Dr Rupy Aujla's
Punjabi pakoras
- Preparation time: 10 mins
- Cooking time: 25 mins
- Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 100g garden peas (fresh or thawed)
- 6cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 100g cooked puy lentils
- 100g cauliflower, coarsely grated
- Handful of coriander (about 20g), leaves and stalks finely chopped
- 3 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 100g spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 egg
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the mint and coriander chutney:
- 25g mint leaves
- 25g coriander (leaves and stalks)
- 1 green chilli, deseeded
- ½ apple, chopped (skin on)
- 150ml water
- 100g coconut yoghurt (optional)
I have so many memories of going to other families’ houses when I was young and being greeted at the door with the familiar smell of freshly fried pakoras. The spicy, gingery aroma hit you immediately. They’re a perfect match for mint chutney and, of course, masala tea. Unfortunately, these moreish snacks are far from healthy.
Dr Rupy Aujla is a practising GP in London and author of The Doctor's Kitchen from which this recipe is taken.
How to prepare Punjabi pakoras
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
- Put all the ingredients for the pakoras in a bowl and mix by hand until well combined.
- Transfer two-thirds of the pakora mix to a food processor and blitz until roughly blended (not smooth).
- Put the blended mixture back into the bowl with the unblended mixture, mix to combine, then shape into 6 golf-ball-sized patties.
- Place the patties on the lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- While the pakoras are baking, blitz all the ingredients for the chutney (except the yoghurt) in the blender or food processor until they form a liquid mixture with some texture.
- Add more water if the chutney is too thick, and transfer to a bowl. Add the yoghurt to make it a milder chutney, if you wish.
- Serve the warm pakoras with the chutney, for dipping.
For egg-free pakoras, substitute the egg for ‘flax egg’: 1 tbsp ground flaxseeds combined with 3 tablespoons of cold water in a bowl and left to soak for 5 minutes.
Don’t like cauliflower? Try grated sweet potato, celeriac or carrot.
