These fried Vegetable Pakoras with cauliflower and spinach are easy to make and delicious! Serve with homemade Mango Chutney for a flavor explosion. They are the perfect Indian snack or appetizer.
I used to eat sooooo many pakoras before I went vegan! My boyfriend and I used to go to a Indian buffet and they had these amazing Veggie Pakoras filled with broccoli, cauliflower, mhhh I’m still dreaming about them.
Now I just make my own Vegetable Pakoras because they are actually quite easy to make. You need small-cut raw veggies and a pakora batter – I made mine with chickpea flour but lentil flour would also be an option.
These Vegetable Pakoras are
- made with cauliflower and spinach
- vegan
- gluten-free
- delicious with homemade mango chutney
- super crispy
- the perfect appetizer or Indian snack
While I try to avoid frying whenever possible by using the oven instead, I don’t feel like baked pakora turn out good. I tried it once, but it’s just not the same. However, these golden, crispy and flavorful Vegetable Pakoras are the perfect reason to break out the deep-fryer (or the pot – in my case).
For these Vegetable Pakoras, I’ve added cauliflower, spinach, scallions and red onion and mixed that together with the chickpea flour batter. The mixture should hold together, so that it doesn’t separate in the hot oil. You can always add more chickpea flour until it’s sticky enough. You can also make a few test pakoras and see how it goes.
Vegetable Pakoras with Mango Chutney
Ingredients
Chickpea batter
- 1 cup chickpea flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon kala namak (highly recommended, if you don't have it already at home)
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1/2 cup water
Veggies and oil
- 1/2 red onion - diced
- 1 scallion - thinly sliced
- 1 cup baby spinach - chopped
- 2 cups cauliflower - cut in really small florets
- frying oil e.g. canola oil
Serve with
- mango chutney
- 1 teaspoon cilantro - chopped
Instructions
- Combine the chickpea flour, garam masala, kala namak and ginger powder in a large bowl. Add the water and whisk. It should be thick batter.
- Add the small cut veggies to the batter and mix. The mixture should hold together, if it doesn't, add more chickpea flour until it does.
- Heat up the frying oil in a medium-sized pot. It should be enough so that the pakoras can swim in the oil, but you don't want to fill more than 1/3-1/2 of the pot with oil to prevent spillovers.
- Put scoop-sized (I used my ice cream scoop) bits of the vegetable-batter-mix in the hot frying oil and let it fry for a couple of minutes until golden and crispy. Put them on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- The crispy pakoras are best served when fresh out of the oil. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve with mango chutney!
Nutrition
Did you make these Vegetable Pakoras? Tag @elephantasticvegan on instagram and use the hashtag #elephantasticvegan. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Elephantastic Vegan Newsletter to see Reader Remake Features!
Megan
Thursday 26th of October 2017
These look amazing! Pakoras are seriously one of my fav snacks. I might try and make them this weekend...although I will have to invite some people over or I know I will end up eating them all!
Megan www.todayisthedaylifestyle.com/blog
Bianca
Friday 27th of October 2017
Oh, I know that feeling. I've had so many of them. But it's just too hard to stop.. with all the crispiness :D