For father's day, my mom made one of my dad's favorite snacks, peanut pakoda.
Why?
Because my father REALLY likes nuts and nutty snacks. He has a Costco sized nuts box at work and at home. I've gotten his routine down packed: After he gets home from work, he usually gets a handful of nuts and eats them while he enjoys a hot cup of tea or coffee. He also likes cookies with nuts.
I wish it was daughter's day...I couldn't stop eating these pakoda. They were so good. Don't take my word for it, try the recipe for yourself and let me know.
Ingredients
- 1 cup peanuts (soaked for 2 hours and drained)
- 1 cup besan/chickpea flour (sieved to remove lumps)
- 1/3 cup rice flour
- 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp crushed green chilies
- 1/4 tsp chili powder (as per taste)
- A pinch of hing (asafoetida powder)
- 1 tsp salt (as per taste)
- 1/3 cup fresh coriander, chopped
- 3 Tbsp oil (for forming dough)
- Water for forming dough, as needed
- 1 to 2 cups oil for frying (based on pan size)
Procedure
1) Using a medium size mixing bowl, mix together: besan, rice flour, chili powder, hing, and salt. Warm the oil for dough (about 3 Tbsp) and add into the dry mixture and mix well.
2) Now add ginger-garlic paste, crushed green chilies, coriander, and drained peanuts. And mix well.
3) Add water little by little mixing the dough to bring it all together. The dough should hold all the ingredients and somewhat dry but not crumbly, like cookie dough. Taste a pinch of dough to adjust salt and chili powder to your liking.
4) Heat oil for frying in a frying pan (or wok) on low to medium heat. When you feel the heat on the palm of your hand, test it by adding a small morsel of dough. If the bubbles start immediately and the dough floats to the top, the oil is ready for frying.
5)Take a lemon sized piece of the dough in your hand and bring small morsels of dough between your thumb, index and middle fingers and drop them into the oil slowly. Make sure the peanuts are included in every bit. Add 10 to 15 morsels (pakodas) at a time and fry them on low heat until golden brown. Collect them with a holed ladle and drain excess oil. Next, transfer in to mixing bowl that has a paper towel in it to collect any extra oil.
6) Sprinkle some chat masala on the hot "peaNutty pakodas for a more chat-pata taste.
Allow these pakoda to cool down and enjoy with your favorite beverage like tea or coffee. The spicy and crunchy flavors also go well with cool drinks like beer. I had to stop myself from eating too many of these since they were for my dad :(
Did you like this recipe? You'll go "nuts" for these other Indian snacks: Corn Flakes Mixture, Indian Trail Mix, Peanut poppers, Crunchy Cashews, Pappuchekkalu .
