Crispy Spinach Pakora (no aloo, airfryer option)
Crispy spinach pakora or palak pakora are indian style spinach leaf fritters swirled in a golden, spiced batter, then deep-fried until crispy.Serve with chutney and chai for a flavor packed satifying snack!
Ingredients
- 150 g fresh spinach (don't use frozen spinach)
- 1 medium (~75-80g) onion slices I use red onions, yellow onions work fine too
- 3 scallions chopped, optional
- 3-4 green chilies (hot), I use indian green chilies or thai red chilies which are quite sharp, please adjust quantity to taste(you can skip them too)
- 2 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 125 g besan (gram flour), substitute with chickpea flour
- 2 tablespoon rice flour or cornstarch
- 1.25 teaspoon salt spinach can take in quite a bit of salt, however adjust the salt quantity as per your taste
- 2-3 cup oil for deep frying
- 1-2 teaspoon chaat masala powder for sprinkling on top while serving, optional
Spices
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds coarsely crushed in mortar & pestle
- ¾ teaspoon kashmiri chili powder or paprika (don't use somked paprika)
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes (hot), adjust quantity to taste (you can skip too)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 pinch ajwain carrom seeds, skip if not available
Instructions
Chop the Spinach
- Rinse the spinach leaves 3-4 times or as needed under cold water to remove any dirt. Pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel or use a salad spinner to remove excess moisture. If your spinach is not dry, your pakora batter will become wet & unmanageable. Soggy batter means soggy pakoras!
- If using spinach bunch, cut off the tough, thick stems from the leaves. These can be fibrous and may not cook as well.
- I roughly chop the spinach in such a way so that none of the leaves remain whole, rather they are bite sized.If you wish, for a uniform chop, you could stack a few spinach leaves on top of each other on a cutting board, then roll them up tightly like a cigar. Using a sharp knife, chop the leaves into strips. We want small to medium size that can be mixed well to form pakora batter.
MAKE THE PAKORA MIXTURE
- In a large mixing bowl, add all the pakora ingredients except water and oil.
- With your hands, toss to mix the vegetables with the flours & spices.
- Gradually start adding water. Add little water at a time to the mixture and start mixing and squishing gently so that the vegetable juices also start coming out. It takes 2-3 minutes for everything to start coming together. You will be surprised by how much volume of spinach you started with and how it reduces in volume significantly. The pakora batter should not be too runny. You want it to hold the vegetables together without excess batter dripping off.
- After mixing the batter, let it rest for 5-6 minutes. This allows the besan to absorb the water fully, resulting in a smoother, more cohesive mixture.
DEEP FRY THE PAKORAS
- In a deep frying pan or a heavy kadai( indian wok), pour about 2-3 inches of oil and heat up over medium heat. Oil should not become too hot (else burnt on outside and raw on inside pakoras). If oil is cold- pakoras will become oily and also chances are that they start spreading in oil.
- To test oil temperature, drop a small bit of batter into the oil. If it rises to the surface and starts bubbling without changing color, the oil is hot enough.
- You could drop the pakoras using a spoon. I use my hands to shape the pakoras. Take a portion of the pakora batter and using your thumb & fingers shape it into a flat disc(with uneven edges, see images in post to get an idea). Make sure that the pakora isn't too thick in the center else it would remain dense and uncooked. You could make them as big or small as you like.
- I always do a taste test by making a single pakora. Taste and adjusty the salt or seasnings in rest of the batter if needed.
- Carefully, drop the pakoras into hot oil.Don’t overcrowd the oil; fry in batches.
- Fry the pakoras on medium heat until they are golden brown and crispy, about 3-4 minutes per batch.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the pakoras from hot oil and drain them on paper towels. While they are hot, immediately sprinkle chaat masala on them for a burst of salty,spicy tang! Serve with green chutney and/or tamarind chutney and chai!
AIR FRYER METHOD
- Note on pakora batter for air frying- Don't use corn starch instead of rice flour if you plan to air fry spinach pakoras. While testing the recipe, I figured that using cornstarch made the pakoras quite gummy
- Preheat your air fryer to 360°F (180°C) for about 3-5 minutes. For reference, I use an 8qt air fryer.
- Brush or spray the basket rack with oil so that pakoras do not stick. Or place an air fryer basket liner on the rack.
- Shape the pakoras as explained above and place them in the air fryer basket. Spray a little oil on pakroras so that they don't become too dry.Make sure not to overcrowd the basket. Similar to deep frying - you will have to air fry in batches
- Air fry for about 14 minutes, flippling them half way. Adjust air fryer time as needed until pakoras are crisp and the edges start turning golden.The air fried crispy palak pakora are best eaten rightway.
Notes
- Avoid adding too much besan, as it can overpower the flavor of spinach. And also make the pakoras taste doughy and dense.
- Gradually adjust the amount of besan or water depending on whether the mixture becomes too wet or dry and clumpy.
- If you’d like to include potatoes, you can add 1-2 small potatoes, diced into small cubes. Just make sure that spinach remains the dominant vegetable in the mixture.
- Experiment with adding other greens like methi (fenugreek) or kale for a twist on the classic spinach pakora. Garlic and ginger are typically not used in indian pakoras, however you could add a little if you wish.
- Palak pakodas are best eat piping hot. If you have leftovers, you could warm up in an oven but they do not remain as crispy as freshly deep fried ones.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!