HARE BHARE PAKODE (FRITTERS WITH GREENS)

HARE BHARE PAKODE (FRITTERS WITH GREENS)

The rains always makes you crave for something deep fried and hot with some hot spiced tea.  While I was contemplating to make pakodas, I thought why not put some healthy ingredients to the otherwise unhealthy deep fried snack, just to make it slightly guiltless. I had just purchased packets of fresh greens during my weekend shopping trip, I thought let me add the greens and some onion and make these Green Fritters, instead of the traditional onion bhajiyas which I was craving to have.

I named it Hare Bhare Pakode an off-shoot from the Hara Bhara kabab. I hope you enjoy this post. This post also has the privilege of the first clicks from my new Nikon D3200SLR Digital Camera. I am still a beginner, but hope to have beautiful clicks in the future thanks to the birthday gift from my dear hubby Yo.

Ingredients

Onions – 2 big sized

Spinach – 1 ½ cup

Coriander Leaves – 1 cup

Kasuri Methi powder – 2 tsps or ½ cup of fresh fenugreek leaves

Green Chillies paste – ½ tsp (optional-for flavoring only)

Ginger paste - 1 tsp

Gram Flour – 4 tbsps

Bishops weed (Ajwain) – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 2 tsps

Asafetida – A pinch

Salt to taste

Oil for deep-frying

(Any of the above ingredients can be adjusted or altered to suit one’s own taste palettes).

Method

Peel and chop the onions in strips. Clean the spinach and coriander leaves and chop them finely.

Take a bowl,  Add in the onion strips, chopped spinach, chopped coriander leaves and 2 tablespoons of kasuri methi powder (I made a powder of the kasuri methi leaves and added 2 teaspoons of it to the mix for the flavor of the fenugreek, you can alternatively use ½ cup of cleaned, sorted and chopped fresh fenugreek leaves).

Now add the green chilly paste, ginger paste, then add 2 tbsps of gram flour, the bishops weed, Asafetida, Red chili powder, salt and mix well. Allow the onions and the greens to marinate in the mixture for about 10-15 minutes. The onions and greens start to sweat and you will notice the mixture to be moist, at this point, add the rest of the gram flour. If you find the mix too dry then sprinkle some water. Just 2-3 tablespoons of water will do. The water is added to make the mixture a bit loose and in dropping consistency. Again keep aside for 4-5 minutes.

Heat oil in a frying pan and when the oil is hot, drop the batter. The technique to drop the batter is to scoop the batter in your hand and spread your fingers when you drop it into the oil, so they drop unevenly and look shapeless, this makes the pakodas more crispy. Fry the pakodas till golden and crisp on a slow fire. Remove and drain on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with coriander chutney/ mint chutney or tomato sauce.