There are only a few numbers of snacks which can bring a smile on everybody’s face. Punjabi paneer pakora is one of those snacks. Particularly, if you really love North Indian dishes then Punjabi paneer pakora is definitely one of your favorites. This is very delicious, crunchy & soft snack item.
It has been more than a month when I have made this Punjabi paneer pakora. But I do not know why I missed it to share with you. But this time, I will share it without any failure. Though I like almost any kind of pakoda/pakora but paneer pakora is always special.
A few months back I have tried helencha shaak pakora at a street food corner which was really awesome. I think that was a whole leafy plant dipped in gram flour & spicy batter and then fried in oil. You may even face difficulty to eat one such pakora. It was huge & very crispy. But preparing such pakora at home is difficult as it was big and you need enough oil to deep fry those. Because after frying your pakora you will have enough used oil what you cannot consume within the same date unless there are many guests at your home.
But paneer pakora is simple and you do not need too much oil to fry those. Actually, I like anything prepared with paneer. I like paneer paratha, paneer curry, paneer tikka, paneer masala, kadai paneer, paneer butter masala and many more. I simply can’t talk now, feeling hungry.
Also, read: Delicious dahi vada, sabudana vada breakfast, sattu paratha, soft idli for healthy breakfast, moong dal appe recipe
Paneer pakora & party
Paneer pakora is also another very popular starter in any Indian wedding food menu. In any North Indian marriage reception party or any any other party, you will definitely see Punjabi style paneer pakora in the menu. Not only that, nowadays you can even see this paneer pakora is also popular in other parts of India too. In Bengali wedding food menu, paneer pakora is another awesome starter food option but most people prefer non-vegetarian starter over any vegetarian food.
Till a few years back, it is true for every people in Bengal but nowadays a segment of people started preferring vegetarian starters particularly North Indian paneer based starters. Paneer tikka is also another yummy starter what many people love it so much.
North Indian food menu & Bengali people
Though in Bengal, as most people are non-vegetarian, so paneer is not as popular in Bengal as it is Northern India. Even Bengali people do not eat various preparation based on beans & lentils. I mean, like when I used to stay Delhi, there I saw people have different types of mouth watering spicy dal, for example, dal fry, dal tadka, dal makhani, chhole, rajma curry and many more. But here in West Bengal people do not make dal that spicy. Here people even rarely try rajma, dal makhani. Many people even did not ever know about dal makhani.
Delicious Punjabi paneer pakora & me
I love paneer pakora very much, more particularly Punjabi paneer pakora which is hot (chili) & crispy. But I prefer it cooked at home rather buying from a street food corner or any other roadside dhaba where I am not sure about their kitchen condition. I do little extra care because it is deep fried snack where enough oil is needed to make. So some street food vendors use 4-5 days old used oil which is not good for health.
Though it is not true for every street food vendors most street food vendors take proper care of hygiene otherwise they will definitely lose customers. That is I prefer to buy street food from locally known stalls or from somewhere which is very popular and I always find a big crowd in front of those stalls.
Though I did not make this Punjabi style paneer pakora, actually my mother prepared this homemade Punjabi paneer pakora. I liked it so much, that is why I thought about sharing this.
Punjabi paneer pakora recipe
- 250 gm paneer
- ½ cup gram flour/besan
- 1 tbsp corn flour
- 1.5 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp red chili powder
- 1.5 tsp chaat masala
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 0.5 tsp black pepper powder
- Salt as needed
- ½ cup water
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- Cut paneer into pieces according to your choice
- Now mix all ingredients for preparing the smooth batter and add water according to need to make perfect consistency, so that batter would not be too thin or too thick
- Then heat oil in a frying pot and dip paneer pieces into the batter and fry in oil till color turns to light brown
- Now serve these Punjabi style paneer pakora with red (dates & tamarind sauce) & green (coriander & mint sauce) chatni
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