Monsoon Munching

A year back in India, nothing was better than sitting in cozy corner of my room next to window while raining outside! A cuppa kavah or ginger tea with a plate of hot pakodas!!! 

Call it "Fritters" or "Bhajiyas" or "Pakodas"... 

It's just the best thing to have for munching! Something that makes it very special is the batter made from gram flour or rice flour or corn flour with a mix of Indian spices... Ummm, It's a rainy week here and I started craving just by a thought of it! :P 

A number of ingredients can be used to make different types:

• Mix veggie Fritters
• Aloo Bhajiya (Makes me remember Raipur Bhajiya)
• Gobhi Pakoda
• Corn Fritters
• Spinach Pakodas (My mum used to make for Thakorji's Patotsav)
• Banana Fritters
• Onion Bhajjis (Monsoon special)
• Paneer Pakodas
• Bread Pakodas....!!! 

Huh... Yummy pakode ki kasam... I'm drooling now :P

All above specified fritters fall in major 2 categories... Either they can be batter-dipped or spoon-fried! 

Batter-Dipped -- A batter of pouring consistency is prepared using flour and spices. Core-ingredient is dipped into it to coat well and then deep fried! i.e. Potato Bhajiya, Gobhi pakoda... 

Spoon-Fried -- At times, all ingredients are chopped and added to a batter of dropping consistency with spices. Mixed well and deep-fried a spoonful at once. i.e. Onion Bhajji, Mix veggie fritters...  

I usually add a pinch of bicarbonate soda in the batter to make my fritters fluffy! I can't actually define the taste of any sort of fritters.. but to tag a few words, I would say "Crunchy outside", "Melting inside", "Fluffy", "Spicy"!!! 

Many people don't prefer using the same oil that was used to fry fritters! What I do is... I strain it once it's cooled down to room temp and store this flavor-infused oil in air-tight container to use making something with robust flavors like thepla :P

Now lemme come to the point... I know each one of you must have a special memory linked to this season... Share it with SJ's Food Court just now!!!