
Yes, and the book says so on its menu pages, since you can fry them early and reheat them in a very hot oven. So they reheat the same way as their samosas, which take ten minutes at 200C, though neither beats straight from the oil. And they open a curry night before their chicken jalfrezi from the same book, with chutneys and relishes for dipping.
