Baked Pakoras

We frequently eat these as a lazy dinner. Or breakfast before grocery shop day, using all the odds and ends in the fridge. They really are fast to whip up and are jammed full of veggies.

And my daughters eat them so quickly they doesn't pause to chatter or mess around. They are one of my go-to's when my oldest is having a particularly picky week to break her cycle of fighting with every meal.

I may have raised her on eating everything, but fights at meal times still happen. Because independence and choice-making still want to happen. "I don't want this, I wanted that..." Cry cry scream. If your meal time sounds like mine, try to include your kids in the meal-planning and/or prepping process. By taking the time to do that, I cut fights down to maybe once a week now. It really makes all the difference.

These pakoras are a wonderful recipe to get the kids involved with: they can either practice their knife skills by helping cut all the veggies into tiny tiny pieces, or they can measure all the spices and prepare the batter. It's not a technical recipe, so there's no chance anyone can mess it up. Let loose and have fun.

They also make a fabulous school lunch addition.

Pakoras Makes about 30 depending on size

5-6 cups of mixed, finely chopped vegetables*
1/8 cup coconut oil
2 cups chickpea flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 F.
1. Quickly sauté the veg in a frying pan with the coconut oil to remove the "rawness" of them. To cook them completely through is not necessary as they will still bake in the oven. And I know that’s a lot of oil to cook the veg in, but it’ll all be mixed with the batter and make the bottoms of the pakoras crispy when they bake.
2. In a very large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together then slowly add 1-1.5 cups of water, stirring constantly, to make a thick pancake-like batter.
3. Prep your cookie sheets with parchment to avoid sticking as they bake. (I usually use three large cookie sheets.)
4. Add in the veggies to the batter and stir until everything is completely covered.
5. Spoon the mixture in 2-tablespoon-sized portions onto the pans.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pans around in the oven to ensure they all get browned on the bottom.

Enjoy these with a mango chutney. I really don't have a recipe for mine to share as every time it's different depending on how I'm feeling. Essentially, I defrost a cup of frozen mango in a pot with a quarter cup of water, add in some red onion, coriander, cumin, and red pepper flakes, along with a splash of apple cider vinegar, and once it's bubbling, I blend it all up into a smooth sauce. World's worst "chutney," but it's delicious.

*I use a variety of different veg every time I make these. Red onions, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, peas, beets (it made them pretty!), kale, etc. Experiment! There's really no wrong way to make these.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do! Keep your eyes open for some exciting things coming rapidly down the line! If you’re interested in keeping in the loop, be sure to join my mailing list.