Indian spiced vegetable fritters.
The perfect recipe for transitioning seasons. As we slowly roll from spring into summer, the kale and radishes are still coming in strong. I love these dipped in just about any sauce, but they go great with tamarind chutney, hummus, lemon tahini dressing, or the included recipe for mint yogurt sauce.
This recipe makes a bunch and they heat and crisp back up nicely in the oven or toaster oven. They also freeze really well, so this is a nice make ahead freezer meal. There’s a lot of room to play around with the recipe, do what feels right for you.
I prefer using a food processor to shred the vegetables, but if one is not available to you this can be accomplished with a sharp cheese grater.
Mint Yogurt Sauce Ingredients
- 2 tbsp minced fresh mint
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp minced fresh garlic
- 1/4 tsp salt
Pakora Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale, rinsed, stems discarded, leaves diced
- 1 bunch radishes, rinsed, greens removed*
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cayenne
- 1/2 tsp salt
- flour**
- canola oil, for frying
Combine sauce ingredients and allow to marinate in the fridge while you make the pakoras.
Place the diced kale in a large bowl and set aside.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet with enough oil to coat up to about 1 cm. Remember, the hotter your oil, the less the fritters will soak up. But this is a balance because you do not want your oil to smoke – watch for wavy lines to indicate heat or use a thermometer if you have it and try to keep the oil around 250-300 degrees.
Cut the onion in half, peel, and chop each half roughly into 1-2 inch chunks. Use the shredder blade for the food processor to grate the onion, followed by the radishes.
Add the shredded onion and radish to the diced kale. Add turmeric, curry powder, cayenne, and salt to the vegetable mixture and stir well to combine.
Add the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring until it is no longer visible. Continue to add flour bit by bit until your mixture comes together and can be formed into balls between two spoons.
Another way to tell it is a good consistency is if you lift a spoonful in the air, the batter does not slide off.
If you find it is too dry, simply add a little bit of water.
Super chef secret tip: Once you are ready to start frying the pakoras, add only ONE small one to the hot oil. Once it’s nice and ready, let it drain and give it a taste. This will let you adjust the seasoning for the rest of the batch as needed. I almost always add more salt.
Using two dinner spoons, shape pakoras and add to the hot oil. When you can see the edges brown, they are ready to flip. The photo below is NOT ready to flip!
Remove fried pakoras from the pan and allow to drain on a paper towel lined plate.
Serve warm with the sauce of your choice and enjoy!
*radish greens are totally edible, I always dice them along with the kale. They have a very mild taste and the fuzzy/prickly feel of them is lost when they are cooked.
**If I have it on hand, I use chickpea flour (sometimes also call besan or gram flour), if not I like to use whole wheat. Using chickpea flour makes this recipe both vegan and gluten free. I have found that the biggest difference between the two flours is in the leftovers. If you use chickpea flour, I recommend only eating the leftovers reheated, otherwise the texture cold is quite unpleasant. However, if you use whole wheat flour, I think the cold leftovers are just dandy.
Eat - Drink - Both 