Onions, moringa leaves pakoda/ Onions & drumstick leaves fritters/ bajji/ pakora

Who doesn’t like Pakoras, a crispy deep fried snacks made of chopped onions!? Now let us make it little healthy by adding today’s super food Moringa/drumstick leaves. How do you feel reading this? Have you ever tried in your kitchen? Believe me it is very tasty with crunchiness intact but added greens. I initially tried it with the Moringa chutney powder that I make at home. Added about 4 tbsp of spicy chutney powder (for some reason, that chutney powder turned very spicy hence I had to finish it off this way) and did not use any other spice except salt & asafoetida. That was a super hit and for the second and subsequent trials I used fresh leaves chopped along with onions. It makes a perfect combination to the evening tea especially the current winter evenings!

Onions, moringa leaves pakoda

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients:
Onions – 3 (medium)
Moringa leaves (fresh) – 1- 1.5 cups
Curry leaves – 2-3 sprigs
Gram flour – ¼ cup
Rice flour/ corn flour – 1 tbsp
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Salt – ¾ tsp or little less
Sambhar powder – ¼ tsp
Chat masala/ garam masala – 2 pinches (optional)
Carom seeds/ Om kalu – ¼ tsp (optional)
Oil – for deep frying

Method:
  • Clean the leaves removing very hard stems and leaves affected by pests. Wash thoroughly with the running water. Dry with a clean kitchen towel. Same way, clean curry leaves as well.
  • Chop these cleaned leaves fine.
  • Peel off onions, wash and chop as desired; that is chop fine or slice thin.
  • Now, mix chopped leaves and onions. Add all other ingredients except oil. Mix well with your fingers by pressing gently so that the required moisture is released from the greens & onions. It is fine if it crumbles or comes to dropping consistency. You can sprinkle few drops of water if required & looks very dry. It is good to go if the flours become wet and everything binds well.
  • Keep oil in a frying pan to heat. Keep the flame medium.
  • When oil is ready, shred/ drop the prepared pakora mix little at a time. Fry until hissing noise is stopped. You can also make small balls of it and drop into the oil (as you like).
  • Strain and remove the pakoras from oil and transfer to a plate with tissue spread on it.
  • Finish off the mix completely following above step.
  • Serve pakoras hot with tomato sauce and a cup of tea.
Onions & drumstick leaves fritters

Notes:
  • If you make the pakoras without moringa leaves it is onions pakora/ Neerulli bajji.
  • Optionally, you can add chopped green chillis with the chopped green leaves to make it spicier.
  • If you use moringa chutney powder instead fresh moringa leaves, you can leaves ingredients such as sambhar powder, chilli powder…
Onions, moringa leaves bajji/ pakora

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