The No Oil No Fry Crispy Bread Pakoras!

Rainy weather has a tendency to bring out this craving of some comfort foods that one grew up with! For me, growing up in India it brings a craving of crispy bread pakoras as this was one of our favorite rainy weather comfort foods 🙂 The faint smell of the water hitting the dusty roads was and still is literally intoxicating. Every household has their version of these bread pakora (fritters) recipes. As pretty much everyone has the basic ingredients of this recipe at home in India! Nowadays I would even venture to say that this pretty much can be a global recipe as its main ingredient Chickpea flour is found everywhere.

It is in the deep frying where my hesitancy kicks. Deep Fried foods are one of the food items that create a lot of inflammation in our bodies. I am sure you have all read somewhere or the other that many of the major diseases that affect humans these days, have all been linked to chronic inflammation. Inflammation is also a key factor for weight gain, which in itself is a risk factor. So basically the more inflammation is in your body, the more weight you tend to put on. The more excess weight you carry, the more inflammation your body will have. It is a vicious cycle.

I have no problem in indulging once in a while! But if we have a way to make our comfort foods healthy without sacrificing the taste, then hey why not 🙂

So if you can make this without even a drop of oil or the deep frying, its brilliant! Totally guilt free comfort food. All you need is a Sandwich Maker or a Waffle Maker. The bread I prefer is the Exekiel Bread. It’s got the best of both worlds: it’s tasty and nutritious. It is loaded with micronutrients and macronutrients that’ll keep you satiated and stay healthy. Its ingredient list contains 100 percent wholesome ingredients. It is made from Organic Sprouted grains and lentils and no added sugar. Since all these are sprouted, more nutrients are available to us. Sprouting of the grains and legumes makes this bread easier to digest and much more nutrient dense. To top it, it has no additives or preservatives!

It doesn’t matter if what you’re eating is a really healthy food, but its also important that it is appealing to look at, smells good, tastes good and is cooked properly too! It is super fast to make and can be great as a breakfast or snack. In this recipe I have added just onions and jalapenos. This is a great breakfast option for you if you are vegan. Feel free to try other veggies like grated potatoes etc. Let me know if you try!

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Ingredients:

Chickpea flour/Vesan– 1/2 cup

Thinly sliced onion — 1/2 medium
(Optional) Chopped green chillies — 1/4 finely diced jalapeno

Salt — 1 1/2 tsp or according to taste
Ground black pepper — 1/4 tsp
(Optional) Red chili powder — 1/4 tsp
(Optional) coriander powder — 1/2 tsp

(Optional) ajwain/carom seeds — 1/2 tsp

(Optional) dried kasuri methi/fenugreek — 1 Tbs

4 slices of Ezekiel bread or any other bread4 slices of Ezekiel bread or any other bread

Water for the batter – just enough to make a thick batter

Directions:

Set up the sandwich/waffle maker to heat up.

Add the dry seasonings and seeds to the chickpea flour and mix well with the flour.
To that, add water and mix well till no lumps are there. It should be close to a cake/brownie batter consistency. Should not be very liquidy.

Then add the sliced onion and green chillies and again mix well.

Hopefully by then the sandwich/waffle maker are heated up.
Dip one slice of the bread in the batter and make sure both sides are well covered with the batter including onions etc. Then place it on the sandwich/waffle maker.

Similarly dip another slice and place it there.

Close the machine and let the bread slices cook. When the light turns green, check if surface of the bread seems cooked. If not leave it there to be cooked for another 30 seconds to a minute or so.

Then take out the cooked bread pakoras and enjoy with coriander chutney or ketchup!

NO OIL NO FRY CRISPY BREAD PAKORAS

Ingredients:

Chickpea flour/Vesan– 1/2 cup
Thinly sliced onion — 1/2 medium
(Optional) Chopped green chillies — 1/4 finely diced jalapeno
Salt — 1 1/2 tsp or according to taste
Ground black pepper — 1/4 tsp
(Optional) Red chili powder — 1/4 tsp
(Optional) coriander powder — 1/2 tsp
(Optional) ajwain/carom seeds — 1/2 tsp
(Optional) dried kasuri methi/fenugreek — 1 Tbs
4 slices of Ezekiel bread or any other bread
Water for the batter – just enough to make a thick batter

Directions:

Set up the sandwich/waffle maker to heat up.
Add the dry seasonings and seeds to the chickpea flour and mix well with the flour.
To that, add water and mix well till no lumps are there. It should be close to a cake/brownie batter consistency. Should not be very liquidy.
Then add the sliced onion and green chillies and again mix well.
Hopefully by then the sandwich/waffle maker are heated up.
Dip one slice of the bread in the batter and make sure both sides are well covered with the batter including onions etc. Then place it on the sandwich/waffle maker.
Similarly dip another slice and place it there.
Close the machine and let the bread slices cook. When the light turns green, check if surface of the bread seems cooked. If not leave it there to be cooked for another 30 seconds to a minute or so.
Then take out the cooked bread pakoras and enjoy with coriander chutney or ketchup! Enjoy!