Name: Cabbage Pakoda
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 2 cup Cabbage, finely shredded into long thin strips; 1 Onion, medium, thinly sliced; 1 cup Gram Flour, besan; 2 tbsp Rice Flour, crucial for a shattering crunch; 2 Green Chili Pepper, finely chopped; 1 tsp Ginger, grated; ½ tsp Carom Seeds, ajwain; ¼ tsp Ground Turmeric; ½ tsp Red Chilli Powder; ½ tsp Chaat Masala, for garnish; 1 tsp Salt, to taste; 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped; as needed Cooking Oil, for deep frying

25 mintotal

Prep 10 min · Cook 15 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: Medium

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Method

Draw the water out of the vegetables first: in a large mixing bowl, toss the shredded cabbage, thinly sliced onion, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and ajwain seeds together. Squeeze and massage the mixture hard with your hands for a full 60 seconds.
1 min
Enforce a mandatory 5-10 minute resting interval. The salt will ruthlessly pull the native biological hydration from the cabbage and alliums, rendering external water completely obsolete.
5–10 min
Introduce the grated ginger, pulverized green chillies, and vibrant fresh coriander into the weeping vegetable mass.
Now add the binders: fold in the gram flour (besan) and the rice flour that makes them crisp, a little at a time. Do not add any water at all. Squeeze the mixture firmly with your hands until the flours take up the juices the vegetables have given out, forming a thick, chunky, sticky mass.
Elevate your deep-frying lipid to a decisive medium-high operating temperature within a heavy kadhai.
Pick up rough, craggy clumps of the mixture with your fingertips. Do not roll them into smooth balls: the ragged shape is what gives you more crisp surface. Lower them carefully into the hot oil.
Fry them steadily over medium heat, moving and turning the clumps until they set into a crisp, deep golden-brown shell.
Lift them out with a spider skimmer and drain the oil off well on kitchen paper.
Instantly dust the scorching pakodas with a sharp hit of chaat masala to fuse the spices to the residual oil.
Demand instantaneous consumption.

How to tell it's done

Extremely craggy and crunchy on the outside, snapping loudly when bitten, hiding a sweet, caramelized, and soft onion-cabbage center.

Getting it right

Tip

Never add a drop of water to this batter. The secret to ultra-crispy cabbage pakodas is using the vegetable's own water to bind the flour. An uneven, spiky shape ensures maximum crunchy edges.

What to serve it with

Good in the monsoon. Serve it with a spicy garlic chutney and a large mug of adrak wali chai.

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Ingredients