Palak Pakoras

“I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.
I’m strong to the finich, cause I eats me spinach.
I’m Popeye the Sailor Man. I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.”

I know what you’re thinking. No, I’m not Popeye the Sailor Man. But I LOVE spinach just as much as he does, if not more. Rich in iron, lovely colour, tastes yumm, pairs well with almost anything. What’s not to like? And when it’s spinach something deep-fried, who can even refuse it. Let alone refuse, sometimes you cannot rest until you’ve made it, pigged on it and burped in satisfaction. And that’s a confession coming from the pit bottom of the yummy tummy.

Wholewheat-Oats-Wheatbran-Potato Pancakes

Picture this: It’s a Monday morning. You stayed up late on Sunday night catching up on that chick flick you so badly wanted to, and as a result you ended up waking up late in the morning. Very late. Horribly late. But the daily cooking act has to be tended to ‘cos we have no choice. You know that food just doesn’t appear like that on your table like in the Harry Potter movies. If only it did…sigh!

Bread Pakoda | Bread Fritters

What do you do when temptation strikes? Give in? With me, I give in, but only once in a while, atleast when it comes to deep-fried stuff. All you regulars over here should know by now that I don’t make too much of it. Me and my deep-frying pan hardly ever meet. Poor guy sits around collecting dust all the time, moping in the darkest corner of the kitchen cabinet. Once in a while, I get him out, wash him, dust him, wipe him clean and put him back in there. Poor fella! He sure must hate me for not putting him to good use. On the contrary, he should be thanking me no, ‘cos he still looks all nice and shiny, as good as new! So on one of these let-me-give-in days, I made these finger-licking-good bread pakodas. I made them the same day I made the Aloo bondas. Why did I give in twice on the same day you ask? ‘Cos I had left-over batter from making the bondas. And I had left-over Whole Wheat Bread from our breakfast that day, so bam! Along came the bread pakodas as well! Ok, I really should stop with the excuses now and just get on with the damn recipe right?

Ingredients:

For the filling:

• Whole Wheat Bread/Regular Sandwich bread – 3 slices (each slice will make 4 pakodas, so increase/decrease quantity as per your requirement)

For the batter:

• Gram flour – 1 cups
• Rice flour – 2 tsps
• Red Chilli powder – 1 tbsp (alter to suit your taste)
• Cooking soda – 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Salt – to taste
• Water – as required

Other:

• Oil – as required, for deep-frying

Note: This proportion makes 12 triangular pakodas.

Procedure:

• Trim the bread slices; remove the crust on all sides.
• Give each slice 2 diagonal cuts so you get 4 triangular pieces from each slice. You could even cut them up into 4 squares; whatever you fancy.
• Get the batter ready – mix all the dry ingredients together in a considerably wide and shallow bowl.
• Add water little by little to make a thick batter (like idli batter consistency).
• Get the oil hot in the meanwhile. Pour enough oil in a wok and let it heat up on a medium-high flame. It should take about 3-5 minutes.
• Soak 4 pieces of the bread in the batter at a time. Using 2 spoons, pour the thick batter over each piece of bread to cover it uniformly. You could even work with your hand here, but I prefer non-messy hands! Make sure you soak each batch in the batter for atleast 2-3 minutes for the flavours from the batter to percolate into the bread, but not any longer. Since I used whole wheat bread, it wasn’t particularly soaking up in the batter as immediately as white bread would. So use your judgement here.
• By now, the oil in the wok should be hot. Reduce flame to medium, and gently dunk in the coated bread pieces in with the spoon, one by one, in batches of 4. Don’t crowd the wok, else the pakodas won’t cook properly.
• Fry the pakodas till they turn evenly golden brown all over. Remove from oil and put them on tissues to drain off any excess oil. Repeat with the remaining bread pieces.
• Transfer to a plate, and enjoy them piping hot with tomato ketchup. They just don’t taste like bread pakodas…more like raw-banana fritters. Yummmax!

I served mine with lemony onion rings, tomato ketchup and a nice hot cuppa! Temptation Island and Kaapi Nirvana coming together was bliss!