palak pakoda recipe with step by step photos – crisp and tasty deep fried spinach fritters recipe.
another recipe from my mom’s collection. yes i know we are in the peak of summers and palak pakoda or for that matter any pakora is too much. but what to do. at home everyone loves pakoras. be it summer, rains or winters does not matter to folks who love pakoras – right??? nothing beats the combination of some garma garam pakoras with some hot tea.
these palak pakoda can be baked too if you don’t want to fry them, with all the goodness of the spinach, sesame seeds and of course chickpea flour.
i have also shared another variation of making spinach fritters. in that method each spinach leaf is dipped in a spiced gram flour batter and then fried. the result is crisp fritters full on with flavors of spinach. while making pakoras for religious fasting you can try this palak pakora vrat recipe.
palak pakoras can be served with coriander chutney or pudina chutney or tomato ketchup. i served the spinach pakoras with the mint-coriander chutney along with homemade brown bread.
if you are looking for more pakora recipes then do check:
palak pakoda recipe
INGREDIENTS FOR palak pakoda recipe
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- 2 cups spinach or palak - finely chopped
- ⅓ cup chopped onion or 1 medium sized onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped ginger (adrak)
- 1 green chili (hari mirch), chopped
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed powder (saunf powder)
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon red chili powder (lal mirch powder)
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder (dhania powder)
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder (jeera powder)
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (safed til), optional
- ½ to 1 cup water - see notes below
- salt to taste
- oil for deep frying
HOW TO MAKE palak pakoda recipe
making palak pakoda batter
- rinse the palak or spinach leaves very well and finely chop them.
- in a bowl add the chopped palak leaves.
- then add chopped onion, chopped ginger and chopped 1 green chili.
- then add spice powders - fennel seed powder (saunf powder), red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, asafoetida (hing) and sesame seeds.
- next add 1 cup besan and salt as per taste. you could also add a pinch of baking soda at this step.
- mix all the ingredients very well and keep aside for 5 minutes.
- add water in parts. remember the spinach and onions will release water once they are mixed with salt and the spice powders. so be careful while adding water.
- mix the ingredients well and keep aside for 5 minutes. then add ½ cup of water first. if the batter is still thick than add some more water.
- mix very well. add water as required to make a medium consistency palak pakora batter.
frying palak pakoda
- heat oil in a kadai or pan. when the oil is medium hot, drop spoonfuls of the pakora batter in the oil.
- fry the palak pakora till they become pale golden. then turn over and fry the other side.
- turn over a couple of times and fry all the pakoras till they are crisp and golden.
- remove the palak pakoras with a slotted spoon. drain the palak pakoras on kitchen paper towels to remove extra oil.
- serve palak pakoda hot with chutney, tomato sauce and bread slices.
RECIPE TIPS
- for folks who do not eat onions, just skip onions in the pakora. it will still taste delicious.
- remember the spinach and onions will release water once they are mixed with salt and the spice powders. so be careful while adding water.
- i have given ½ to 1 cup water as the consistency of the batter depends upon the quality of gram flour used. i use gram flour which is ground at home and not the ready made ones. the ready made ones are very fine. the one which i use is a little coarse. so obviously i add more water to the batter than what i would have added otherwise.
how to make palak pakoda
1. rinse the palak or spinach leaves very well and finely chop them. keep aside. you will need 1.5 to 2 cups of finely chopped spinach leaves.
2. add 1⅓ cup chopped onion, 1 tsp chopped ginger and 1 green chili (chopped).
3. then add 1 tsp fennel seed powder (saunf powder), ¼ to ½ tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp coriander powder (dhania powder), 1 tsp cumin powder (jeera powder), a pinch of asafoetida (hing) and 1 to 1.5 tbsp sesame seeds.
4. next add 1 cup besan and salt as per taste. you could also add a pinch of baking soda at this step.
5. mix all the ingredients very well and keep aside for 5 minutes.
6. add water in parts. remember the spinach and onions will release water once they are mixed with salt and the spice powders. so be careful while adding water. mix the ingredients well and keep aside for 5 minutes. then add ½ cup of water first. if the batter is still thick than add some more water.
7. mix very well. add water as required to make a medium consistency palak pakora batter.
frying palak pakoda
8. heat oil in a kadai or pan. when the oil is medium hot, drop spoonfuls of the palak pakoda batter in the oil.
9. fry the palak pakoda till they become pale golden. then turn over and fry the other side.
10. turn over a couple of times and fry all the palak pakoda till they are crisp and golden.
11. remove the palak pakora with a slotted spoon.
12. drain the pakoras on kitchen paper towels to remove extra oil.
serve palak pakoda hot with coriander chutney or mint chutney or tomato ketchup.
To bake the palak pakora, at what temperature and for how long should they be baked? Thanks!!
susan, you can bake pakoras in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius/356 degrees fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes till they become crisp and golden. some of the edges will become golden, unlike fried pakora. add some 1 to 2 tablespoon oil in the batter.
Goan styled Palak Pakora (bhaji as we call them):
Make batter of besan, salt, chilly powder, rice powder, hing. dip the entire leaf in this mixture and deep fry. 🙂
thanks priyanka for sharing the recipe. reminding me of goa now and the bhaji pav we used to have from the stalls 🙂