I’ll be honest, I am not a big fan of tofu. The texture of tofu does not go well with me… Long before I knew what tofu was, we used to get this this called the Meal Maker which was nothing but dried soy chunks. A very popular 90’s dish in India. My brother actually used to love this so much that mom would buy it and make a curry out of it just for him, usually for to rotis. But I would never liked it.. somehow I never got past the texture of it to know how it tasted 🙂
Fast forward 10-15 years and I am here in the US. Now vegan diet was popular and Tofu is at the center of it. So every restaurant serves some tofu dish. This time I wanted to give it a try again and nothing had really changed. It did not work for me still. Then hubby and I once went out with friends to PF Chang’s and everyone there insisted that I try this lettuce wraps that had fried tofu filling with a side of peanut sauce,. They were certain that I will fall in love with tofu.
I have not fallen in love with it but I no longer terribly dislike the taste. So I do like order it once in a while and do enjoy it when cooked properly.
Now this recipe was not a planned one, We had gotten food from my hubby’s work ( part of the perks of having. a in-house chef at work I guess) , couple of days last week and one of the meals was grilled tofu with corn salad. Now I had almost half the left over sitting in the fridge so I put that to use Indian style.
These Tofu-Onion pakoras are one of the perfect ways to enjoy tofu Indian style. This super crispy pakoras is a prefect for evening snack or a side to your meal. My little one who is exactly like me when it comes to tofu enjoyed it thoroughly and munched away this crispy pakoras in no time.
Can any other veggies be used in this pakoras?
You can add any other vegetables to this pakora like spinach, carrots, cabbage etc. This pakora is a delicious deep fried snacks that can be made anytime of the day with some tofu or just with any other vegetable.
Also other nuts like almonds and walnuts can also be added in place of peanuts.
Can I skip the buttermilk and make vegan?
Yes, this dish can be made vegan. Curd /yogurt natural sourness that and the fermentation makes it naturally acidic. This helps with the extra crunchiness. So simply skip the curd and add a 1/2 tsp of baking soda.
Tofu-Onion Pakoras
Ingredients
- 2 cups sliced tofu use firm tofu
- 2 cups sliced onions
- 1 cup besan or gram flour
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1 tsp carom seeds
- green chillis optional if you add red chilli powder
- 2 tsp red chilli powder
- 4 Tbs Butter milk
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbs Peanuts
- salt to taste
- Oil to fry about 4 cups
Instructions
Making the Pakora batter
- Cut firm tofu into long pieces or as desired.
- Apply a little salt on tofu pieces and keep aside for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile cut onion lengthwise into thin slices.
- In a bowl add the onion, peanuts and tofu. Mix in the gram flour, red chilli powder, baking soda, ajwin and salt and mix well
- Add buttermilk, and extra water as needed.
Frying the pakoras.
- Now heat the oil in a pan. Test is by dropping a bit of the batter and it should bounce back to the top. Oil os ready for frying.
- With a spoon or hand drop small equal size portions of the batter into the oil.
- Deep fry it till its fried golden brown. Make sure to maintain the oil temperature at the same level.
- Serve hot with tomato ketchup.
Behind the scenes this recipe Photography 
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