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Dr Rupy Aujla's Punjabi pakoras recipe | How to make punjabi pakora

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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)
Dr Rupy Aujla holding a blue plate with five green pakoras on
Dr Rupy Aujla standing in front of a blackboard wearing a light blue shirt 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
  2. Put all the ingredients for the pakoras in a bowl and mix by hand until well combined.
  3. Transfer two-thirds of the pakora mix to a food processor and blitz until roughly blended (not smooth).
  4. Put the blended mixture back into the bowl with the unblended mixture, mix to combine, then shape into 6 golf-ball-sized patties.
  5. Place the patties on the lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.

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