Paneer Pakoras
(With stuffing)
Paneer Pakora or Cottage Cheese Fritters are a deep fried and extremely popular and mouthwatering Indian snack. Soft and succulent paneer pieces are dunked in a gram flour batter and deep fried to obtain a nice crispy outer layer.
INGREDIENTS:
1- For Batter-
Gram flour or Besan- 1cup
Rice powder- 1 tablespoon
Carom seeds or Ajwain- 1/4th teaspoon
Coriander powder-½ teaspoon
Red chili powder-½ teaspoon
Garam masala powder-½ teaspoon
Chat masala powder-½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder-3/4th teaspoon
Salt-3/4th teaspoon
Baking soda-¼th teaspoon
Asafoetida/ hing- a pinch
Water-1 cup
2- Paneer or Cottage Cheese approximately 400 grams of Paneer (cut paneer into either squares or rectangular pieces of about 2”x2”cm and thickness of about ½ centimeter,
I have cut it into about 24 pieces)
3- Filling/ Stuffing For making the filling paste ( This is an optional step. I am sharing my way of making them) Green Chutney- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt- a pinch
Chaat masala- a pinch
Red chili powder- a pinch
Turmeric powder- a pinch
DIRECTIONS:
Making Paneer Pakora Batter In a bowl, take the besan (gram flour), ajwain, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, chaat masala powder, amchoor powder and salt.
Now add around ½ cup of water and mix very well with the help of a whisk. Break all the lumps.
Add in ½ more cup of water.
The batter should not be very thick nor too thin.
If the batter is too thick, then add more water.
Add in baking powder and mix everything well.
Keep it aside while you are doing other preparations.
Besan in the batter will swell up and will attain a good consistency.
Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of hot oil when you keep the oil for deep frying in the batter.
Mix well. Whisk briskly non-stop for 1 to 2 minutes to incorporate some air in the batter.
While the batter is resting let’s prepare the filling paste. Making Filling Paste Take all the ingredients listed under filling paste in a small bowl.
Mix everything well.
Put oil in a wok or kadai and put it on medium low flame while you assemble your pakoras.
Preparing Paneer pakoras
Take one cut slice of paneer and spread about 1/8th teaspoon of the prepared filling chutney on the slice and cover it with another slice like a sandwich.
Repeat the same process for remaining ones.
Take the entire paneer sandwich in your hand and dip it in the besan batter.
Coat the paneer sandwich evenly with the besan batter.
Be gentle while dipping the sandwich in the batter.
Next and last part is frying the paneer pakoras. Frying Paneer Pakoras By now, your oil is hot and you can easily slid the besan batter coated paneer sandwich in the oil.
Do not overcrowd the kadai with pakoras. Otherwise it will become difficult to turn them.
Fry them in batches, three or four at a time depending on the size of the kadai you are using.
Fry on a medium high flame till they are crisp and golden brown.
Turn them gently and let the other side also get fried and become golden brown.
Drain them on a tissue paper. So that excess oil is absorbed.
Similarly fry all the paneer pakoras.
Serve paneer pakora hot or warm with coriander mint Chutney, khatti meethi Chutney or ketchup. Enjoy!! |