Indian Cuisine – Home Food at Sindhi Rasoi

Mirchi Pakora Chaat Recipe

Ingredients for Pakora( Fritters)

• Thick Green chillies (Less hot chillies) 6
• Salt as per taste
• Amchoor powder or chaat masala powder 1tsp
• Freshly squeezed lime (lemon juice) 2 tsp or less

For Batter:

• Gram flour 1 and half cup
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Baking soda a pinch
• Ajwain a pinch or so (optional)
• Oil for frying

For Chaat:

• Beaten curd (yogurt/yoghurt) 1 small cup
• Salt as per taste
• Boiled , peeled and chopped potato 1 large
• Salted boondi, soaked in water and squeezed 1/2 cup (small)
• Green chutney (mint coriander or just coriander chutney) 2-3 tsp
• Date and jaggery chutney (or date syrup if you have) or even tamarind chutney to which jaggery is added -2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves to garnish
• Chaat masala to sprinkle
• Nylon sev to garnish

Method:

• Wash and pat dry green chillies and slit each one. Remove the seeds and the vein if you find chillies too hot for your taste buds.
• Add salt, amchoor powder or chaat masala (either will do) and sprinkle some lemon juice. Set aside the chillies for at least 6 hours or overnight.The salt and amchoor along with lemon juice will soften the skin of chillies and also will reduce the heat, not to forget the tangy taste it imparts to fritters.
• Later, make a batter of thick coating consistency by adding all the ingredients in “for batter’ list, except ‘oil for frying’.
• Dip each green chilly into the batter and coat it nicely from all sides, and carefully slide in the hot oil in frying pan.Reduce the heat after few seconds, so that the gram flour covering doesn’t turn dark brown in colour.
• Deep fry till light golden brown.Note:If you find that the batter covering is turning dark and that the chillies might not have been cooked properly, worry not.Just take out the fritters from pan, let these cool down a bit and dip into the batter again, frying it for second time (Ok,no need to frown on all the frying part..we are about to make and eat a chaat..a chaat… mind you !). Even if you get the layer right, and later while slicing the pakoras, you find the skin of green chillies not cooked well , simply cut the pakoras into approximately 1″ pieces and shallow fry or deep fry on medium flame.
• Repeat the procedure till all the chillies are battered (lolz) and fried. Set aside to cool completely .
• In the mean time, beat the curd/yogurt well till smooth, spice it a bit with salt and pepper (optional).
• To serve, slice the pakoras (if you haven’t sliced yet, I mean) in 1″ pieces, arrange on a plate, pour some beaten curd, boiled and chopped potatoes, soaked boondi, some chaat masala, green chutney, tamarind chutney and garnish with coriander leaves, nylon sev and dig in right away.