And more Indian treats...

I lived in Edinburgh for nearly 20 years and most of the Indian restaurants in Scotland have pakora high up on their menus – something not reflected to the same degree in London.  I love pakora – onion and potatoes (and anything else) fried in a gram flour batter then dipped into a spicy yoghurty minty sauce – what’s not to like?  So, as I have become the proud new owner of a deep fat fryer, I present my pakora recipe.  I added a little beetroot as I love it – you can also add courgette or aubergine. Enjoy!

Serves 4 as a starter

600g gram (chick pea) flour

1 tblsp. oil

2 tsp. garam masala

1 tsp. nigella seeds

1 tsp. chilli powder

Salt and black pepper

2 medium onions cut into fine half moons

1 potato sliced into matchsticks

1 boiled beetroot cut into small dice

Sauce

3 tblsp. yoghurt

1tsp. chilli powder

1 dsp.  sweet chilli sauce

1 tsp. mint sauce

Sift the gram flour into a bowl, and then add the oil and enough water to make a thick batter.  Stir in the garam masala, nigella, chill powder, onions, potato and beetroot, a good shake of salty and a couple of grinds of black pepper.  Mix thoroughly – you should have a thickish batter filled with bits of onion and potato poking out.

Heat your fryer to around 170 degrees – drop small dessertspoons of the mixture into the fryer and keep them on the move so they don’t stick to the basket.  Cook for around five minutes until dark golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.

For the sauce just combine all the ingredients.

Serve as hot as you can!