Cilantro Medhu Pakoda

Whenever I try a new recipe, I just can’t wait to get feedback from my favorite guinea pig, my husband.  So, I was in the kitchen, getting the first batch out of the oil when he came back from work. He took his first bite and said,

“This tastes a bit like medhu pakoda.”

Ignorant me - “What is that? That is not what I made!”

Him – “It is a popular dish in Chennai, have you never had it?”

Ignorant me – “No, never ever heard of it before.”

Next step… I turn to Google for some enlightenment. And guess what, the basic ingredients were same for the kothimbir vadi that I had made and the medhu pakoda that he had tasted :-).

Medhu pakodas are also made with the besan and rice flour mix but have onions, curry leaves, ginger and green chilies instead of the cilantro and other masalas in this recipe. And there is no steaming involved.

Anyway, regardless of the ingredients used, as long as the final product is palatable, Aal Izz Well!

Ingredients

Besan (gram flour) – 1 cup

Rice flour – 2 tbsps

Cilantro leaves – 1 ½ cups

Finely chopped ginger – 1 ½ tsps

Chili powder – 1 ½ tsps

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Sesame seeds – 2 tbsps

Carom seeds – ½ tsp

Baking soda (I used Eno) – ¼ tsp

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Water to make thick batter

Oil for deep frying

Method

Mix all the ingredients (except water) in a bowl. Add water, little by little, to make a thick batter. Pour into a greased vessel and steam for about 20 minutes. I used my mini idly stand and placed it in the cooker. You could use a flatter vessel and pour the whole batter into it and steam it in a wide mouthed pressure cooker. A toothpick poked into the steamed mixture should come out clean.

Remove from the vessel and allow it to cool. Heat oil, add the cooled pakodas and fry until they turn slightly brown. These can be served as is, with ketchup or with mint chutney. Bon Appétit. 

Note – The pakodas can be shallow fried in a pan too.

Link to the original recipe - http://www.spicy-aroma.com/2012/04/kothimbir-vadi.html