Kanda Bhaji a.k.a. Onion Pakoda

For me, onion pakodas are associated with the rainy days. Just as it starts to rain, the very first thing that comes to my mind is kanda bhaji a.k.a. onion pakodas. There is nothing like being at home, sitting by the window with a plate of pakodas and simply watch the rain, when it is pouring outside. It is so much fun to watch people and vehicles pass by, and kids play in the rain. When the weather is cloudy and gloomy, pakodas is the perfect dish to have. In fact onion pakodas are so tasty that you would want to eat them any time. But since it's a fried food, I just look for opportunities to make it (without feeling guilty about it :P). And this weekend's heavy snow just gave me the reason I was looking for :D. Pakodas are just like fritters. Onion pakoda is pretty simple to make. You need the following -

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)
3 small onions
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1-1.5 tsp red chilli powder (as per your taste)
A pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
1/2 cup chickpea flour (more or less as needed)
Oil for frying

1. Thinly slice the onions and separate the layers.
2. In a bowl, take the sliced onions, add salt, turmeric, cumin, coriander and red chilli powders, mix well and leave for about 15-20 minutes. This will soften the onions releasing the juices.


3. Add chickpea flour (as needed) to the onions and start mixing until you have thick batter.
4. Heat oil and drop the batter into the oil and fry until golden brown.
5. Take the pakodas out on a paper towel (to drain the excess oil) and serve hot.


You can also serve them with tamrind chutney or any other condiment of your choice.

Aloo Tikki

Diwali is here and we had a potluck dinner planned for this evening. I made a sweet dish and also a starter dish of Aloo tikki (potato patties). Who doesn't love potatoes? And this one is super-simple and super-yummy. All you need is just four ingredients right from your pantry - potatoes, red chilli powder, garam masala, and bread crumbs, and of course some salt.

Boil some potatoes and mash them with a fork, so that they retain their texture. Add salt, red chilli powder and some garam masala, and mix well. Divide the mixture into equal sized balls(so that tikki is about 2" in diameter). To make a tikki, press the ball between your palms and cover both sides in bread crumbs. Coat the bottom of a pan with oil and shallow fry the tikkis until golden brown. Serve it with tomato ketchup or sweet tamarind-date chutney.


I used 8-10 large potatoes which gave me 50 tikkis. I used plain bread crumbs, but you can use seasoned ones. I would suggest using red potatoes as they are less starchy and don't become very mushy.