Hugh's Cauliflower Pakoras with Raita Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower, approximately 800g
1 large red or brown onion, quartered and thinly sliced
Vegetable oil, for frying
For The Pakora Batter
175g gram flour
½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
A pinch of dried chilli flakes
½ tsp black onion seeds
For The Raita
150g radishes, thinly sliced (optional)
200g cucumber, seeds scooped out, diced or grated and squeezed
150g natural (or plant-based) yogurt
A scrap of garlic, grated or crushed (about ¼ clove)
1–2 tbsp finely shredded coriander or mint (optional)

Serves 6 as a starter or 10-12 as a nibble

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Method

1. First make the raita: put all the ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine thoroughly. Set aside in a cool place, ready to serve.

2. To make the batter, put the flour, baking powder, spices and salt into a large bowl and whisk these dry ingredients together well. Measure out 200ml cold water and start whisking this into the flour. Stop when you have a smooth batter with the consistency of standard double cream. Set aside for a moment.

3. Remove any tough or dirty outer leaves from the cauliflower, quarter it and trim away the tough stalk base. Roughly chop the cauliflower so you end up with a chunky cauliflower rubble: break it into florets first, then chop these smaller so nothing is bigger than 2cm in any direction. Chop the stalk into similar-sized chunks.

4. Toss the cauliflower and onion together in a bowl, breaking up the slivers of onion as you go. Add these veg to the batter and stir together well so everything is coated. Preheat the oven to a low setting (so you can keep the cooked pakora warm).

5. Heat about a 1cm depth of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. To test that it is hot enough, drop a little batter into the oil. It should fizz and bubble straight away, and turn a crisp golden brown in a couple of minutes.

6. Drop heaped teaspoonfuls of the battered veg into the hot oil. Each spoonful should flatten out a bit once in the pan, but you can help it gently with the back of a spoon. Leave a bit of space in between them and don’t add too many or you will cool the oil down. Cook the pakora for 3–4 minutes, flipping them over once or twice, until they are a rich golden colour all over.

7. Scoop the cooked pakora out with a slotted spoon, place on a baking tray lined with kitchen paper and put into the oven to keep warm. Lift out any stray bits of veg or batter in the oil between each batch, so they don’t burn.