Onion Pakoda, also known as Onion Fritters, is a popular deep-fried Indian snack made from crispy, golden-brown layers of onions mixed with a blend of gram flour (besan), spices, and herbs. Whether called Onion Pakora or Pyaz ke Pakode in Hindi, this savory treat is a staple of Indian street food culture, loved by food enthusiasts across the country.
The recipe for Onion Pakoda varies from region to region, with each place adding its own twist to the traditional preparation. Despite the differences, the essence remains the same: crispy, crunchy fritters that are both easy to make and irresistibly tasty. These fritters are a perfect blend of flavors and textures, with the sharpness of onions counterbalanced by the warmth of spices.
Quick to prepare and ideal for any occasion, Onion Pakodas make an excellent snack to pair with a cup of chai (tea), making them a favorite at local tea stalls.
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. Cut 2 medium to huge onions equitably and daintily and put in a blending bowl. Include 1 to 2 teaspoons of chopped green chilies.
If you do not have green chilies, at that point include ruddy chili powder. You can moreover include chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves if you want.
2. Include the spices – 1 teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain), ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, 1 generous squeeze asafoetida (thing), and salt as required.
Asafoetida is discretionary and can be skipped for a gluten-free pakoda. You can indeed utilize gluten-free asafoetida.
3. Blend everything well. Cover and keep the blend aside to marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. The onions will discharge their juices when blended with salt.
After resting the blend for 15 to 20 minutes, when the onions discharge their juices, at that point you can include the gram flour (besan) as appeared in the taking after step.
5. Include 1 cup gram flour or besan.
For a delicate and light surface in the pakoda, you can include 1 squeeze of baking soda. Including baking soda is optional.
6. Include the required amount of water to make a medium-thick hitter without any lumps.
7. Stir the blend exceptionally well with a spoon or with your hands. The batter is prepared to be fricasseed. You can either shallow fry or profound fry.
Ensure that the batter is with a medium-thick consistency. The batter must not be exceptionally thick; this will make the pakora doughy and dense.
If the batter is lean and runny, the pakora will splutter and burst searing and assimilating a part of the oil.
8. Warm oil as required for profound frying in a kadai (wok). Let the oil end up medium-hot. In hot oil, delicately and carefully, include spoonfuls of the batter.
Fry the pakoda on medium-warm to medium-high warm. You can alter the warm as required while frying.
9. Depending on the estimate of the kadai or pan, you can include less or more. Fair make beyond any doubt you don’t stuff the skillet while frying.
10. When the pakoda is a bit cooked with the batter solidified up and delicately fresh, turn it over with an opened spoon and proceed to fry.
11. You will have to turn the pakoda a few times for indeed frying.
12. Fry the pakoda till fresh and golden.
13. Remove fricasseed Onion Pakoda with an open spoon and deplete it on kitchen paper towels for the overabundance of oil to be absorbed.
14. In the same oil, fry a few opening green chilies. Make beyond any doubt to open the chilies sometime recently frying or else they burst in oil.
15. Keep the fricasseed green chilies aside. Once the chilies cool or end up warm, sprinkle a few salt on them and blend 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 a few green chutneys or a plunging sauce and a few fricasseed and salted green chilies. You can match this snack with your Chai or Coffee.
At my mom’s put, they are served with bread or pav (bread rolls). So I am so used to eating this fresh and crunchy onion pakoda with delicate bread cuts or bread rolls.
We sandwich the pakoda between the bread and have them plunged in a few fiery coriander chutneys or any fiery sauce. It too sets well with tomato ketchup.
At my in-law’s put, onion pakoda is served with Roti or Chapati. So they make pakoda for lunch or supper and not as a snack.
Onion pakoda, chapati, and a few coriander chutney are their favorite combination. In my domestic, I fair serve these plain as an evening snack with a few chutney or dipping sauce.
Customizations and Variations
- Choice of Spices and Herbs: You can include an assortment of herbs and spices in the gram flour batter – like smashed coriander seeds, ruddy chili powder, ruddy chili flakes, ginger-garlic paste, mint leaves, ground cumin powder, curry leaves, coriander leaves (cilantro). You can include more ruddy chilly powder to get a hot pakoda. You can include your choice of ground zest powders in the batter.
- Incorporating Greens: Sneak in a few healthy greens like spinach, amaranth, or fenugreek (methi) in the pakoda.
- Adding Rice Flour: You can include a few rice flour in the batter as well. This will make the pakoda exceptionally crunchy.
- For a gluten-free pakoda: Store-bought asafoetida (hing) has a few sums of wheat in it. To make a gluten-free pakoda, skip the asafoetida or utilize wheat-free asafoetida.
- Crisp vs milder pakoda: To get fresh onion pakora, cut onions meagerly and include less water in the player. To make delicate pakoda, include a little more water in the hitter. The expansion of preparing pop or heating powder too makes a difference in making pakoda delicate and light.
- Adding hot oil to the batter: in the gram flour batter, you can too include 1 or 2 teaspoons of oil. This makes the onion pakoda fresh and it assimilates less oil while frying.
Bake and Air Fry
You can too heat or air fry this pakoda. Keep in intellect that heated onion pakoda will taste differently than fried ones. Heated or air-fried onion pakoda won’t be as fresh as the fricasseed ones.
I have made onion pakoda both in the oven and in a discuss fryer. In terms of fresh surface, the pakoda fricasseed in oil was better.
If you need to have a fried form, at that point fair best to make that and appreciate the hot onion pakoda with a steaming cup of Indian chai.
If heating, at that point heat at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F in a preheated oven till the pakora looks fresh and brilliant. Include 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in the batter. Include less water sufficient to coat the onion slices.
If air-frying, at that point air-fry at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F. Preheat discuss fryer for 10 minutes and at that point sear till fresh and golden. In between evacuate the air-fryer skillet and shake or turn over each pakoda a few times.
More Tips
- Slicing the Onions: The key to perfectly crispy Onion Pakodas starts with how the onions are sliced. It’s essential to cut the onions thinly rather than thickly. Thin slices cook faster, allowing the batter to crisp up evenly and the onions to cook through. If the slices are too thick, the gram flour coating may cook too quickly, leaving the onions undercooked on the inside. Thin slices also contribute to a crispier texture, ensuring each bite is light and crunchy. This is why the proper slicing technique is crucial for achieving that ideal pakoda texture—crisp on the outside, with tender, sweet onion flavor on the inside.
- To Include or Not Include Baking Soda: The debate around adding baking soda to the batter is common when making Onion Pakodas. Some cooks swear by adding a pinch of baking soda to the mixture to give the pakodas a lighter, fluffier texture. While this may work for some, not all people enjoy the aftertaste that baking soda imparts to the dish. For those who prefer a more authentic, straightforward flavor, it’s best to skip the baking soda altogether. Without it, the pakodas retain a denser, crunchier bite, highlighting the savory goodness of the onions and spices. Ultimately, the choice of whether to include baking soda comes down to personal preference, but it’s not necessary to achieve a delicious result.