Chicken Pakora

Chicken Pakoras or deep-fried, crispy Chicken fritters are a delicious Indian snack made out of beautifully spiced, flour coated, tiny bite sized boneless chicken. Fried till golden perfection and dipped in some tangy green chutney, they are a blast of flavours and taste in your mouth. Serve them as an appetizer in the next party you're hosting and you'll showered with praise. Or just have them as your weekend evening snack or on a rainy/snowy day with a cup of piping hot tea, and you are all set for some relaxing time.

There are innumerous amount of pakora recipes available over the web world. The recipe that will follow is my version of Chicken pakora, using some basic ingredients available in most Indian households. The real crispness of these pakoras come from the rice flour. So I would recommend to use it. Use of other ingredients are flexible and you can easily adjust them to your taste bud.

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken breast - 250 g, cut into bite sized cubes

Garlic Paste – ½ tsp

Ginger Paste – ½ tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp (adjust to your spice level)

Roasted Cumin Powder – ¾ tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp

Amchoor or Dried Mango Powder – ½ tsp (optional)

Green Chilies – 3 finely chopped

Onion – 1 small, finely sliced

Coriander Leaves – 3-4 sprigs, finely chopped

Egg White –1

Chickpea Flour/ Besan – 2 tbsp

Rice Flour – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

Method:

- Clean and wash chicken well and drain the water completely.

- Take chicken cubes in a bowl and add all the ingredients except flours and oil. Mix well.

- Cover and set it aside for 15 minutes. You can keep it more if you have time. More time help infuse the flavour into the chicken pieces well.

- Add egg white, gram flour (besan) and rice flour in the marinated chicken. Mix well. If the mixture is too dry, add little water. If it’s too runny, add some besan to adjust the consistency of the batter.

- Heat oil in a deep pan.

- Put the chicken chunks in hot oil and fry them in slow to medium heat for first 5 minutes. Stir them after 5 mins and cook in the same heat for another 5 mins. Turn up the heat for last few minutes of frying.

- Take them out onto paper towel. Repeat the same for remaining chicken.

- Sprinkle some chaat masala and serve with your favourite chutney.

Notes:

- Always use bite sized chicken pieces for proper and even cooking.

- Adjust the spice level as per your taste.

- You can use cornflour instead of rice flour. But as I mentioned earlier, rice flour is recommended.

-You can replace the egg white if you have food allergy. Just plain water will do.

-Heat the oil well before adding chicken pieces. But cook them in medium flame so that they get cooked well.