Cauliflower pakoda or gobi pakora recipe with step by step photos. Crisp and tasty fried marinated cauliflower fritters made with gram flour (besan), herbs and spices.
One more pakora recipe for the monsoon time. A vegan snack. Monsoon is one of the best times to enjoy fried food like pakora, chole bhature, tikki, chaat, samosa and so on.
I know many folks don’t like fried foods. If you are calorie conscious or avoiding fried food, then the option is to bake the pakoras, which I have tried but not with successful results.
Since monsoons are in full swing here, I am making a lot of fried snacks these days at home. Its always better to enjoy the snacks made at home than to eat outside during monsoon season.
The basic technique of making veggie pakora is more or less the same. So almost the same procedure is used for Aloo pakoda, Onion pakoda or Paneer pakoda and so on.
But in this recipe I have marinated the gobi before deep frying them. The idea came to me when I had made Mushroom tikka with besan (gram flour) where the mushrooms were marinated first and then grilled.
Here the cauliflower is marinated with the spices first and then dipped in the gram flour batter and fried. These cauliflower pakora are crisp in taste and should ideally be eaten hot. if you are having them as snacks then pair them with a cup of hot masala chai or coffee.
These pakora can be served as a side dish or even as starters with tomato sauce or pudina chutney or coriander chutney.
They can be had plain or with roti or even with bread. I served the cauliflower fritters with dry pomegranate chutney and some rotis.
How to make cauliflower pakoda
1. Break or chop one cauliflower into medium-sized florets.
2. In a pan, boil enough water with salt.
3. Rinse the cauliflower florets well and then add them to the boiling water. Switch off the flame and let the cauliflower florets be immersed in the water for 10-12 minutes. This is done to remove any insects if any.
4. Drain the cauliflower florets.
5. In a bowl, take the cauliflower florets. Add ½ teaspoon red chili powder and 1 pinch of turmeric powder.
6. Also add ½ tablespoon ginger-garlic paste and ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder.
7. Mix very well and marinate for 8-10 minutes.
Making gobi pakoda batter
8. In another bowl, add 2 cups of besan (gram flour), 1 pinch asafoetida (hing), 1 pinch baking soda or baking powder and salt as required.
9. Next add ½ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain) to the batter and mix well.
10. Pour water as required.
11. Make a smooth batter. The batter should be smooth without any lumps.
Frying gobi pakoda
12. Heat oil in a kadai or deep fryer or pan.
13. Take each marinated cauliflower and dip it in the batter.
14. Coat each cauliflower floret with the batter.
15. Add them to medium hot oil. Depending on the size of the kadai or pan, you can add less or more pakora while frying. Make sure that the kadai is not overcrowded and there is some space between 2 pakoras.
16. When the pakora is a bit cooked, turn over with a slotted spoon and continue to fry. You will have to turn them a couple of times for even frying. Fry till the pakoda are crisp and golden evenly.
17. Then with a slotted spoon drain as much oil as you can. Drain them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
18. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon chaat masala, ½ teaspoon lemon juice and 1 to 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves on the pakoras.
Serve the cauliflower pakoda hot or warm with any green chutney or mint chutney or cilantro chutney or tomato sauce.
You can also have them with roti or paratha. They make for a good tea time snack served with tea.
Few more snacks recipes for you!
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Cauliflower Pakoda
By Dassana Amit
Ingredients
main ingredients
- 1 medium sized cauliflower (phool gobi)
- 2 cups gram flour (besan)
- ½ tablespoon Ginger-Garlic Paste
- ½ teaspoon carom seeds (ajwain)
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne pepper or paprika
- ¼ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida powder (hing)
- 1 pinch turmeric powder (ground turmeric)
- 1 pinch baking soda (or baking powder) - optional
- water - add as required to make a thick flowing batter
- oil for deep frying or shallow frying the pakoras
- rock salt (edible and food grade) or regular salt as required
for garnish and flavoring
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala to sprinkle from above
- ½ teaspoon lemon jucice to be sprinkled (optional)
- 1 or 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves for garnish (cilantro leaves)
Instructions
Preparation for cauliflower pakoda
- In a pan, Boil enough water with salt.
- Break or chop the cauliflower in medium sized florets.
- Rinse them well and add them to the boiling water.
- Switch off the flame and let the cauliflower florets be immersed in the water for 10-12 minutes.
- Drain the cauliflower. In a pan marinate the cauliflower with red chili powder, turmeric powder, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala powder. Mix very well and keep aside for 8-10 minutes.
Making cauliflower pakoda
- In another bowl, make a smooth batter with the besan/gram flour, asafoetida, baking soda or baking powder, salt and water.
- Next add carom seeds to the batter and mix well.
- Heat oil in a kadai or deep fryer.
- Take each marinated cauliflower and dip in the batter.
- Coat each floret with the batter and add these in the medium hot oil.
- Fry till the cauliflower fritters are crisp and golden evenly. You will have to turn the pakora a couple of times for even frying.
- With a slotted spoon remove the pakoda and drain as much oil as possible. Then keep them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
- Serve the cauliflower pakoda hot or warm with any green chutney or sauce, sprinkled with chaat masala, lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves. You can also have them with roti or stuff them between bread slices.
Notes
- Another way to make these gobi pakoras is without marinating them. Just mix everything except the cauliflower and prepare the batter. Dip the cauliflower florets into the spiced batter and fry the pakoras in medium hot oil.
- You can use sunflower oil or peanut oil or mustard oil or any neutral oil that has a high smoking temperature.
- If you want to make these cauliflower fritters gluten-free then skip adding asafoetida (hing) or use gluten-free asafoetida.
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Sounds good ❤️ must try this soon.
Tried these pakodas for a tea time snack…the marinated florets dipped in lightly spiced batter and fried was just awesome and yummy.
thanks again winnie. yes, the florets when marinated first and then batter coated and fried, have a great taste.
It tasted awesome..
Thanks Ashitha
Yummy….
hi..all your recipes are excellent..I have tried many and most of them came out good…keep the great
work going..God bless u and Amit
thanks pranav for this positive comment and also your good wishes.