Moong Dal Pakora (Moong Dal Bhaji)

India has 3 seasons namely Summer, Rainy and Winter. During Rainy season one thing every household kitchen smells of is "Pakora" (fritters). Pakora is mainly a spiced fritter which is prepared using varieties of main ingredients like potato, paneer (cottage cheese), spinach, onion, moong dal and so on. The batter to coat the ingredient is mainly made from chickpea or gram flour called "Besan" in India. Flour itself contains spices and then marinated main ingredient is coated with the beaten flour. It is then deep fried in oil and serve hot with different chutney.

There is standard recipe for Pakora and totally dependent on the chef based on availability of ingredients in specific region. It is usually eaten as an Appetizer, accompanied with hot masala or ginger chai.

Lets have a look at the recipe:

Ingredients for Pakora:

2 cups Moong Dal

1 cup chopped onion

4-5 chopped Green Chilies

1/2 cup chopped Coriander

1 inch chopped Ginger

1 tsp Black Pepper powder

1 tsp Ajwain (Carrom seeds)

2 tbsp Rice Flour (Optional, as it makes pakoras crunchy)

1 tbsp Coriander Powder

1 tsp crushed Fennel Seeds (Saunf)

Salt to Taste

4 cups of Water (To soak moong dal)

Oil to fry

Ingredients for chutney:

1 cup Shredded Coconut

1/2 sliced Onion

4-5 Whole Red chilies (Deeseeded)

6-7 peeled Garlic

3 tbsp Tamarind juice

Method for Chutney:

Soak whole red chilies in water for an hour atleast. Deseed them as they will be less spicy and just bring out the color in chutney.

Add all chutney ingredients into the mixer grinder and grind it to fine paste. Make sure it is a smooth mixture and not a grainy one. 

Remove it in a bowl and add salt to it and mix well.

You can also give a temper to the chutney but heating oil in a small pan and add 4-5 curry leaves, 1 tbsp of Mustard seeds and 1 tsp of Urad dal. Let it heat up and then add it to the chutney.

Method for Pakoras:

Wash the moong dal well and soak it in water for 4-5 hours.

Drain all the water from the Moong Dal and wash it once again. Drain away all the water and grind it to fine paste with very little use of water.

We do not want a runny batter orelse the shape of pakoras will not hold. Hence use less water as much as possible.

Pour it in a mixing bowl and with the help of a whisk, beat the batter well.

This step is essential as it will make the batter fluffy. Continue beating it for 10 mins atleast.

Later on add all the ingredients chopped onion, Green Chilies, Coriander, Ginger, Black Pepper powder, Ajwain (Carrom seeds), Rice Flour, Coriander Powder, Fennel Seeds (Saunf) and Salt.

Mix all ingredients well and keep it aside.

In a pot add oil and let it heat up. Once the oil is hot, with the help of a spoon or hand start adding small portions of round balls from the moong dal mixture that we prepared.

Fry it until golden brown and serve hot with chutney.