A kebab shop and Indian restaurant classic, this chicken pakora recipe is perfect for a starter or side dish. Serve it with pink pakora sauce for a faithful takeaway recreation!
Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and delicately spiced, chicken pakora is a real thing of beauty. It’s hugely popular in Scotland, where you can even visit a pakora garden. Often attractively colourful thanks to food colouring or beetroot powder, it’s usually served with a garnish of thinly sliced onions, fresh coriander and a fresh lemon wedge. Not forgetting, of course, the classic pink pakora sauce for dipping.
Ingredients For Chicken Pakora
For this chicken pakora recipe, you can use either chicken mini fillets, or skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips. Mini fillets are a little more tender, but this recipe works well with both. The chicken is marinated in spices including basaar curry mix, cumin, coriander and garlic powder. Gram flour (chickpea flour) and plain flour are used to coat the chicken strips for deep frying.
- Chicken: Mini fillets, or sliced skinless, boneless chicken breast
- Marinade: Basaar Curry Mix, Cumin, Coriander, Garlic Powder, Paprika, Chilli Powder, Dried Fenugreek Leaves, Turmeric, Salt, Garlic & Ginger Paste, Tamarind Paste, Mint Sauce, Water, Vegetable Oil
- Coating: Gram Flour, Plain Flour, Beetroot Powder, Water, Vegetable Oil
How To Make Chicken Pakora
For this recipe, mini filllets or sliced chicken breast are marinated in a variety of spices for 1 hour, or ideally overnight. Next, the marinated chicken pieces are coated in a batter made with gram flour, plain flour and water. The chicken is deep fried until just cooked through. At this stage, the chicken pakora can be finished immediately, or set aside until needed. To finish, fry the pakora again for a few minutes to heat through and become extra crispy on the outside. This finishing step is convenient, and means the pakora can be made ahead and finished when desired.
Step 1: Chicken Marinade
In a large bowl, add the basaar curry powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garlic powder, paprika, chilli powder, dried fenugreek leaves, turmeric powder, mint sauce, tamarind paste, vegetable oil and water. Mix well until combined. Add the chicken and mix well until evenly coated. Cover the chicken and set aside in the fridge. The chicken can be marinated for 1 hour, or overnight.
Step 2: Chicken Pakora Mix
Heat oil for deep frying to 170C. In a separate large bowl, add the gram flour, plain flour and beetroot powder. Mix briefly, then add water as required to form a thin paste. Dust the marinated chicken with a little plain flour and mix well. Add the marinated chicken pieces to the prepared paste and mix well until the chicken is coated. The mix will appear patchy around the chicken, but will seal and form a crispy crust upon hitting the hot oil.
Step 3: Fry Chicken Pakora
Carefully drop the coated chicken pieces into the hot oil. Fry for about 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally, until the chicken is just cooked through. Remove the pakoras from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. At this stage, the chicken pakora can be finished immediately, or set aside to cool completely and stored in the fridge until required.
Step 4: Finish Chicken Pakora
To finish the pakoras, heat oil for deep frying to 180C. Carefully drop the chicken pakora pieces into the hot oil and fry for 1-2 minutes, until heated through and crispy. Remove from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and arrange on a serving plate. Garnish the chicken pakora with thinly sliced onion and fresh coriander and serve with pink pakora sauce and fresh lemon wedges.
I hope you’ll try this Indian restaurant / kebab shop style chicken pakora recipe. If you do, let me know in the comments how it went!
- 1/4 teaspoon basaar style curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- Pinch chilli powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
- Pinch turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 generous teaspoon garlic & ginger paste
- 1/4 teaspoon mint sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon tamarind paste
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons water
- 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets, each sliced into 5-6 strips (or equivalent mini chicken fillets) 300g total weight
- 8 tablespoons gram flour
- 6 tablespoons plain flour
- 1 generous teaspoon beetroot powder
- cold water as required
- Oil for deep frying
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In a large bowl, add the basaar curry powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garlic powder, paprika, chilli powder, dried fenugreek leaves, turmeric powder, sea salt, garlic & ginger paste, mint sauce, tamarind paste, vegetable oil and water. Mix well until combined. Add the chicken and mix well until evenly coated. Cover and set aside in the fridge for 1 hour, or ideally overnight.
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Heat oil for deep frying to 170C. In a separate large bowl, add the gram flour, plain flour and beetroot powder. Mix briefly, then add water as required to form a thin paste. Dust the marinated chicken with a little plain flour and mix well. Add the marinated chicken pieces to the prepared paste and mix well until the chicken is coated. The mix will appear patchy around the chicken, but will seal and form a crispy crust upon hitting the hot oil.
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Carefully drop the coated chicken pieces into the hot oil. Fry for about 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally, until the chicken is just cooked through. Remove the pakoras from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. At this stage, the pakoras can be finished immediately, or set aside to cool completely and stored in the fridge until required.
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To finish the pakoras, heat oil for deep frying to 180C. Carefully drop the chicken pakora pieces into the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes, until heated through and crispy. Remove from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon and arrange on a serving plate. Garnish with thinly sliced onion and fresh coriander and serve with pink pakora sauce and fresh lemon wedges.
Do you like this Indian restaurant style chicken pakora recipe? If so, buying a copy of my book might appeal to you! In The Takeaway Secret you can find a host of restaurant and takeaway style recipes that you can make at home. You’ll learn how to make doner kebabs, thin crust pizza, fried chicken , pilau rice and more! You can buy The Takeaway Secret in paperback or kindle form here.
- McGovern, Kenny (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 320 Pages – 12/14/2017 (Publication Date) – Robinson (Publisher)
