This is a crunchy, tasty and unusual snack. Vegetable pakoras with tamarind and ginger dipping sauce combines classic Indian chickpea flour with Indian spices. It can be made ahead of time and then warmed up in the oven when required, which makes it ideal for the busy entertainer. Keep the vegetables a reasonable bite-size, and use whatever types of vegetables you fancy.
Recipe by Vicki Clarke and Nikki Gaskell
Photographs by Vanessa Grobler
Vegetable pakoras with tamarind and ginger dipping sauce
Ingredients
- oil, for frying
Sauce
- 125ml tamarind paste, available at
- Chinese supermarkets
- 45ml honey
- 10ml fresh ginger, grated
- 10ml fresh lemongrass, grated
Batter
- 100g ground chickpea flour
- 180g self-raising flour
- 5ml salt
- 5ml ground garam masala
- 2ml ground turmeric
- 5ml ground cumin
- 5ml ground cinnamon
- 750ml assorted vegetables – we used sliced red onions, asparagus tips, sliced green beans, julienned carrots and baby corn spears
Instructions
Heat about 10cm oil in a medium-sized pot.
Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside for later use.
In a medium bowl, mix together the batter ingredients. Add enough water slowly, mixing all the time until a thickish batter is formed. It needs to be slightly runny but still able to coat the vegetables nicely.
Dip the vegetables into the batter one by one, and fry in batches until golden. Drain on kitchen towel and serve immediately with the sauce on the side, or transfer to an oven tray and heat through when needed.
