Lovely vegetables dipped in gram flour and deep fried till crispy

Pakoras are the indianised tempura or friters made with gram flour. Now what is gram flour?
It is often stated that chana dal is chickpea flour, this is only true of inferior flours which are not true gram flour. True chana dal is made from ground chana dal – a kind of yellow split pea which is smaller and sweeter than chick peas. Chana Dal is often called “Bengal gram flour” which is a generic term for lentil flours given by the British who first imported lentil flours during the Raj. This is also a confusing term as the original lentil flours called Bengal gram were actually made from Black Gram but made and imported from Bengal. In some quarters the name has stuck, and Gram Flour is even today sometimes called Bengal Flour.
If you cannot find gram flour you can also use ground chick pea flour (so i was told by a friend on facebook) to coat your vegetables , fish or chicken… I dont know about the result…but i dont think it should be too bad.
Pakoras are a hot favorite in India specially during the monsoons. I cant understand why…but it is…its also a snack food and road side food too!
This recipe comes with a video tutorial so you can see exactly how the batter is like and how to fry to perfection.
I have not added any chilli powder or much spices to this recipe as i feel the gram flour is flavorful enough…just a slight spinkle of salt, tandoori spice powder and lemon juice is enough but you can always add all your favorite spices too!
INGREDIENTS:
vegetables cut into rounds or squares of your choice such as : courgette, onions, green peppers, eggplant, potatoes, spinach leaves, etc etc…
Sliced chicken or fish or prawns
salt to taste
lemon juice and tandoori spice powder and other spices such as cumin, coriander and some garam masala if you like
FOR THE BATTER:
Gram flour
salt
a good pinch of oregano o carom seeds (ajwain) and a little chopped coriander leaves
and soda water (carbonated sparkling water)
oil for frying
METHOD:
Sprinkle the cut vegetables, fish or chicken with the salt, lemon juice and spices.
Heat the oil.
Mix the gram flour with salt, oregano/carom seeds and then add the sparkling water to make a semi thick batter.
Dip the veggies or chicken/fish into the batter and deep fry
Please watch video tutorial for the exact method to lovely crispy oil free pakoras!!
Happy snacking!!
These are the chicken pakoras!! Dont they look awesome???

Here is the way to fry them..:)