Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Egg Pakora (Egg Bhajji)

The Egg Board should offer us, the food bloggers, at least some free eggs. With this month’s IBBM and EoMEoTE themes happening one after another, the publicity, the recipes- this is going to be one incredible edible egg kind of week.

Egg pakoras are one of my favorite street side food during my college years. After coming here I totally forgot about it. I was thinking about what I could make with eggs that was not already included in the EoMEoTE and I could submit for this months IBBM hosted by lovely Seattle Bon Vivant. Then I remembered the egg pakoras.

Say what you will about Indian street fare, but for my money, you can’t get food tastier than samosas or egg pakoras fresh from a street side vendor’s stall. But I am far from India now and I wanted to get a taste of egg pakoras here, so here I go into the kitchen to refresh those student days’ experiences.

Chickpea Flour, Boiled Eggs, Red Chilli Powder, Salt and Vaamu/ajwain
Ingredients to prepare egg pakoras

Recipe:
(Serves two)

6 boiled eggs
1 cup gram flour (Besan Flour)
1/2 tsp each of salt, red chilli powder,
1/4 tsp each of cumin & ajwain/vaamu
A pinch of baking soda
Quarter cup of water
Peanut Oil for deep-frying

Preparation:

1. Cut each egg into 3 circular pieces. I removed yellow from some pieces, but you can keep it if you like to.

2. Gram flour is a fine yellow flour made from garbanzo beans or chanadal. Put the gram flour into a bowl; add salt, red chilli powder, cumin and baking soda. If you want, you can also add ginger-garlic paste to get the extra kick. Stir in these ingredients well. Add quarter cup of water to them and mix thoroughly. Add water if needed, the prepared batter must be tight (tighter than pancake batter and regular bhaji batter). It should form thick coating around the eggs when they are dipped in the batter.

Boiled eggs Taking a Dip in Chickpea Flour Batter Egg Pakoras Frying in Oil

3. Fill one-third of a large deep skillet with oil and heat the oil until it is very hot.

4. Dip the egg pieces one by one into batter, taking caution to coat the egg all around with the batter. This is important because there will be a mini explosion if raw egg touches the hot oil, as you may already know, and that is why the need for a thick batter. Now take the dipped egg pieces and drop them gently into the hot oil, few at a time.

5. Fry the egg pakoras until they are golden brown, turning frequently. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain well on absorbent paper towels.

Arrange the pakoras on a platter and serve them hot or warm with ketchup or cilantro chutney.

Egg Pakoras with Ketchup on the Side

These small egg pakoras are quick and easy to prepare and irresistible as snack.

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Eggs,Gram Flour (Besan) (Friday June 24, 2005 at 7:17 pm- permalink)
Comments (28)

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28 comments for Egg Pakora (Egg Bhajji) »

  1. They look so delicious. Potato bondas, I have had but I have never eaten these. Good idea about removing yolks. Thanks for a nice recipe.

    Comment by mika — June 24, 2005 @ 8:32 pm

  2. Indira, the ingredients photo is incredible. You don’t even have to write about them, really. Great photos.

    Comment by Devi — June 24, 2005 @ 8:57 pm

  3. Your boiled eggs have such gorgeously yellow yolks! And now a technical question – does the yolk HAVE to be removed? Will leaving the yolk in make it green/grey around the edges, like overcooked boiled eggs?

    Comment by Shyam (aka Shammi) — June 25, 2005 @ 6:20 am

  4. Mika, Devi – Thanks.

    Shammi – no and no. I like them without yolks though.

    Comment by Indira — June 25, 2005 @ 6:55 am

  5. Indira, these are so beautiful. As soon as I finish my own IMBB? extravaganza post, I am heading to the corner market to pick up some gram flour and making a batch of these as a reward.

    Incidentally, I do apologize for taking so long to acknowledge the very nice comment you left at my blog! I’ve been long overdue in saying thanks and adding you to my blogroll, but that will be corrected this weekend! I think your site is magnificent.

    Comment by Bakerina — June 25, 2005 @ 9:46 am

  6. Bakerina – They taste as good as they look, please go ahead and indulge yourself.

    I really like your posts and blog, such wonderful eloquence, I wish I could write like you.

    I was embarassed a little for posting twice the same comment in your blog, ofcourse it was an accident, but I thought you will think of me as an overeager newbie. Thanks for your nice words and for the link.

    Comment by Indira — June 25, 2005 @ 3:41 pm

  7. Yumm the egg pakodas look so appetizing ! This is such an usual filling for a pakoda. Thanks for a great idea…

    Comment by Nupur — June 25, 2005 @ 3:56 pm

  8. ive never heard of pakora but of course i love traditional pakora so im sure egg pakora are just as good 🙂

    Comment by tanvi — June 25, 2005 @ 5:22 pm

  9. Hello Indira,

    These look so mouthwatering! We also have similar street food in the Philippines, making use of chicken and quail eggs then dipped in something similar to sweet chilli sauce with a bit of soy sauce.

    I’ll try your version soon.

    Comment by Karen — June 26, 2005 @ 2:21 pm

  10. Tanvi – They are good alright, heart be damned:) This is my first time making them at home and I don’t think I ever will make them again.

    Karen- Thanks.I think the street side food sellers are always thinking of ways to entice us people to buy things. Only they can create these kinds of recipes.
    Philippines version sounds yummy. Niki of Esurientes submitted this kind of recipe to IBMM.

    Comment by Indira — June 26, 2005 @ 7:46 pm

  11. I meant “unusual filling for pakoda” and wrote “usual” silly me…

    Comment by Nupur — June 28, 2005 @ 8:22 pm

  12. Nupur, I understood what you meant in your first comment. I am the queen of mistake makers, so please don’t worry.

    Comment by Indira — June 28, 2005 @ 10:37 pm

  13. hi indira, this is my first time visiting your blog and i must say it is truly lovely – now know where i can turn to when i can’t find a recipe in my madhur jaffrey books…love bhaji and pakora, but have never had an egg pakora before – can’t wait to try your recipe. am gonna dash out and get some chickpea flour now…cheers,j

    Comment by J — June 29, 2005 @ 2:02 am

  14. Indira,
    Will the following modification work?
    Boil and grate potato, add black pepper and salt. Put this mixture in the hollow left by removing the yolk. Coat with batter and fry.
    [Cut boiled egg in 2 instead of 3].

    Comment by Niket — July 2, 2005 @ 1:28 pm

  15. Niket, What you are doing is “kicking it up a notch” as the famous chef Emeril would say. and that’s a good thing. Egg and potato bonda – nothing can go wrong with that combination. Perfect on a long weekend.
    Are you still thinking or did you make them already?

    Comment by Indira — July 2, 2005 @ 5:00 pm

  16. Indira,
    I came across your website while searching for a curry to make with beetroot. I must say, this site is really impressive…especially the photos. I just went on reading from page to page.
    I have also bookmarked your site for future reference.
    Priya.

    Indira says
    Hi Priya, thanks for your kind words. Hope to see many more visits and feedback from you.

    Comment by Priya V — November 3, 2005 @ 5:10 pm

  17. indira, i tried this today.. 🙁 , i donno y the batter wudnt stick to the eggs… at first the batter i made was a little loose and the i added more besan to thicken but then i had that problem … and as u said there were some explosions .. and hey the egg pakora that is in ur pic looks pretty neat.. mine was awful.. any tips…

    Indira says
    Oh..Priya, I am so sorry that egg bajji making turned into a mess. You have to make the batter very thick, when you dip and lift the egg pieces from the batter, there should be no dripping of batter from the egg pieces. You have to make it that thick.
    About batter not sticking to the eggs – the only reason I can think of is watery besan batter and not enough amount of besan in batter. If you are still thinking of making these egg bhajjis again, make the batter very thick (do you know how people apply henna paste to the head?, that thick, 🙂 that’s the only analogy I can think of right now). Hope you will find these tips helpful.

    Comment by priya,ar — November 12, 2005 @ 5:39 pm

  18. Iam definetely gonna try again .. try till it comes out really well.. yes.. i used to apply henna paste to my hair.. letc c .. ill make the batter to that consistency and try

    Comment by priya,ar — November 13, 2005 @ 2:20 am

  19. Indira,

    I had to try out this recipe first! It was sooo good! Hubby and I loved the batter! This is going to be my generic batter for all types of pakoras from now on! Next project is “lentil and almond burger”! Looks yummy!

    Indira replies…
    I’m glad you liked the results. Yes, we also use the same kind of batter for all kinds of pakoras/bajjis. Thanks for the feedback.
    Yum, lentil-almond burgers, another one of my favorite experiment. You have a good taste, just like me. 🙂
    Do let me know how it turned out in your kitchen.

    Comment by Zeenat — January 30, 2006 @ 4:12 pm

  20. Hi,

    I am new to this site and I like the way it is presented with image. I tried and it came good with potato and onion(Egg will try later 🙂 ). Currently I am in VA, when I was in bangalore, one bajji shop I went and the bajji was really good with good batter. She told it is bambay basen and it can be purchased in bulk quantity. Anybody have any idea of what “BOMBAY BASEN ?”. Is it possible to get here in any Indian store that case what is the brand name here ?

    basky

    Comment by Basky — February 22, 2006 @ 7:19 pm

  21. Hm, this reminds me of something called Pholourie. It’s an Indian West Indian snack. Yum Yum. Ever heard of it?

    Comment by Sabrina — March 1, 2006 @ 5:55 pm

  22. I made this yesterday, substituting about a teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves from my garden for the ajwain since I didn’t have any. It turned out great! My husband was really excited about it also. Thanks!

    Indira replies:
    Egg bajjis were my favorite snack during college years.:)
    I am glad you two tried and enjoyed them too and thanks for letting me know, Amy.

    Comment by Amy — May 28, 2006 @ 3:29 pm

  23. great photos reminded me of the Bangalore and Hyd Raadiwalla selling egg bhajji/pakoda. Basky Bombay besan must be like Bombay atta one of the many secrets our vendors use to make great stuff. Bombay atta is used to make naan etc. I suspect that it has more protein content to make better naan. Similarly Bombay besan must be a slightly modified or selected type of besan for bhajjis. Recently for months I could not get my bhajjis to look good when cooked. Often when they looked cooked they were raw inside. The taste was also off. Then one of the cooks in the resturant told me that he too had problems with the besan of a particular brand which comes from Canada. Needless to say the moment I switched brands everything was ok.

    Comment by gcsunil — September 6, 2007 @ 4:08 am

  24. Hi
    🙂 I made this pakora on sunday i.e today and it was very delicious. It dint resemble the pakora given in picture cos of loose batter but it was tasty next time it ll b more tasty,

    Comment by suchita — March 8, 2009 @ 12:55 am

  25. Hi Indira
    I am new to this site,but i liked ur presentation of recipes with such a wonderful pics.From now onwards i will try ur recipes only…

    Comment by Devi — January 13, 2010 @ 3:23 pm

  26. Hey indira,

    the bajjis look fantabulous.missing hyd a great deal after seeing the pic…gona try the bajjis now.cant wait till my hubby comes home from work…:)

    Comment by militha — February 8, 2010 @ 5:27 pm

  27. This is my favourate dish,Thank you for giving in details recipe

    Comment by datta — July 5, 2010 @ 1:26 am

  28. awesome receipe….

    Comment by shiji — January 13, 2011 @ 12:25 pm

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