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Shishito Pepper Pakora Recipe Featured Image.

Shishito Pepper Pakora (Fritters)

Tanvi Srivastava
Shishito Pepper Recipe featuring deep fried peppers coated in a traditional indian spiced gram flour pakora batter.
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine American, Indian
Servings 4
Calories 197 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 8 oz Shishito Peppers

For The Pakora Batter

  • 1.5 cup besan gram flour
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ½ teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder or paprika
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds coarsely crushed
  • Pinch ajwain carrom seeds
  • 1.5 teaspoon red chilli flakes adjust to taste
  • 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves crushed between palms, skip if not available
  • 2 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped or any kind of fresh herbs you like
  • ¾ teaspoon salt adjust to taste
  • ¾ to 1 cup water for making a ribbon consistency batter
  • 2-3 cup oil for frying

For The Yogurt Dipping Sauce (Makes extra)

  • ¾ cup plain greek yogurt
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • A small bunch of fresh herbs (U used cilantro & mint)
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

Prepare the Shishito Peppers 

  • Thoroughly rinse the shishito peppers and dry them. I usually spread them on a kitchen towel and let air dry for an hour or so. You can dry by rubbing with paper or kitchen towel if you are in a hurry. Keep the stems intact.

Make the Pakora Batter

  • In a large bowl, add sifted gram flour. Add all the spices and herbs along with salt. Now slowly start adding water with one hand and whisking to make a batter. Add water in intervals and incorporate before adding again to avoid lumps.
  • The batter should be slightly on the thick side (ribbon consistency) so that it coats the pepper well without sliding down. At the same time the coating should not be too thick else it will remain raw during frying. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes. 

Make The Dipping Sauce

  • In a small blender jar, blitz together the roughly chopped garlic and herbs with 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt. Pour into a bowl and add the rest of the yogurt, salt and lemon juice. Whisk well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
    Pro Tip:- Just use a little bit of yogurt to aid in grinding the herbs and garlic. And then hand mix the rest of yogurt - this makes sure that the dip remains thick and creamy. Blitzing all of it together makes the yogurt watery. 

Deep Fry the Pakoras

  • Dip the peppers one by one into the batter, move around to coat nicely(use stem of the paper to hold), pick up and let excess batter drain for few seconds and carefully, slide into the hot oil. 
  • Fry on medium heat on both sides until the coating is browned and crispy. About 3-4 minutes for first side, the second side cooks quickly- about 2 minutes.
  • Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle some seasoned salt or chaat masala on top. Serve.

Notes

  • Make sure that the peppers are dry before you dunk them in the batter.
  • The batter coating should not be too thick or too thin. Too thick of a coating will not get cooked properly and absorb a lot of oil.
  • Fry on medium heat. If you fry to too high, the peppers won't get a chance to plump up. If you fry on very low heat, they will absorb oil.
  • While frying, some of the peppers might pop, so be careful.
  • This recipe will also work with any kind of mild peppers like padron or guindilla peppers.

Nutrition

Calories: 197kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 11gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 482mgPotassium: 562mgFiber: 7gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 989IUVitamin C: 68mgCalcium: 36mgIron: 3mg
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