No Bengali meal is complete without a “bhaja” which roughly translates into a fritter or a pakoda. It might be batter dipped or it might be simply fried. But there simply has to be a bhaja. If we run out of vegetables we fry leaves. That is right, leaves! Have you ever tried batter dipped leaves of Harsingar or Karela? They taste great with hot rice. They also have great medicinal properties. I remember sneaking into the kitchen after my grandma had finished cooking and I would steal some of the bhaja, whatever it might be that day.
Now the pumpkin fritters taste great with some masoor ki dal and rice. It has been pouring non stop in Mumbai for the past month and half and I am always in the mood for some pakoras. Calories be damned!!
Ingredients
100 gm pumkin, peeled and cut into thin slices
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
To make the batter
½ cup besan
½ cup rice flour
1 tsp kalonji/nigella
1 tbsp khus khus/poppy seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch of baking powder
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
Toss the sliced pumpkin in salt and sugar and keep aside for half an hour. Make a semi thick batter. Dip the pumpkin slices in the batter and deep fry.
Now repeat the whole process again because you would have finished the whole batch as soon as it has been fried. Lolzzzzzz !!1
Kya mausam aaya hai...this song keeps playing in my head as the sky is overcast and it is raining cats and dogs in my city. Ye masuam ho aur pakode na ho!!! Bahut nainsafi hai!!!
We Bengalis are fond of the bhaja or the fried. Our meals begin with that. It might be any kind of vegetable..baigan, parwal, aloo, bhindi, kaddu..and when we run out of vegetables we fry leaves. I remember my grandma making fritters out of harsingar leaves and karela leaves. And neem leaves are a must in chicken pox season.
These pumpkin fritters are addictive. You simply can not stop at one.
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