Crispy Onion & Spinach Pakoras

Ingredients

For 4 portions

• 🍚 150g chickpea flour
• 🧅 200g onions
• 🥬 50g spinach
• 🪴 2g turmeric
• 🌶️ 5g chilli paste
• 🌿 3g cumin powder
• 🧂 0.75 Tsp salt
• 🥤 90ml tap water
• 🏺 30ml sunflower oil

Method

1. Thinly slice the onions into half-moons and separate the layers. Finely shred the spinach.
2. Put the onion in a bowl with the salt and toss well. Leave for 10 minutes – the salt draws out moisture, which helps bind the batter.
3. Add the chickpea flour, turmeric, chilli paste, cumin and spinach and mix with your hands, squeezing the onions.
4. Add the water a little at a time, mixing, until you have a thick, sticky batter that just coats the onions – not runny. You may not need it all.
5. Heat about 500 ml oil for deep frying to 175 °C (a drop of batter should rise immediately and sizzle).
6. Drop loose, rough spoonfuls of the mixture into the oil – the straggly bits become the crispiest. Fry 5–6 at a time for 4–5 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and crisp.
7. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with chaat masala if you have it. (They absorb roughly the oil listed.)
8. Serve hot with mint-coriander chutney or tamarind chutney and a cup of chai.