Corn pakoda recipe With step by step photos. These are deep fried corn fritters made with besan (gram flour), sweet corn, spices and herbs. These crispy and tasty corn fritters are a regular snack I make during monsoons. They make for a good tea time snack or evening snack.
Whenever I make these crisp fried snacks, I always add boiled corn kernels. The fritters are made with besan or gram flour. So they are gluten free if you don’t add asafoetida.
You can also use tinned corn to make these. The pakoda can be made with sweet corn or desi corn. At home, the preferences are always for sweet corn.
I served these corn pakoda hot with mango chutney. You can also pair them with dipping sauces like cilantro chutney or mint chutney or tomato ketchup or any green chutney of your choice.
A cup of hot tea will also go very well along with these pakoras. You can also serve them with bread or chapati.
How to make Corn Pakoda
Boiling corn
1. Boil two medium corn cobs in a stovetop pressure cooker or in a pot adding water as needed.
Instead of cooking corn cobs, you can also use canned or tinned corn kernels.
2. Drain the water and let the corn cobs cool.
3. Carefully remove the corn kernels with a knife.
4. It should yield approx 1.5 cup corn kernels.
Making corn pakoda batter
5. In a bowl, add corn kernels and 2 to 3 spring onions with their greens. Instead of spring onions greens you can use 1 medium sized chopped onion.
6. Next add 1 inch ginger (finely chopped) and 1 green chilli (finely chopped).
7. Add the following ingredients:
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon fennel powder (optional)
- salt as required
8. Stir and mix very well.
9. Now add 1.5 cups gram flour (besan). Instead of gram flour you can opt to use chickpea flour.
10. Add ½ cup water or as required.
11. Mix very well. I have used a wired whisk to mix the pakoda batter, but you can mix with spoon also.
You need to make a smooth flowing batter of medium consistency. So you can add water as required.
If the batter becomes thin add a few tablespoons of gram flour. If the batter looks thick then add a bit of water.
Frying corn pakoda
12. Heat oil in a kadai or pan for frying the pakoras. You can use any neutral flavored oil with a high smoke point.
13. When the oil is medium hot, drop spoonfuls of the corn pakoda batter carefully. Don’t overcrowd the pan while frying.
14. When one side is firmed up and looks crisp, gently turn over with a slotted spoon. Fry the second side till golden and crisp. You can turn them over as needed a few times so that the corn fritters are evenly fried.
15. Remove the fried corn fritters with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
16. In the same manner fry the remaining corn fritters with the rest of the batter. Regulate the heat as needed while frying.
17. Serve the corn pakoda hot or warm with green chutney or Mango Chutney or tomato ketchup or Coriander Chutney or Mint Chutney. While serving, sprinkle some Chaat Masala Powder on the corn fritters.
You could also pair these pakoras with the everyday Indian Masala Chai.
For more delicious corn recipes you can check this collection of 21 Recipes made with corn.
For more similar snacks you may like are:
If you’ve tried this recipe, please rate it in the recipe card or leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your feedback. For more vegetarian inspiration, sign up for my email updates or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or X.
Corn Pakoda
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups corn kernels or two medium corn cobs
- 1.5 cups gram flour (besan)
- 2 to 3 spring onions with greens or 1 medium sized onion, chopped
- 1 green chili, chopped
- 1 inch ginger, chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Red Chili Powder or cayenne pepper or paprika
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- ¼ teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- ¼ teaspoon crushed black pepper – optional
- ¼ teaspoon fennel powder – optional
- salt as required
- ½ cup water or as required
- chaat masala – as required for sprinkling on the pakoras
- oil for deep or shallow frying
Instructions
Boiling corn
- Boil two medium corn cobs in a pressure cooker or in a pan or Instant pot.
- Drain the water and let them cool. Remove the corn kernels with a knife carefully.
- Should yield approx 1.5 cup corn kernels.
making corn pakoda batter
- In a bowl, add corn kernels and 2 to 3 spring onions with their greens.
- Next add ginger (finely chopped) and green chilli (finely chopped).
- Add red chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, asafoetida (hing), crushed black pepper (optional), fennel powder (optional) and salt as required. Stir and mix well.
- Now add gram flour (besan) and water. Mix very well. Make a smooth flowing batter of medium consistency.
frying corn pakoda
- Heat oil in a kadai or pan.
- Drop spoonfuls of the batter in medium hot oil carefully. Depending upon the size of the kadai fry the fritters. Don't overcrowd the kadai.
- When one side is firmed up and looks crisp, gently turn over with a slotted spoon. Fry the second side till golden and crisp. You can turn over as needed a few times so that the corn fritters are evenly fried.
- Remove the fried corn fritters with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
- Serve corn fritters hot or warm with green chutney, mint chutney, cilantro chutney, mango chutney or tomato sauce.
- While serving, sprinkle some chaat masala on the corn fritters.
Video
Notes
- The recipe can be scaled as per your needs.
- Chickpea flour can be used instead of gram flour.
- You can also use tinned corn to make these fritters.
This Corn Pakoda Post from the blog archives, first published in August 2013 has been republished and updated on December 2022.
Hi dassana,
Absolutely love your recipe.
I.have a question can I replace the gram flour with maize flour(makkai ka aata) as my hubby is allergic to gram flour
thanks fateema. with maize flour the texture and taste will change, but you can use makkai ka atta. you can even use whole wheat flour.
How many whistles should be allowed while pressure cooking the corns?
dimpi upto 3 whistles is fine hope this help’s you thanks.
Thanx 🙂
Thank you mam. I tried it and it was just awesome. Everybody loved it. Thank you 🙂
thanks kavya 🙂
Hi, I tried ur lot of recipe n they Cme out very good.thanks for posting such a good n easy recipes.
welcome arbina
Cool plating !!! Mouth watering :))
Hi
Thank you for recipe. It was Simple yet very delicious.
I am just beginner in cooking. So I just want to share my experience (in reality confusion). As you have specified ¼ tsp fennel powder (optional), I used it but get slightly bitter test. Secondly, it was not as crunchy as yours looked in photos. It would be my pleasure to receive your valuable comments on same.
Thanks a lot for giving me yummy experience as beginner like me.
bhumika, fennel powder is not bitter but it gives more of sweet taste.the pakora has to be fried well on the right heat/temperature and then it will become crunchy. the oil should not be too hot or cold.
Can munch on it anytime…looks very tempting!
Super tempting pakodas, Loved the professional touch of the video.
For a day like today, these would be so perfect. Really like how crunchy it looks.
Great pakoras…. looks yummy
Wow,this is indeed a new way of making pakoras with corn!I’ve had the dipped-in-besan type of pakoras before but this is new.Perfect with a cup of masala chai.