Potato Pakora, Chilli Pakora, Memory Pakora

Fritters are such delightful things to munch on. Lots of calories and wonderfully tasty!

It was raining today. Generally its been rainy this week due to a hurricane that's passing the West of Japan. We went for a drive to Asagiri Kogen area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asagiri_Plateau) which seemed to have the same cloudy weather as our area. But on the way back it started pouring. We just had our tea, which was not literally tea but coffee and cupcakes bought at a convenience store eaten at Lake Tanuki. But, when it rains, its time for Pakora!

“...let's see, we have lots of besan, potatoes, and oh, we have those red onions we bought recently, and green peppers. That should be plenty enough!”

“ You should put some baking soda in it to make it lighter.” my mother said.

Yes, I like my pakoras light. My father thought my fritters were having an identity crisis. This was years ago in Karachi, when again on a rainy day I deep fried some nice and crispy pakoras or so I thought they would be called. I was told the batter was too thin. Come to think of it, these pakoras were more like tempura. But I can't help it can I? I like my pakora's light. And they are indeed pakoras, for they are made of besan. They are not tempura made of besan!!!!

….admittance is always an issue with me. Yes, those pakoras that years ago my father consumed with a hearty appetite were perhaps too light to be called pakoras. They had the texture of tempura.
This is what happens, when you grow up eating both tempuras and pakoras and deciding that pakoras are too dry and dense. Especially the ones sold in stalls set up outside Mithai sweet shops during Ramzan. They are still good to eat, as after all anything deep fried does generally taste good.

Today, I think they were just the right texture, which my father would think as having a more or less the correct identity of a pakora with just enough lightness and crispyness for my liking. In fact, they turned out quite nice that even before I realised to take a photo of them, we had finished eating...

Again, anything deep fried is generally tasty, as well as not too complicated to make. And with something like this, often ingredients aren't measured...

So in a small bowl, a cup or so of besan, added salt, chilli powder, coriander seed powder, cumin powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda (important ingredient! Careful not to put too much....nasty stuff if put too much.) and enough water to make it nice and thin (not)...oops...better add more besan because it should be nice and THICK, but not dry thick...if you know what I mean.
Heat up good amount of ordinary cooking oil. Ask some one to wash the mud off the new potatoes for you (hehehe), slice them up. Put them all in the batter and make sure each slice is coated. Deep fry on medium heat till nice and golden. Have the first of the pakoras, you know, just to check that the potato is cooked through...hmm wait, let's have another just to be completely sure!
Now, slice some onions, green peppers and I wanted some green leafy fragrant things, basil was all I had. So roughly chopped the basil and put all of the vegetables with basil into the batter.
I had to add some more besan, because the salt from it made the vegetables loose water and made the batter watery...and you don't want tempura, now do you??
Same process. Deep fry. Seemed a bit soggy still in the middle...so lower down heat and cooked longer.
Sauce! Now ketchup is a must for something like this. Of course you can make fresh green chutney, I simply did not have the ingredients for it. So ketchup it was. Wanted to put fresh minced garlic, but we have been forever, forgetting to purchase garlic. The chilli powder had gone stale and wasn't hot any more.
So all-natural habanero sauce to the rescue, a few drops for me and mother, about triple the amount of it for those people using the sauna outside (a separate story) that my mother insists on feeding whenever they come. Ketchup seemed rather boring with just the habanero, so in went some sliced spring onions and there you go! Quite a decent sauce for the pakoras!

The musty smell of rain, oily fingers by eating pakoras, and Abba telling me about the pakora identity crisis. Food, in the end, is what you think it should be and as a result shows what you are. So what I made that day was a pakora-tempura! And I don't mind it at all!