Pakora Frenzy

When I make pakora, I go for it in a big way. It's hard to make a few. By the time you've got a decent variety of vegetables, it tends to mount up. Favourite ingredients: Cauliflower; aubergine slices; bits of dark green cabbage; paneer; chillis...and, as mentioned here, apple.

Basic method: make a batter with gram flour, with salt to taste and (optionally/optimally) chilli, chopped coriander and a few ajwain seeds. Dunk the vegs. Deep fry in batches. A good dip to have with them: blend together some onion, tomatoes, chilli, coriander leaves and mint leaves.

A recent discovery...sliced green banana. Add plenty of extra finely-chopped green chilli to the mix.

Mores to the point...this raises the question of what to do with all the extra pakora you've made. The answer is pakora curry.

Heat some oil or ghee and add cumin seeds and mustard seeds as usual.
Also add some ground coriander, two or three star anise and some chunks of cinammon bark. These may be left whole.
Then add chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chilli. Salt to taste.
Fry up a bit, then add some chopped tomatoes.
Add a little water and cook until the oil emerges again. This is a crucial technique in Indian cookery.
Add the pakora and heat through.
When ready to serve, stir in some yoghurt and warm up again (but don't boil) and some chopped coriander.
Serve.

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Or, as Fats Domino sang: "I'm swimming to New Orleans..."