Last evening's snack - Vegetable pakodas and pumpkin bachkas

Last evening, hubby and I craved for home-made pakodas, and I made some in a hurry. The qualifier is necessary because the shape and texture of the pakodas weren't very good. (Check the pic!)

Let me give you the recipe of these.
For the batter, I mixed besan (gram flour), mangraila (nigella seeds/onion seeds), haldi (turmeric), finely chopped adrak (ginger), red chilli powder (you may replace this with finely chopped green chilies) , and salt. I cut brinjal, capsicum, onions into medium thin pieces. I also made chilli pakodas; I made a vertical slit in the chillies before dipping them in the batter. I dipped the vegetable pieces in the batter one by one and deep-fried them in hot vegetable oil. Pakodas, however, taste the best when fried in mustard oil, as any Bihari or Bengali will tell you.


I also got hold of some kumrah/kohnra (pumpkin) last night and made konrah bachkas. I cut the pumpkin into thin slices (Thick slices won't cook well and don't taste that good.). I mixed a couple of spoonfuls of rice powder with some salt, red chilli powder, and a spoonful of water. I rubbed both the sides of the pumpkin slices with this mixture and deep-fried them. These bachkas are typically served with a meal, not as a snack. 'Bachka' is a term similar to the term 'pakoda'. Other bachkas are prepared in completely different ways.