Those that know me, and maybe even regular readers of this site will know that we LOVE Indian Food. I mean like a serious love affair with the stuff. Our favorite Indian restaurant closed about a year ago (after closing due to a fire then reopening 18 months later, we’re in total hopes that they will open again!) and although we have a couple of other restaurants they aren’t the same. Our close Indian friends moved away a few years ago and thankfully taught us some recipes before they moved but we’re also always on the look out for supermarket Indian foods so when I saw these Vegetable Pakoras at trader joes I knew we had to try them.
We’ve actually made vegetable pakoras however they are deep fried and totally not that healthy. The problem however is homemade you tend to OVEREAT because once you are battering and deep frying there is no point for just 2-3 bites each right? Right? So we simply just stopped making them at home (plus as it was the ONLY thing we deep fried it was a total waste of oil!). So buying a package seemed a better option 🙂
I made matar paneer and rice with naan bread and these seemed a perfect starter whilst we waited for the curry to finish cooking. They cooked in the oven pretty quick. They didn’t crisp up as deep fried ones do but I think that’s a fair trade off for the convenience 😉
They look very round, regular pakoras don’t look this ‘bally’. Our homemade ones were totally weird shapes. I had some green chutney in the freeze which I took out for this occasion. Love some spicy chutney!!! Our regular restaurant waitresses know to bring a BIG dish of these for our starters, we LOVE mint chutney 🙂
Taste test – delicious! Really enjoyed them. Though they weren’t a patch on fresh cooked pakoras they were definitely a good easy cook substitute. This did however make me think about trying a homemade version that was healthier. I’ve tried baking samosas rather than frying and they taste way different but maybe it’s a taste we can get used to? Maybe this would be the same? Not sure how you’d bake a pakora though? lol! I’m going to put my thinking cap on for that one. Till then, these will definitely be bought again!