Onion Pakoda is a deep-fried Indian snack of crispy and tasty onion fritter snack made with gram flour (besan), spices, herbs, and a lot of onions. Also called Onion Pakora and Pyaz ke Pakode in Hindi, these are popular Indian street foods. Like many Indian recipes, Onion Pakoda is made differently in various regions of India. It is one snack that is easy to prepare and tastes good too.
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
| 2 onions – medium to large-sized | |
| 1 cup gram flour (besan) or substitute with chickpea flour | |
| 1 to 2 teaspoons green chilies – about ½ to 1 teaspoon chopped green chilies or swap with ½ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper | |
| 1 to 2 tablespoons coriander leaves – chopped (cilantro), optional | |
| ½ teaspoon garam masala – optional | |
| ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder – optional | |
| 1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain) | |
| 1 generous pinch asafoetida (hing) – optional or use gluten-free asafoetida | |
| 1 pinch baking soda – optional | |
| water as required to make a medium-thick batter | |
| salt as required | |
| oil as required – for shallow frying or deep frying, sunflower oil or any neutral-flavoured oil |
Directions:
1. Slice 2 medium to large onions evenly and thinly and put in a mixing bowl. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons chopped green chilies.
If you do not have green chilies, then add red chili powder. You can also add chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves if you want.
2. Add the spices – 1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain), ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 generous pinch asafoetida (thing), and salt as required.
Asafoetida is optional and can be skipped for a gluten-free pakoda. You can even use gluten-free asafoetida.
3. Mix everything well. Cover and keep the mixture aside to marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. The onions will release their juices when mixed with salt.
After resting the mixture for 15 to 20 minutes, when the onions release their juices, then you can add the gram flour (besan) as shown in the following step.
5. Add 1 cup gram flour or besan.
For a soft and light texture in the pakoda, you can add 1 pinch of baking soda. Adding baking soda is optional.
6. Add the required quantity of water to make a medium-thick batter without any lumps.
7. Stir the mixture very well with a spoon or with your hands. The batter is ready to be fried. You can either shallow fry or deep fry.
Ensure that the batter is with a medium-thick consistency. The batter must not be very thick; this will make the pakora doughy and dense.
If the batter is thin and runny, the pakora will splutter and burst while frying and absorb a lot of oil.
8. Heat oil as required for deep frying in a kadai (wok). Let the oil become medium-hot. In hot oil, gently and carefully, add spoonfuls of the batter.
Fry the pakoda on medium heat to medium-high heat. You can adjust the heat as needed while frying.
9. Depending on the size of the kadai or pan, you can add less or more. Just make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan while frying.
10. When the pakoda is a bit cooked with the batter firmed up and lightly crispy, turn it over with a slotted spoon and continue to fry.
11. You will have to turn the pakoda a few times for even frying.
12. Fry the pakoda till crisp and golden.
13. Remove fried Onion Pakoda with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper towels for excess oil to be absorbed.
14. In the same oil, fry some slit green chilies. Make sure to slit the chilies before frying or else they burst in oil.
15. Keep the fried green chilies aside. Once the chilies cool or become warm, sprinkle some salt on them and mix well.
16. Serve Onion Pakoda with fried salted green chilies, coriander chutney, mint chutney, or tomato ketchup.
Serving Suggestions
Onion Pakoda is a tea-time snack and can be served with some green chutney or a dipping sauce and a few fried and salted green chilies. You can pair this snack with your Chai or Coffee.
At my mom’s place, they are served with bread or pav (bread rolls). So I am so used to eating this crispy and crunchy onion pakoda with soft bread slices or bread rolls.
We sandwich the pakoda between the bread and have them dipped in some spicy coriander chutney or any spicy sauce. It also pairs well with tomato ketchup.
At my in-law’s place, onion pakoda is served with Roti or Chapati. So they make pakoda for lunch or dinner and not as a snack.
Onion pakoda, chapati, and some coriander chutney are their favorite combination. In my home, I just serve these plain as an evening snack with some chutney or dipping sauce.
Customizations and Variations
- Choice of Spices and Herbs: You can add a variety of herbs and spices in the gram flour batter – like crushed coriander seeds, red chili powder, red chili flakes, ginger-garlic paste, mint leaves, ground cumin powder, curry leaves, coriander leaves (cilantro). You can add more red chilly powder to get a spicy pakoda. You can add your choice of ground spice powders in the batter.
- Incorporating Greens: Sneak in some healthy greens like spinach, amaranth, or fenugreek (methi) in the pakoda.
- Adding Rice Flour: You can add some rice flour in the batter too. This will make the pakoda very crunchy.
- For a gluten-free pakoda: Store-bought asafoetida (hing) has some amounts of wheat in it. To make a gluten-free pakoda, skip the asafoetida or use wheat-free asafoetida.
- Crisp vs softer pakoda: To get crisp onion pakora, slice onions thinly and add less water in the batter. To make soft pakoda, add some more water to the batter. The addition of baking soda or baking powder also helps in making pakoda soft and light.
- Adding hot oil to the batter: in the gram flour batter, you can also add 1 or 2 teaspoons of oil. This makes the onion pakoda crisp and it absorbs less oil while frying.
Bake and Air Fry
You can also bake or air fry these pakoda. Keep in mind that baked onion pakoda will taste differently than fried ones. Baked or air-fried onion pakoda won’t be as crispy as the fried ones.
I have made onion pakoda both in the oven and in an air fryer. In terms of crisp texture, the pakoda fried in oil was better.
If you want to have a fried version, then just best to make that and enjoy the hot onion pakoda with a steaming cup of Indian chai.
If baking, then bake at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F in a preheated oven till the pakora looks crisp and golden. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in the batter. Add less water just enough to coat the onion slices.
If air-frying, then air-fry at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F. Preheat air fryer for 10 minutes and then air fry till crisp and golden. In between remove the air-fryer pan and shake or turn over each pakoda a few times.
More Tips
- Slicing onions: The onions have to be sliced thinly and not thickly as thin slices will get cooked faster than thick slices. If the slices are thick, then while frying the gram flour batter gets cooked but the onion slices remain half cooked. Thinly slices also give a crispy texture in the pakoda.
- To add or not to add baking soda: Some cooks use a pinch of baking soda in the batter to add that extra fluffiness to the onion pakora. We don’t like the taste and flavor of baking soda, so I have not used it. Adding baking soda helps the pakoda to have a soft texture.
- Frying temperature: The oil’s temperature must be correct while frying. The oil should not be too hot or cold. If it is hot, then the outside of the onion pakoda will get fried but the inside will be undercooked. If it is not hot, the pakoda will absorb oil while frying and will be too oil-laden once fried.